MFA 1973, Rochester Institute of Technology
BFA 1971, University of Massachusetts at Dartmouth

For over fifty years, Michael James's studio practice has centered on fabric constructions. His textiles have been recognized and exhibited internationally, and are included in the collections of the Museum of Arts & Design in New York City, the Museum of Fine Arts Boston, the Racine Art Museum, the Newark Museum, the Mint Museum, the Indianapolis Museum of Art, the Shelburne Museum, the Baltimore Museum of Art, and the Renwick Gallery of the American Art Museum at the Smithsonian Institution, among others.

For his work in non-traditional quilts, James was awarded an Honorary Doctor of Fine Arts degree in 1992 by his alma mater, the University of Massachusetts at Dartmouth. He became a Fellow of the American Craft Council in 2001, and in 2009 was honored with the University of Nebraska's system-wide Outstanding Research and Creative Activity Award (ORCA), given for a sustained record of excellent accomplishment in research or creative activity while at the university. In 2015 he was honored by the Renwick Alliance with its Master of the Medium Award for lifetime accomplishment.

From 2002, James shifted his focus to digitally printed imagery incorporated into the quilt as a mixed-media platform, his work exploring the liminal borderland between the physical and metaphysical worlds. He continues his studio practice in Lincoln, Nebraska.