Welcome
I was born in Washington, DC, and have lived in various cities in the U. S. and abroad, including Edinburgh, Scotland, and Giessen, Germany. When I was in the Navy I was stationed in Charleston, West Virginia, after completing almost four years of sea duty, and I have lived here, off and on, ever since. I am fortunate to have known, and to still know, many accomplished and generous artists, and art professors, many of whom I met while pursuing my art education at the University of Charleston, Marshall University, and West Virginia University. If you were visiting my Blue Door Art Studio I would offer you an ice-cold Coke in a small glass bottle.
About Mark
I was born in Washington, DC, and have lived in various cities in the U. S. and abroad, including Edinburgh, Scotland, and Giessen, Germany. When I was in the Navy I was stationed in Charleston, West Virginia, after completing almost four years of sea duty, and I have lived here, off and on, ever since. I am fortunate to have known, and to still know, many accomplished and generous artists, and art professors, many of whom I met while pursuing my art education at the University of Charleston, Marshall University, and West Virginia University.
I have served in state government as the Director of Exhibitions at the West Virginia State Museum, have been an adjunct, visiting, and Assistant Professor of Art at a number of West Virginia colleges and universities, and continue to teach for Concord University, and Marshall University Graduate College. West Virginia has been good to me, and I am thankful to the friendly people here, especially the hundreds of students and military veterans I have had the honor to know. I continue to learn and gain strength from them. I should also mention that the greatest women in the world live here in West Virginia, and that’s the main reason I’m lucky to be here. Insert big smile here.
Influences
I consider the Beatles my first and most important artistic influence. I grew up as a military brat, and even attended three years at a harsh Catholic school in Scotland, during which time listening to the Beatles provided me with not only psychological relief, but also a life-altering influence. The Beatles message for me was, and still is, that it is honorable to be an artist; it is important to value imagination and to pursue the skills needed to express it; and, it is good to remain a dreamer - even as an adult. I loved most of their album covers, and realized years later, for instance, that one of my favorite British Pop artists, Peter Blake, helped create the Sergeant Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club concept.
Some of my favorites artists are Robert Rauschenberg, Bruce Conner, Kurt Schwitters, Ed Kienholz, Pablo Picasso, Joseph Cornell, and various European Dadaists. Additionally, my favorite painters are Jasper Johns, Willem De Kooning, and almost every other abstract expressionist. I can’t get enough paint drips. I would be remiss without acknowledging the enormous influence of Pop Art on my work. Andy Warhol’s inclusion of mass media and celebrity photographs in his paintings, and his challenge to question what is original in a world of mass-production, was ground-breaking, and is something with which I continue to struggle.
I owe a great debt to my first art professor, Hank Keeling, whom studied abstract art for years with Hans Hofmann in New York City and Provincetown, Massachusetts. Perhaps the most important lesson Hank taught me was to be a partner, not a director, in the painting process. He taught me to listen to the image as it develops, to respond intuitively to its needs, and never to forget that an artist is only one part of an artistic creation. I once came across a similar philosophy expressed by Willem de Kooning. He said if he knew why he painted, or had a specific intention of what the end result of a painting would be, he wouldn’t even bother to do it. He said he loved the mystery of painting, and without it, what’s the point?
Life Stages
I have provided a few dozen examples of my work on this website. I experiment with a lot of materials, and use whatever seems to go together at any particular stage in my life. I know nothing stays the same, and change is inevitable, so I can only paint or construct any number of pieces in a particular way at any given time. I feel compelled to mix paint with found materials, and to juxtapose magazine photographs and colorful numbers and letters. Using cast-off mass media materials may be my way of connecting with something larger than myself, like a consciousness other than my own. After decades of painting, I really don’t know…even now.
I do know, though, that when I’m painting I feel less anxious, and less likely to focus on my personal losses and defeats - the pain in my life. Painting gives me a more hopeful and thankful attitude about all the great and special gifts in my life. I hope you enjoy looking at my work, and thank you for stopping by. If you were visiting my Blue Door Art Studio I would offer you an ice-cold Coke in a small glass bottle. I think that is still the best way to enjoy one of America’s greatest contributions to the world.
