About the Author, Mike Hamers

Graphic Artist, Illustrator, Photographer and Author

Born and raised in Kenosha, WI, Mike’s childhood was lived a few blocks from the beautiful Lake Michigan shoreline and parks. In high school Mike felt a calling to become a professional artist. Mike quickly grew bored with the Fine Art program at the local university extension. So a new path was forged – to earn an Associate’s Degree in Commercial Art from Milwaukee Area Technical College (MATC).  That goal required a commitment to travel 90-miles-a-day round trip by Greyhound Bus for the next two years to attend the weekday classes.   In later years, Mike took night classes to study Fine Art Printmaking, primarily stone lithography, with a Master Tamarind Printer at UW/Milwaukee. He also studied Modern Art History with an emphasis on Surrealism, both the art and the poetry. From an early age, Mike developed a love for the poetry of E.E. Cummings, committing many to memory.

Upon graduation from MATC, Mike was hired and trained as a technical illustrator for Allis-Chalmers.  He went on to eventually work in the corporate art departments of Harley-Davidson and Jeep/Renault.  After moving to Colorado in 1986, Mike worked as a technical illustrator/ contractor at Ball Aerospace for seven years until the Space Shuttle tragedy and the introduction of CAD systems changed everything.

In response, in1994, Mike founded Lightspeed Commercial Arts and quickly grew it into a thriving commercial design studio.  Lightspeed specializes in logo design, visual branding, technical and product illustrations, science art, and book design & formatting.  The commercial portfolio is viewable at www.Lightspeedca.net.

Over the next 25 years, Mike earned much peer recognition receiving over 40 national and international design awards for logo design as well as in the areas of: Typography, Corporate Environmental Graphics, Logo Usage Guide, Consumer Packaging, Photography, Stationery, Book Cover Design, and Illustration.

It was during an unexpected prolonged midlife-crisis in his early 50s that Mike finally recreated his life to make room daily for poetry, fine art painting, nature photography, music, and a rekindling of his spiritual beliefs—all while still running his graphic design business. It was during that transformational period that Mike discovered the ecstatic poetry of the Sufi mystic and religious scholar known as Rumi. Mike’s poetry book, “Walking With Rumi” comes from a place of sincere gratitude, to Rumi and to all poetry, for giving his life a new, fresh perspective.

It was during an unexpected prolonged midlife-crisis in his early 50s that Mike finally recreated his life to make room daily for poetry, fine art painting, nature photography, music, and a rekindling of his spiritual beliefs—all while still running his graphic design business. It was during that transformational period that Mike discovered the ecstatic poetry of the Sufi mystic and religious scholar known as Rumi. Mike’s poetry book, “Walking With Rumi” comes from a place of sincere gratitude, to Rumi and to all poetry, for giving his life a new, fresh perspective.