Marc R. Hanson (born 1955)

Having grown up in a military family, Marc’s youth was spent on the move. He was born in Oxnard, California and spent some of his early school years there. But his geographical resume soon included Alaska, Florida, Arkansas, Nebraska, South Dakota and Norway. After his father’s retirement from the Air Force, Marc’s family settled in the small northern California community of Loomis. Marc began college as a biology major, but soon applied to and was accepted into Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, California, majoring in illustration. After Art Center and a brief stint as a staff illustrator in Sacramento, California, Marc moved to Minnesota where he lived for 33 years while raising a family and pursuing his art. He currently lives in northern Mississippi.

“I have pursued a career as a painter for many years now. Along the way my methods, materials and focus have evolved. A naturalist at heart, the landscape is the perfect vehicle for expressing the joy I have for the world that surrounds me. My real interest and challenge as a painter is how to best manipulate the core principles of painting into effective visual statements. I’m most successful when I’m able to communicate that joy to the viewers of my paintings.”

Marc teaches landscape painting workshops locally and nationally. “ I love working with other painters in their pursuit to better their craft. My goal is not to have them assimilate my style and technique, but to teach them how to more closely examine the subject and apply the principles that representational painters must follow to become effective visual communicators.” Marc has shown his work in galleries and museums nationally and internationally since the early 1980’s.

He is a Master Signature Member of The Oil Painters of America (O.P.A.M.), having won an
Award of Excellence at the O.P.A. National Exhibit in 2000, 2007, 2009, 2010 and 2011.

In 2011 Marc’s painting ‘Right or Left’ was awarded Bronze Medal for Painting at the OPA National Exhibition in Coeur d’Alene, ID, and in 2016 the “Gold Medal Masters Division” at the OPA Regional Exhibition in Cincinnati, OH.

Among his many awards, he’s placed four times in The Pastel Journal’s ‘Pastel 100’ competition.

Other Recent Awards-

~ Olmsted Plein Air Invitational, Atlanta, GA - ‘Cezanne Best Landscape’ Award 2017 ~ Olmsted

Plein Air Invitational, Atlanta, GA - ‘Jurors Choice Award’ - 2017

~ Olmsted Plein Air Invitational, Atlanta, GA - ‘Cezanne Best Landscape’ Award 2016 ~ Oil

Painters of America - Master Signature Member Status (OPAM) 2016

~ RMPAP ( Rocky Mountain Plein Air Painters) Paint the Park - First Place 2014, RMPAP Rocky

Mountain NP Plein Air- Best Body of Work 2014, RMPAP Paint the Park - Best Body of Work

and Award of Excellence 2015

~ Olmsted Plein Air Invitational, Atlanta, GA - Francesca Kerpel Wenger ‘Best Sense of Place’

Award 2015

~Door County Plein Air Festival - Honorable Mention 2011, Artist Choice and First Place 2012,

First Place 2013, Third Place 2015

~ PAAC ( Plein Air Artists Colorado)- Third Place 2015

Recent Publications-

~ Fine Art Connoisseur - Feature 2017