Michael Costantini, born in San Francisco, was educated at the famed California College of Arts and Crafts, University of the Pacific, and The San Francisco Art Institute. He completed formal education at the Dharma Realm Buddhist University in Northern California. Costantini's list of artists who influenced his work is headed by sculptor Richard Faralla of Forestville and Inverness, California. He was apprenticed by the Museum of Modern Art in San Francisco and later with William Sumner and Robert Gove, well known and highly sensitive stone carver who influenced many artists in Sonoma County, California. .
He studied with landscape architect/historian Tetsua Mizomoto, in Kyoto, Japan during the period 1984-85 gathering insight about the place of stonework in Japanese culture. During that period, he studied stone work in 23 major Zen gardens. With sculptor/painter Flory Chow he studied stone carving and cutting, focusing upon Chinese monumental style, both in carving and landscape painting. Robert Gove, he says, fostered for him an awareness of the Zen pathway and for the function of the artist in contemporary society. Costantini tells us Ronald Chase, sculptor, painter and film maker, introduced him to serious art and cemented the decision to follow his artistic intuition.
While sculpture dominates his sensitivity and it forms the largest single element of his considerable output, he employs any means to solve a given problem, with great success. Painting, bass relief, constructions, architectural metaphors and references, small and grand scale work are found along the road he travels. He presently lives and works in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico
