Featured Artist Mark Flowers

Artist Mark Flowers uses fascinating imagery to create “visual poetry” that reflects his relationship with the world. Enjoy his compelling portfolio and visit his website to see more.

 

 

My name is Mark Flowers and I live just north of Asheville, North Carolina. My wife Kristy Higby and I are both artists, and we have a studio business called Mountain Tea Studios.

 

 

I am a painter and she is a documentary filmmaker and a maker of artist’s books. I received my MFA from Western Michigan University and have been working as a professional artist for over 38 years.

 

 

My work has been shown across the United States and in Europe. I have also been involved with teaching art on the university and high school levels about as long. Currently I teach painting and am a gallery coordinator at USC Upstate in Spartanburg, South Carolina.

 

 

My work is mostly acrylic paint on panel. The format is often shaped and contains illusionary images. I am using surface techniques with paint and computer imagery manipulated by paint.

 

 

Lately, I have had the idea of the non-objective and the objective image having a specific relationship. I seek a dialogue with the viewer that is akin to “visual poetry.” I combine figurative elements with textured surfaces, evoking a narrative that engages the viewer visually.

 

 

I have just recently completed an artist residency at The Sam and Adele Golden Foundation in New York State. The wonderful spaces to work and free access to acrylic paint from the Golden Artist Colors paint factory, just down the road, has proven to be a wonderful and productive experience.

 

 

My next one-person exhibition will be in this fall in Columbia, SC at If Art Gallery.