Malcolm was born February 19, 1945, in Riverside, California. As a child he was blessed with an exploratory nature. This natural curiosity and the experiences that it provided, showed up later as an inclination to make art.  This artistic inclination was strongly encouraged by his father, and the place where he lived was rich in visually stimulating subjects.

Riverside in the late 40’s through 60’s was a landscape of inspiring contrasts. Within easy viewing were wide vistas ringed with majestic mountains, rolling foothills, fields, and citrus orchards. His early drawings show the strong influence of that landscape. His interest in art continued with encouragement from many sources, and by the time he reached his early twenties, he had developed an impressive drawing and painting skill.

In 1968, Malcolm returned from Viet Nam and began formal art training at Riverside Community College. He completed the work for his Bachelor of Arts degree at Humboldt State University in Northern California. During his last two undergraduate years, he began to focus his studies on drawing, printmaking, and photography. 

He continued that focus when he returned to Southern California and completed his Master of Arts degree at Fullerton State University in 1973. He was one of only two graduating art students who had a job waiting for him at graduation. In 1974, he took a position as drawing, painting, printmaking, and photography instructor at Southern College, near Chattanooga, Tennessee. In addition to his regular schedule, he taught adjunct classes at Cleveland State College and the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga. 

He taught for thirteen years at the college level and became an Associate Professor. During that time, Malcolm traveled extensively throughout the U.S. and Canada, getting a feel for the landscape, its nature, and our current human condition. 

By 1986 he had come to the conviction that a personal art statement dealing with human values and their effect on this Earth was necessary to inform, organize, and justify his continuing involvement in the arts. As a result of his angst, in the months between August 1986 and May 1987, he conceived and outlined a massive work of conceptual art which he subsequently titled, A GATHERING OF HORIZONS.

In his career, Malcolm has been invited to show his work in over 100 regional and national juried exhibitions where he has won numerous awards. His works have been collected by many museums, private and corporate collections. Examples of Malcolm's hand and photographic art appear in many corporate and private collections. The William Friedkin Collection, the Clint Eastwood Collection, The Jack Lupton Collection, The Springfield Museum of Art fine print Collection, The McGraw-Hill Collection, The Rhone-Poulenc Rorer Corporate Collection, The Data Com Holdings Corporate Collection, The Exxon-Arco Corporate Collection, The Itel Corporate Collection, The Union Pacific Corporate Collection, The Westinghouse Corporate Collection, and The IBM Corporate Collection are just a few.

            In February 1993, Malcolm married Pamela Barnard Farrell, a nationally recognized writing instructor, consultant and poet. She is the author of numerous articles, chapters, and professional books on teaching, writing and education. Pamela and Malcolm are currently working on books, art projects, and workshops that focus on visual literacy, writing, and the development of critical and creative thinking.