American sculptor Michael Alfano has been sculpting for over fifteen years. A native of New York, he now lives and works in Hopkinton, Massachusetts. His major influences are Salvador Dali, Jo Davidson, and Jean-Antoine Houdon, as well as Buddhist, Taoist, Sufi and other eastern philosophy and literature. He first studied at the Art Students League of New York, with an emphasis on life-size sculpture from the model. His formal education continued at Boston University and was augmented by internships with several prominent sculptors.

Supporters of former Haitian President Jean-Bertrand Aristide dance and drum as they wait near the airport for his expected arrival from Cuba, where he underwent medical treatment, in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, Friday, July 16, 2021. Aristide's return adds a potentially volatile element to an already tense situation in a country facing a power vacuum following the July 7 assassination of President Jovenel Moïse. (Photo by Fernando Llano/AP Photo)

Marie Joseph bathes her friend Jean Robert outside a shelter for the internally displaced where they live due to police violence in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, Thursday, September 16, 2021. Most of the population of Port-au-Prince has no access to basic public services, no drinking water, electricity or garbage collection. (Photo by Rodrigo Abd/AP Photo)

A long time exposure shows a Igloo at the “Igloo village” (Iglu Dorf) in front of the famous Matterhorn mountain in Zermatt, Switzerland, late 28 January 2016. The hotel-igloo village made of snow and ice at 2'815 meters about sea level with a bar, a restaurant, bedrooms and wellness are celebrating their 20th anniversary. For this occasion the hosts built the largest classic igloo with a diameter of 13 meters and a ceiling hight of 11 meters in front of Matterhorn in Zermatt, and they will attempt the world record for this Igloo. (Photo by Jean-Christophe Bott/EPA)

Young Korean women wearing hanbok (Korean traditional dress) walk inside Gyeongbok Palace on March 27, 2016 in Seoul, South Korea. There has been a trend in recent years for the young Koreans to wear the traditional Korean dress, Hanbok. Wearing the traditional dress, they will walk around downtown Seoul on weekends taking selfies, and share their memories with friends on social media, and also to promote their traditional dress to foreign visitors. (Photo by Jean Chung/Getty Images)

A piñata depicting TV celebrity Kim Kardashian is displayed outside a workshop in Reynosa December 6, 2014. Mexican artisan Dalton Ramirez, known in his neighborhood for creating pinatas which depict local politicians and people in the entertainment industry, jumped on the Kardashian bandwagon after the reality star was featured in a magazine showing her famous curves. The photographs in the magazine were shot by Jean-Paul Goude and recreated his iconic “Carolina Beaumont, New York, 1976”. (Photo by Daniel Becerril/Reuters)

A man carries a child in a wheelbarrow near a burning tire barricade in the framework of the protests of the last three days due to the increase in fuel prices, in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, 09 July 2018. Haiti was today practically paralyzed by a transport strike after three days of violent riots due to an increase in fuel prices, which the Government left without effect shortly after the announcement. The Prime Minister, Jack Guy Lafontant, today heads a meeting with representatives of Parliament to assess the situation created after the violent protests, which have left at least three dead and several injured. (Photo by Jean Marc Hervé Abelard/EPA/EFE)

A woman passes Members of historical clubs dressed in the uniform of French soldiers during ceremony of repatriation of the remains of French General Charles-Etienne Gudin de la Sablonniere, participant in the French Revolutionary wars and Napoleonic wars, to France in Moscow airport Vnukovo-3, Russia, 13 July 2021. (Photo by Sergei Ilnitsky/EPA/EFE)