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Lured by the splendor of the Hawaiian Islands, Mike Carroll moved from Chicago to Lana'i in 2001 to pursue his life-long passion for art and nature. His original oil paintings and prints celebrate Hawaii and invite the viewer to explore her enchanting beauty.
Mike double-majored in Art and Biology at Western Maryland College, earning a B.A. with Honors in Art. He then attended The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, where he was awarded a Master's degree in Medical Illustration from the Department of Art as Applied to Medicine.
Mike enjoyed a successful twenty-year career as a professional artist in Chicago. During that time, he received national recognition for both his medical and non-medical art and had work featured in the prestigious PRINT Regional Design Atlas and Communication Arts magazines.
In 1999, Mike and his wife, Kathy (Kat), visited Lana'i on their 20th Anniversary. The peacefulness of the island and the friendliness of her people proved irresistible. Midway through their visit, they bought a plantation-era "fixer-upper" in historic Lana'i City. They moved to Lana'i for a two-year sabbatical... and never left.
In 2002, Mike and Kat opened a tiny "starter" gallery in Lanai City, and then moved around the corner to open the Mike Carroll Gallery on 7th Street in 2004. The gallery was a working studio, where Mike painted (when he wasn't in the field) and featured the paradise-inspired work of 25 other artists and artisans. In September 2025, the gallery ownership transitioned to Deep Hawaii Art owned by Kristin Belew and Kacy Lorber.
Since moving to Lana'i, Mike's work has been juried into major competitions such as Art Maui and all eight statewide Schaefer Portrait Challenges. He is one of 15 artists across Hawaii to be selected as a Signature Member of the Plein Air Painters of Hawaii.
In February 2006, Mike was among 25 artists from across the nation to be invited to the first Maui Invitational Plein Air Paint Out. Subsequently, he was tapped as a member of the Invitational's sponsoring organization, The Islanders, a group of nine plein air painters recording the life and landscape of Hawaii. He has participated in 14 annual Maui Plein Air Painting Invitationals since 2006.
