Mark Willson

Mark is a former resident of Paonia, now living at his other home in Seattle, Washington. Mark grew up in Albuquerque, received his BFA from UNM in 1980, then scooted up to the Pacific Northwest and lived there for thirty years. All the while he worked as an artisan, gathering new sets of skills to expand the contents of his bag of tricks. He worked as a carpenter, sign painter, cabinet maker, stained glass artist and teacher, while dabbling in mosaic, concrete sculpture and hot glass. 

Color, line, bold contrast, nature, beauty, landscape, human manipulation of landscape, human figure as landscape, multiple physical realities occupying the same space at the same time. These are the things that compel Mark. He likes conveying the abstract quality of a landscape. Recognizable maybe but not realism. He also like a little ambiguity. He likes when he doesn't have complete control, when the medium has a few ideas of its own.