Born in Boston, Michael B. Karas was inspired by the beauty of New England and began his life as an artist at a very young age.  Encouraged by family and educators alike, Karas found the support necessary to pursue his art and in 1975, graduated from the New England School of Art and Design. After several years spent in Gloucester, Mass., and a two-year cross-country painting trip of America, Karas returned to New England and settled in mid-coast Maine where he stayed for nearly 18 years, finding inspiration in New England's landscape and rugged shoreline. In 1989, Karas had his first introduction to the beauty of the Lowcountry, and after several years of visits, made the move to South Carolina in 2004. With the quintessential marsh scene as his very own backyard, Karas has been studying the Lowcountry as only an artist can. His paintings of the slight seasonal changes in tonality and light of this landscape, are truly inspired.

An accomplished landscape and marine artist, Michael B.Karas has been painting professionally for over 36 years, and has had 31 one-man shows in various galleries throughout North America. Karas has exhibited in a number of museums including Connecticut River Museum; Essex, Connecticut, Delaware Art Museum; Wilmington, Delaware, Maine Maritime Museum; Bath, Maine, Newport Art  Museum; Newport, Rhode Island, Vero Beach Museum of Art; Vero Beach, Florida, Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum; St. Michaels, Maryland, Noyes Museum of Art; Oceanville, New Jersey, Spartanburg Art Museum; Spartanburg, South Carolina, Cornell Museum of Art and American Culture; Delray Beach, Florida,  Art Museum of the Southwest; Midland Texas, Haggin Museum; Stockton, California, Coos Art Museum; Coos Bay, Oregon.

Michael B. Karas has been an elected Fellow of the American Society of Marine Artists since 2001. He has received numerous awards for his paintings, and was the subject of a feature article in American Artist Magazine. More than 2,500 of his paintings can be found in public, private, and corporate collections around the globe including Sears Roebuck Executive Collection; Chicago, Illinois, Morgan Stanley; New York, New York, Bank of America; Wilmington, Delaware, Allstate Insurance; Northbrook, Illinois, Bank of Boston; Boston, Massachusetts, L.C. Fulenwider Inc.; Denver, Colorado, Coopers & Lybrand Toronto; Ontario, Canada, Bradford Brinton Memorial & Museum; Big Horn, Wyoming, Spring Island Club; Spring Island, South Carolina, Chechessee Creek Club; Okatie, South Carolina, Inn at Harbour Town - Sea Pines Resort; Hilton Head, South Carolina, Colleton River Plantation Club; Bluffton, South Carolina, Oldfield Club; Okatie, South Carolina.

Recognized by collectors and fellow artists as one of the nation's finest marine and landscape painters, the extraordinary oil paintings created by Michael B. Karas, evolve with passion and self imposed standards of excellence, making them internationally prized and personally treasured.