Biography

Mark Messersmith

Nationality: American
Dates: Born 1955
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Mark Messersmith was included in Knowing Who We Are: A 20th Anniversary Exhibition at Ogden Museum of Southern Art in New Orleans in 2023
 

 

Education:
 

1980 Master of Fine Arts, Painting, Indiana University, Bloomington, Indiana
1977 Bachelor of Fine Arts, Painting, Fontbonne College, St. Louis, Missouri
 

 

Exhibitions:
 

2019 Bird Show, group exhibition, Valley House Gallery, Dallas, Texas
2019 Dallas Art Fair, Fashion Industry Gallery, Dallas, Texas (Valley House Gallery)
2019 Of a Feather, group exhibition, Beatrice M. Haggerty Gallery and Thompson Loggia, University of Dallas, Irving, Texas
2019 Bear / Bare with Me: Altered States, Bernice Steinbaum Gallery, Miami, Florida
2018 Mark Messersmith: When No One is Watching, Sara May Love Gallery, Gadsden Arts Center and Museum, Quincy, Florida
2018 Dallas Art Fair, Fashion Industry Gallery, Dallas, Texas (Valley House Gallery)
2017 TREES: A society grows great when old men plant trees whose shade they know they shall never sit in. (Greek Proverb), Valley House Gallery, Dallas, Texas
2017 Dallas Art Fair, Fashion Industry Gallery, Dallas, Texas (Valley House Gallery)
2017 Pay the Thunder No Mind – Listen to the Birds and Hate Nobody, Valley House Gallery & Sculpture Garden, Dallas, Texas
2017 In the Eyes of the Hungry: Florida’s Changing Landscape, group exhibition, Curated by Keri Watson, Art Gallery, University of Central Florida, Orlando, Florida
2016-17 Flora and Fauna, group exhibition, Tyler Museum of Art, Tyler, Texas
2016 Friends, group exhibition, J. Johnson Gallery, Jacksonville Beach, Florida
2015-16 Objects of Interest: Recent Acquisitions for the Permanent Collection, group exhibition, Ogden Museum of Southern Art, New Orleans, Louisiana
2015 When Worlds Collide: a Dialogue between Contemporary Painting and the Ringling’s Permanent Collection, 4-person exhibition, John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art, Sarasota, Florida
2015 Recent Acquisitions to the Appleton Collection, Appleton Museum, Ocala, Florida
2015 Menagerie, Art and the Animal Kingdom, group exhibition, The Grace Museum, Abilene, Texas
2015 Mark Messersmith, Earth Day Texas 2015, solo exhibition, Fair Park, Dallas, Texas
2015 Dallas Art Fair, Fashion Industry Gallery, Dallas, Texas (Valley House Gallery)
2014 Driptorch: A Contemporary Art Event in Downton Thomasville, Georgia, group exhibition organized by John Gleason, 110 South Broad Street, Thomasville, Georgia
2014 MAC@20 Part II, group exhibition, The McKinney Avenue Contemporary, Dallas, Texas
2014 60th Anniversary Exhibition: A Celebration of Valley House Artists, group exhibition, Valley House Gallery, Dallas, Texas
2014 Masterful Marks: An Exploration of the Medium of Drawing, group exhibition, Valley House Gallery, Dallas, Texas
2014 Mark Messersmith: Southern Mythology, Historic City Hall Arts and Cultural Center, Lake Charles, Louisiana
2014 Dallas Art Fair, Fashion Industry Gallery, Dallas, Texas (Valley House Gallery)
2013 Mark Messersmith: Southern Obsessions, Valley House Gallery & Sculpture Garden, Dallas, Texas
2013 Suitable Subjects: Contemporary Still Lifes, The Grace Museum, Abilene, Texas
2013 Dallas Art Fair, Fashion Industry Gallery, Dallas, Texas (Valley House Gallery)
2013 Mark Messersmith: Where Have All the Birds Gone? Zadok Gallery, Miami, Florida
2012-13 Mark Messersmith, Marc Petrovic, and James Prosek, J. Johnson Gallery, Jacksonville Beach, Florida
2012 Mark Messersmith: Fragile Nature - The Florida Artist Series, The Patricia and Phillip Frost Art Museum, Florida International University, Miami
2012 Mark Messersmith, Appleton Museum of Art, College of Central Florida, Ocala, Florida
2012 Mark Messersmith: Maximalist and Naturalist, Ogden Museum of Southern Art, New Orleans, Louisiana
2012 Houston Fine Art Fair, Reliant Center, Houston, Texas (Valley House Gallery)
2012 Dallas Art Fair, Fashion Industry Gallery, Dallas, Texas (Valley House Gallery)
2011 Houston Fine Art Fair, George R. Brown Convention Center, Houston, Texas (Valley House Gallery)
2011 Mark Messersmith, Homer and Dolly Hand Art Center, Stetson University, Florida
2011 Greenhouse, Bernice Steinbaum Gallery, Miami, Florida
2011 The Good Earth (a group exhibition), Valley House Gallery, Dallas, Texas
2011 Mark Messersmith: Blighted Eden, Bernice Steinbaum Gallery, Miami, Florida
2011 Mark Messersmith: Scenic Delusions of Ordinary Disappointments, Art Museum of Southeast Texas, Beaumont, Texas
2011 Dallas Art Fair, Fashion Industry Gallery, Dallas, Texas (Valley House Gallery)
2011 Fresh & Salty (a Valley House Gallery group exhibition), Fort Worth Community Arts Center, Fort Worth, Texas
2010 Mark Messersmith, Encounters, Huntsville Museum of Art, Huntsville, Alabama
2010 Shorelines, Valley House Gallery, Dallas, Texas
2010 New Works: Highlights from the Permanent Collection, Tyler Museum of Art, Tyler, Texas
2009 Eminent Domain, The McKinney Avenue Contemporary, solo exhibition, Dallas, Texas
2009 Thank You Fort Worth: An Appreciation from Valley House Gallery & Sculpture Garden, Group Exhibition, Fort Worth Community Arts Center, Fort Worth, Texas
2008 A Mysterious Clarity IX: Mark Messersmith, Ray Burggraf & Lilian Garcia-Roig, Brevard Museum of Art, Melbourne, Florida
2008 SCOPE Basel, with Byblos Gallery, Basel, Switzerland
2008 Maximalism in Contemporary American Painting, Byblos Gallery, Verona, Italy
2008 CADD Contemporary Art Dealers of Dallas Art Fair, Three Three Three First Avenue, Dallas, Texas (Valley House Gallery)
2008 College Art Association’s 96th Annual Conference, Adam’s Mark Hotel, Dallas, Texas
2008 A Mysterious ClarityVIII: Mark Messersmith, Ray Burggraf & Lilian Garcia-Roig, Gulf Coast Museum of Art, Largo, Florida
2008 Mark Messersmith: Natural Defenses, Perkins Gallery, Polk Museum of Art, Lakeland, Florida
2008 Mark Messersmith: Southern Mythology, Valley House Gallery, Dallas, Texas
2008 Solo Exhibition, J. Johnson Gallery, Jacksonville Beach, Florida
2007 3 Joan Mitchell Foundation Painters and Sculptors Grant Program Award Winners: Lilian Garcia-Roig, Sedrick Huckaby, Mark Messersmith, Wynwood Lofts, Miami, Florida (exhibited by Valley House Gallery during Art Basel Miami Beach and Art Miami)
2007 A Southern Landscape: Paintings by Mark Messersmith, Solo Exhibition, The Bob Rauschenberg Gallery, Edison College, Fort Myers, Florida
2007 CADD Contemporary Art Dealers of Dallas Inaugural Art Fair, 333 First Avenue, Dallas, Texas (Valley House Gallery)
2007 More is More - Maximalist Tendencies in Recent American Painting, Museum of Fine Arts, Florida State University, Tallahassee, Florida
2007 The Art Show, Art Dealer’s Association of America, Park Avenue Armory, New York, New York (Valley House Gallery)
2006 A Mysterious Clarity VI: Recent Paintings by Ray Burggraf, Mark Messersmith, Lilian Garcia-Roig, The Wynwood Art Complex, Loft #209, Miami, Florida
2006 Under the Fort, Group Exhibition, The Rhys Gallery, Boston, Massachusetts, curated by Evelyn Rudz
2006 Taking the Dog for a Walk, Group Exhibition, Leo Kamen Gallery Toronto, Ontario, Canada
2006 Kingdom Animalia, Valley House Gallery, Dallas, Texas
2006 Mysterious Clarity V, Sam Houston State University Art Gallery, Huntsville, Texas
2006 High Roads and Low Roads, Group Exhibition, Florida State University Museum of Fine Arts, Tallahassee, Florida; The Arts Center Galleries of Okaloosa-Walton College Arts Center Galleries (catalogue)
2006 EMBLEMATIC, Group Exhibition, McMaster Gallery, University of South Carolina
2005-06 New Paintings, 2000-2005, Solo Exhibition, Museum of Art and Science, Tallahassee, Florida, (catalogue)
2005-06 30th Parallel: A Convergence of Contemporary Painting, Jacksonville Museum of Modern Art, Jacksonville, Florida
2005 Florida Focus, Gulf Coast Museum of Art, Largo, Florida
2004 Nature of the Beast, Solo Exhibition, University of Arkansas, Fine Arts Gallery
2004 Mysterious Clarity (new paintings by Lilian Garcia-Roig, Messersmith and Burgraff), 621 Gallery, Tallahassee, Florida, curated by Julie Bowland, Valdosta State University Gallery, Valdosta, Georgia
2004 Mysterious Clarity II, Valdosta State University Gallery, Valdosta, Georgia, curated by Julie Bowland
2003 Shakespeare Theater, Washington, D.C., 5 paintings for Ibsen’s play, “Ghosts”, directed by Edwin Sherin, starring Jane Alexander
2003 Luminous Nightmares, Solo Exhibition, Crealdé School of Art,Winter Park, Florida
2002 Wild Life: The Other Tradition, Group Exhibition, Polk Museum of Art, Lakeland, Florida, (catalogue)
2001 Mark Messersmith: New Mythologies, Center for the Arts, Vero Beach, Florida
2001 The Apocalyptic Landscape: Paintings by Mark Messersmith, Loyola University, New Orleans, Louisiana
2001 The Apocalyptic Landscape: Paintings by Mark Messersmith, Center for the Arts, Vero Beach, Florida
2001 Florida Fellowship Grant in the Visual Arts for 1999-2000, Group Exhibition, host venues; von Liebig Art Center, Naples, Florida; Lowe Art Museum, Miami, Florida; Center for the Arts, Vero Beach, Florida (catalogue)
2001 Cagnes-sur-Mer, XXXIII Festival International de la Peinture, Cagnes-sur-Mer, France, organized by the Boca Raton Museum of Art, Boca Raton, Florida (catalogue)
2000 Mysterious Land: Paintings by Mark Messersmith, Artport Gallery, Tallahassee, Florida
2000 Bright Days/Dark Nights, Solo Exhibition, Auburn University, Auburn, Alabama
1999 Paintings by Mark Messersmith, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, Alabama
1999 Inaugural Exhibition, Group Exhibition, Gulf Coast Museum of Art, Largo, Florida
1999 Contemporary Citrus Imagery by Florida Artists, Group Exhibition, Tampa Museum of Art, Tampa, Florida
1997-98 New Mythologies, Solo Exhibition, Florida Gulf Coast Arts Center, Belleair, Florida, and toured December 1997 - January 1998 (catalogue)
1997 Paintings, Solo Exhibition, The Spartanburg Museum of Art, Spartanburg, South Carolina
1996 Selections From Chroma, Group Exhibition, The Appleton Museum of Art, Ocala, Florida
1994 Southern Arts Federation/National Endowment for the Arts Regional Fellowship Exhibition, Southeastern Center for Contemporary Art (SECCA), Winston-Salem, North Carolina
1994 Florida’s Finest, 1993-94 Fellowship Recipients, Center for Contemporary Art, North Miami, Florida
1992 The Red Clay Survey, Contemporary Southern Art, Group Exhibition, Huntsville Museum of Art, Huntsville, Alabama (catalogue)
1992 41st Annual All Florida Juried Exhibition, Boca Raton Museum of Art, Boca Raton, Florida.
1991 Recent Works, Solo Exhibition, Lowe, The Gallery, Atlanta, Georgia
1990-91 Southern Arts Federation/National Endowment for the Arts Regional Fellowship Exhibition, touring
 

 

Awards:
 

2008 Florida Department of State, Division of Cultural Affairs, Individual Artist Fellowship Award
2006 Joan Mitchell Foundation Painting Award
2001 Le Grand Prix, XXXIII Festival International de la Peinture, Cagnes -sur-Mer, France, (purchase award)
1999 Florida Department of State, Division of Cultural Affairs, Individual Artist Fellowship Award
1994 National Endowment for the Arts/Southern Arts Federation, Regional Fellowship
1994 Award for Emerging Visual Artists
1993 Florida Department of State, Division of Cultural Affairs, Individual Artist Fellowship Award
1988 National Endowment for the Arts/Southern Arts Federation, Regional Fellowship
1988 Award for Emerging Visual Artists
1987 Florida Department of State, Division of Cultural Affairs, Individual Artist Fellowship Award
1980 Ford Foundation Artist Fellowship
1979 Ford Foundation Artist Fellowship
 

 

Literature:
 

“Noted: Galleries (Valley House Gallery),” Patron Magazine, April/May 2017, page 49.
 

“Mark Messersmith: Pay the Thunder No Mind—Listen to the Birds and Hate Nobody,” Whitewaller, Dallas 2017, page 73.
 

“Mark Messersmith: Pay the Thunder No Mind—Listen to the Birds and Hate Nobody,” Addison Magazine, April/May 2017, page 27.
 

Back and Forth: Thinking in Paint, exhibition catalogue, The John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art, Sarasota, Florida, 2015.
 

60th Anniversary Catalogue, Valley House Gallery, Dallas, Texas, 2014; Shadow of Days reproduced.
 

Kendall Morgan, “Art gallery picks of the month: More is more, you’ve got mail and the art of charity,” CultureMap Dallas at http://dallas.culturemap.com/news/arts/08-16-13-art-gallery-picks-valley-house-re-midtown/, August 16, 2013.
 

Judith H. Bonner and Estill Curtis Pennington, Volume Editors, “Volume 21: Art & Architecture,” The New Encyclopedia of Southern Culture, Charles Reagan Wilson, General Editor, University of North Carolina Press, Chapel Hill, 2013.
 

Brad Rhines, “Swamped: Mark Messersmith’s Untamed Canvasses Capture the Vivacity and Violence of the North Florida Wilds,” NOLA Defender, 2012.
 

Shana Beth Mason, “Mark Messersmith’s Blighted Eden at Bernice Steinbaum Gallery,” Miami Art Guide, 2011.
 

Mark Messersmith: Encounters, exhibition catalogue, October 2010 – January 2011, Huntsville Museum of Art, 17 pages.
 

John R. Kemp, “Expand Your Landscape Painting Horizons,” American Artist, May 2009
 

More is More – Maximalist Tendencies in Recent American Painting, Tatiana Flores, curator/author, Lilian Garcia-Roig, exhibition concept, Florida State University Museum of Fine Arts, Tallahassee, Florida, 2007, images on pp. 3,16, 38, 39, 64.
 

New American Painting, Volume 64, 2005/2006 Southern Edition, The Open Studio Press
 

High Roads and Low Roads, Group Exhibition, Florida State University Museum of Fine Arts, Tallahassee, Florida, February 17-March 26, 2006, The Arts Center Galleries of Okaloosa-Walton College Arts Center Galleries, October 15-November 30, 2006, Catalogue by Preston McLane and Allys Palladino-Craig
 

Dan Via, “The Art of the Matter”, The Washington Post, July 18, 2003, Page WE22, (5-6ft.x6ft.painting by Mark Messersmith for Shakespeare Theatre’s “Ghosts” by Ibsen, directed by Edwin Sherin, staring Jane Alexander.)
 

Jayne Blanchard, “‘Ghosts’ haunt Ibsen Update”, The Washington Times, June 14, 2003
 

Lisa Troshinsky, “Haunting and Humorous, Modern Version of ‘Ghosts’ Reveals Diverse Ibsen”, The Washington Diplomat, July 2003
 

Philip Bishop, “Collision of the natural, the human”, Orlando Sentinel, Orlando, Florida, May 17, 2003
 

Flora: Art and Ecology in Florida, Mary Brogan Museum of Art and Science, Tallahassee, Florida, May 11-August 18, 2002, (catalogue)
 

Wild Life, The Other Tradition, Polk Museum of Art, Lakeland Florida, January 12-April 16, 2002, (catalogue)
 

XXXIII Festival International de la Peinture, Chateau Musee, Cagnes -sur-Mer, France, July, 2001, (catalogue)
 

Florida Fellowship Grant in the Visual Arts for 1999-2000, (catalogue)
 

D. Eric Bookhardt, “Men and Beasts,” Gambit Weekly, New Orleans, Louisiana, November, 28, 2000
 

Christine L. Manalla, New Orleans Magazine, December 2000
 

Adrienne Gollub, Art Papers, July/August 2000
 

Florida Painting: A Spectrum of Expression, The Mary Brogan Museum of Art and Science, Tallahassee, Florida, April - May 2000, (catalogue)
 

New Mythologies, essay by Allys Palladino-Craig, Florida Gulf Coast Art Center, Belleair, Florida, November 1996, (catalogue)
 

The Apocalyptic Landscape of Mark Messersmith, paper presented by Karen Valdes, to the, Southern College of Art Conference, Charleston, South Carolina, October 24, 1996
 

Allys Palladino-Craig, New Art Examiner, Chicago/Southern Arts Federation Supplement, October 1994, color reproduction
 

Adrienne Gollub, Art Papers, July/August 1994, photograph
 

Marsha Orr, New Art Examiner, Chicago/Southern Arts Federation Supplement, October 1989
 

 

Teaching:
 

Professor of Art, Florida State University, Tallahassee, Florida
 

 

Public Collections:
 

Alabama Power Company, Birmingham, Alabama
Appleton Museum of Art, Ocala, Florida
Art Museum of Southeast Texas, Beaumont, Texas
Art Museum of West Virginia University, Morgantown, West Virginia
Asheville Art Museum, Asheville, North Carolina
Center for the Arts, Vero Beach, Florida
Christopher Dean Associates, Atlanta, Georgia
City of Orlando, Orlando, Florida
Dean Gardens, Atlanta, Georgia
Eastman Pharmaceuticals, a division of Eastman Kodak, Maluern, Pennsylvania
Figge Art Museum, Davenport, Iowa
Florida State University Museum of Art, Florida State University, Tallahassee, Florida
The Grace Museum, Abilene, Texas
Gulf Coast Museum of Art, Largo, Florida
Hunter Museum of American Art, Chattanooga, Tennessee
Huntsville Museum of Art, Huntsville, Alabama
Jacksonville Museum of Modern Art, Jacksonville, Florida
Jule Collins Smith Museum of Fine Art, Auburn University, Auburn, Alabama
Leepa-Rattner Museum of Art, St. Petersburg College, Tarpon Springs, Florida
Musée du Haut-de-Cagnes, Cagnes-sur-Mer, France
Museum of Fine Arts, Florida State University, Tallahassee, Florida
The Nature Conservancy, Florida Chapter, Altamonte Springs, Florida
Ogden Museum of Southern Art, New Orleans, Louisiana
Orlando Museum of Art, Orlando, Florida
Pensacola Community College, Pensacola, Florida
Policy Sciences Center, DeVoe Conference Center, Florida State University, Tallahassee, Florida
Sheraton Hotel, Bal Harbor, Florida
Stockholders Systems, Inc., Atlanta, Georgia
Tyler Museum of Art, Tyler, Texas
University of Florida, Gainsville, Florida

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