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Mark Kortnik is an oil painter whose subjects range from dramatic landscapes of the Pacific Northwest region to naturalistic wildlife compositions. Mark and his wife Carol, who is also an artist, have operated their studio/gallery on Main Street in Joseph for the past 24 years. After renting a gallery location in Joseph for many years, they decided to build and own their gallery/home in 2001 and named it Aspen Grove Gallery. After many successful years, Mark &Carol are now the two longest resident painters represented on Main Street. The seasonal tourist town of Joseph is known for its growing art community and bronze sculpture foundries. In the early 1980’s, and after the first Bronze foundry opened ,the area began to attract many working artists to the Joseph. Mark was born in 1953 in Sacramento California with a talent to create art at a very young age. He dedicated years to developing his unique skill for representational oil painting. In 1977, Mark earned his bachelor degree in fine arts at Sacramento State University, California. In 1986, Mark met his artist wife Carol and moved to Joseph, Oregon. Mark earns his living as a professional artist selling his work at their local gallery/studio in Joseph, Oregon. He is also able to sell his work on their online website and by traveling to many of the top rated shows in Oregon, Washington, Montana, and Idaho. In 1997 and 1998, “US ART” and “INFORM ART” magazines did a feature on Mark’s work about combining wildlife and petroglyph images in realistic compositions. Mark’s most important exhibit and sale of originals is at the prestigious Western Masters Art Show in Great Falls Montana in the middle of March. Over the years, his oil paintings have received many first place awards. Often people tell Mark how photorealistic and detailed his oil paintings are. Among Mark’s past award highlights are his first place ribbons in 2000, 2004, 2005, and 2008 for his two large bison originals, “Tatanka’s Thunder” and “Days of Thunder”, a landscape, “Golden Ridge”, and a red poppy painting entitled “Dreams for Peace.” In December of 2010, the La Grande Observer newspaper featured an article focusing on Mark and his wife Carol's art and their Aspen Grove Gallery as the longest-operating gallery in Joseph since they started their business in 1988. Most recently, he has been honored to receive the 2011 People’s Choice ribbon and first place judges award for his original landscape oil entitled “Red Willow Winter”. Mark is well known for his wildlife images that convey the spirit of the magnificence of the animals he photographs and then paints from. He has recently branched out to paint more local floral and landscape scenes that express a more dramatic use of light and color. Mark continually asks himself through his art in what new ways can he find inspiration from the beauty of the natural world he experiences. Mark invites all to see his artwork and share in his contribution of creating beautiful art in the hope that it will add to the quality of our everyday lives. You can also view and buy his artwork on: |
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Mark working on his painting |
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