Artist Statement/Resume

ARTIST’S STATEMENT:

My interest in landscape painting extends from the 19th-century Romantic painters like Bierstadt, Church, Keith, Cole, Moran, Inness, through the early California Impressionist painters such as Payne, Wendt, Redmond, Braun and Bischoff, the Arts and Crafts movement, and on to modern influences.

Besides large studio paintings in acrylics uniquely blending California Impressionism, Craftsman style, and a modern abstract sense, I paint smaller, more traditional oils en plein air, attracted to their conceptual naiveté combined with sophisticated execution, in the search for truth via direct observation of nature.

Artist's Statement & Resume

Plein Air-Mark Monsarrat, Artist

Landscape Paintings & Florals

ARTIST’S BACKGROUND:

Mark Monsarrat, award-winning plein air and studio artist, sold his first painting at the age of 14. He juried into the Ohio State Fair at 16, and by the age of 30, after brief stints in engineering and the corporate world (master’s degrees in both), Mark left Columbus, Ohio to pursue the artist’s life in historic San Francisco. There he attended various art schools (receiving his BFA from the California College of the Arts) and numerous outdoor workshops. More recently, Mark is painting the desert during winters in Phoenix.

From 1984, over the next 18 years as a San Francisco Street Artist, Mark produced intricate ink-and-watercolor drawings and prints, later more whimsical, small watercolors of the city, the California Missions, and Wine Country. Starting in 1996, Mark returned to post-graduate painting studies, later showing larger pieces at weekend art festivals and galleries. On to major landscapes in oils and acrylics, Mark Monsarrat is more recently concentrating on smaller plein-air oils and still lifes.

GALLERIES, JURIED SHOWS, AWARDS:

2008: “Best of Mare Island” (Oil Painting), 1^st Annual Flyway Plein-Air Festival, Vallejo, CA;

2^nd Place (Oil Painting), Lost Dutchman Plein-Air Paint-Out, Superstition Mtns., Phoenix, AZ;

3^rd Place, Acrylics, Indian Wells Arts Festival, CA.

2007: 1^st Place, Acrylics, Rancho Mirage Art Affaire;

Juried Plein-Air Paintouts: Frank Bette Center, Alameda; Museum of Art & History, Santa Cruz

2005-6: Manzanita Gallery, Sedona, AZ;

Mowen-Solinsky Gallery, Nevada City, CA

2003-4: Coda Gallery, Palm Desert;

The Loft Gallery, Palm Springs;

Gallerie van Friend, Scottsdale;

1998: Napa Valley Mustard Festival, Honorable Mention

1997: Jernigan-Wicker Gallery, San Francisco; 1996, 3-Person show;

San Francisco Art Institute, Diego Rivera Gallery, alumni-juried 3-Person show

1984: Award of Merit, San Francisco Street Artists Program

ART FESTIVALS:

From 20 to 35 weekend shows per year in California, Washington, Nevada, and Arizona, including over the last five years: La Quinta, Mill Valley, La Jolla, Los Altos, Bellevue, Carefree, Boulder City, etc.

TEACHING / MEMBERSHIPS:

2006-8: Active Artist Member, Peninsula Outdoor Painters (POPs); Benicia Plein-Air Group, SF Bay Area;

LPAPA Member (Laguna, CA); APAP Member (AZ); Scottsdale Plein-Air Painters (AZ).

2007-8: Taught plein-air painting workshops, Bay Area

2002-3: Taught painting classes: various Bay Area adult school and community programs.

ART EDUCATION:

2008: Plein-Air Workshop: Skip Whitcomb

2007: Plein-Air Workshops: John Poon, Jeanette LeGrue, Jean LeGassick

2006: Plein-Air Workshops: Ken Auster; Randy Sexton; George Strickland; John Budicin

2001-2: Workshops: PamGlover, CamillePrzewodek, VanWaldron, JoveWang, AlexanderZimin, BrigitteCurt

1995-6: (Post-Graduate Studies): The San Francisco Art Institute and City College of San Francisco

1983-4: The California College of Arts and Crafts: BFA, drawing, 1983

1982: The San Francisco Academy of Art

1981-2:City College of San Francisco

1969-80:The Ohio State University (after Miami University of Ohio), MSME (Engrg.), MBA (Mktg).

Email: Mark@MarkMonsarrat.com