Michael Bise ('01) draws pictures of everyday life. Or so it seems.

His unique and detailed graphite drawings of family and church life have earned top awards, including this year's $50,000 Hunting Prize — one of the largest annual monetary awards given to artists.

For his winning drawing, "Children," he drew from a photograph of his third-grade class.

"My intention was to capture a sense of who these children might become in the future," he says. "As an adult looking back at an idealized image of childhood, I tried to convey a sense of what the future might hold in the children's faces. That is, I wanted to see the inevitable trials, triumphs and disappointments of adulthood reflected in the faces of children who had yet to experience those events."

Bise lives in Houston, where he has had several exhibitions at the Moody Gallery. The award came after he had a heart transplant in January, providing him with some needed financial security.

"Beyond that, it is always nice to be recognized within a group of artists and peers I respect a great deal," he says.

View his work at Moody Gallery online.