Mark Beale
United States
Mark Beale grew up exploring the creeks and rivers of Tidewater, VA and developed an early love of the coastal landscape. As a teenager, he began studying with Barclay Sheaks and later with Theodore Turner at the University of Virginia. In 1989, he moved to Charleston, South Carolina and developed a style influenced by the 19th Century Tonalist school. Forty years of boating along the coastal southern US helped develop his visual memory of the marine environment.
He has extended the Tonalist syle to include a contemporay feel which draws the viewer in to participate in the painting. He prefers to paint times of changing light such as moonrise, senset and dusk, but also applies the style to portrait and lanscape. In Plantation Field, Overgrown, the artist depicts a former plantation in Charleston County, South Carolina. The sun is setting on the former plantation while new growth thrives and the birds in the sky are representing freedom.
Beale aims for a timeless quality in his work and only occasionally includes primitive dwellings and skiffs. He has won numerous awards including two from the National Parks Foundation which took his work on a two year traveling exhibit. He has exhibited at the historic Salmagundi Club in New York City, several group museusm shows across the US, and won the "Favorite 15" Bolb Brush award among many others.
* This statement has been provided directly by the artist in association to their 14th International ARC Salon entries. This content has not been edited for typos or grammatical errors and has not been vetted for accuracy.
