Mark Campbell’s vision of Virginia has been shaped by a lifetime of travel and education in the state and region. Mark lived in the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia in his youth and studied architecture, perspective, life drawing and color theory at The University of Virginia during the 1970’s. He briefly studied painting at Virginia Commonwealth University.
Mark’s travels through the region as a collector of traditional music has given him a broad view of the landscape and people living in this beautiful state. Mark began painting and drawing as a youngster and spent much of his career as an architect and renderer. Until the advent of computer aided graphics in the 1990’s, Mark and all hand renderers were artists that portrayed the built environment in service of the architectural client. Mark brings his keen knowledge of perspective and light to the natural and man-made environment with a touch of Hopper and a hint of Impressionism.
While lecturing at the University of Virginia, the great architect Lou Khan looked into the eyes of young Mark and said “But…light is the most important thing.” Mark paints the light.
Mark C Campbell’s collection at Stravitz Art Gallery