It Begins w/a Mark: Contemporary Mark-Making, Process & Expression

I gave this talk way back in mid-September and I’ve finally compiled the list of artists whose work I introduced. To everyone who attended the lecture, many thanks for your patience in my writing out this list! If you missed this lecture, you’re in luck, I’m offering another FREE lecture on January 9, 2025 called, It Begins with a Mark: Tracing the Unseen Through the Living Mark. Visit the link to find out more or email me to register. To start your new year off by developing a strong studio practice, I’m offering my popular Mark-Making as Practice class starting again in January with some fun changes. If you register for the class, you’re automatically registered for the lecture. Visit the link to find out more about the class and join us!

It Begins w/a Mark: Contemporary Mark-Making, Process & Expression Lecture
Presented on September 11, 2024

Introduction
I’ve been obsessed with marks for over 20 years and I’ve given many variations of this talk many times for various venues. Each time I do new research I’m pleasantly struck that I haven’t seen it all, artists are always continuously and consistently inventing new and amazing ways to make marks. With this talk, I focused on the marks made in process driven work. 

Process & Expression
Process is defined as a series of actions which evolve or are adapted as a result of working through a problem. 

Artists who work with process tend to have a strong connection to their materials and either break down their process to a single repetitive act and/or apply a set of rules. Most importantly they rely on that process as a means to an end-the process itself creates the form, the artist simply acts as the facilitator. Some of these artists even go to the extreme to allow for creativity to be removed from the art making all together—creating a purely scientific, process-based approach which I find fascinating. Even though the approach to this work is more conceptual and rules based, I still see an emotional connection coming out in the work between either the artist and the finished work or the viewer and the work, or both. I also see a tendency toward involving the body in the process, the body coming in direct interaction with the materials- which also creates that emotional connection.

William Anastasi
Kevin Townsend
Il Lee
Tony Orrico
Emily Gerard
Elizabeth Doering
Linda Stillman
Jaq Chartier
Alexis Harding
Nathan Terborg
Sara Noa Mark
Drew Shiftlett

Conclusion

This is a quote from sculptor Jackie Winsor, who has explored process and repetition in her work for more than 25 years, When you repeat an action again and again, you produce an effect of certainty or security in the viewers mind. You are not trying discover something or convince yourself. You’re dealing with certainty then as a formal concern and that soothes the viewer.