Mark is an Irish artist and educator based in Seattle, WA with over twenty years of experience in exhibition, university education, and environmental research.
ARTIST STATEMENT
My work is based on observation and expression. My art is centered around figurative and landscape work. We are inescapably human and though we might try, it is difficult to separate ourselves from the world or see it through anything other than human eyes. For me, the act of depicting the human has always been an act of existentialism.
I am looking for the eternal in the fleeting, for what is common to us all even though we are individuals. In the monumental and the mundane, there is a commonality of experience that speaks of a deeper meaning, even if that escapes us. When I paint, my aim is to show the universal in each place or person, whether that is an aspect of their personality, the emotions that they are experiencing, or the situation that they are in. In this way, I hope the images strike a chord with others so that the viewer can see something of us all in each piece.
My work as an artist, has in many ways, been a form of existential inquiry itself. I started my professional career working in political and environmental education because I had a need to understand the world. I became an artist to understand the world and myself. I paint oil portraits because they help me understand other people. My current artwork explores and represents people, through figurative and portrait work and explores the natural world through landscapes.
ARTIST BIOGRAPHY
Mark is an Irish artist and educator based in Seattle, WA with over twenty years of experience in exhibition, university education, and environmental research. His work is an integration of classical observational practice with contemporary conceptual training. He is a faculty member at the Gage Academy of Art in Seattle, Digipen Institute of Technology in Redmond, WA, and the Wilderness Awareness School based in Duvall, WA.
Mark is a working studio artist. He has an active fine art career with multiple gallery exhibitions and work in private and museum collections both in the Seattle area and internationally. Mark has most recently exhibited at the National Nordic Museum in Seattle, the Bainbridge Island Museum of Art, the Bellevue Museum of Art, and the Seattle Convention Center.
Mark speaks a number of languages but is passionate about preserving the Irish language (Gaeilge) which is still thriving along with English in Ireland; he titles his works in both Gaeilge and English.
Go Figure! is on view now through December 6 in the Nichols Gallery. This striking exhibition will expand your definition of figurative art.
We thank our sponsors- The Honeywell Charitable Fund, National Endowment for the Arts, Washington State Arts Commission, Town of Friday Harbor, San Juan Island Community Foundation, Anonymous, Orcas Island Community Foundation, Printonyx, Harbor Rental, Browne’s Home Center, Tucker House, Friday Harbor Grand, and Friday Harbor House.