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MARK DIXON Artist Biographical outline (click here for a full CV listing) Mark Dixon was born in Hull in 1957. Between 1978 and 1995 he ran a screenprinting company in Suffolk. In 1990 he went to art school. A BTech (Art and Design) at Ipswich was followed by an honours degree in Fine Art, Sculpture, at Norwich School of Art and Design. Whilst in his second year at Norwich Mark won a “First Take” award for first time film directors. The film, Ghost Train, which he both produced and directed, was about his large scale drawing on the landscape; it was broadcast on Anglia TV and shown at the Cambridge Film Festival and at the Ipswich Film Theatre. After completing his degree Mark embarked on a series of international projects making and exhibiting work as far as Minnesota in 1998 to cast iron and Moscow 1996 to sculpt snow. He also worked with artists from around the world at sculpture symposia in the Czech Republic, making experimental sculptures and installations. In 1997 he raised an Awards for All grant to organise an experimental printmaking workshop and exhibition in St Margarets Church, Norwich, which in one month gave 180 individuals the opportunity to make screenprinted art. In 1999 Mark created a base for himself and fellow artists, Stowmarket Artists Studios Limited. In the time the studios have existed, with the help of Mark’s contacts, SAS have hosted international residencies, run public workshops, artists’ seminars and professional awareness projects. Funding for projects has been raised from local councils, arts organisations and business sponsorship. More recently SAS received a RALP award, which aimed to put digital technology in the hands of artists. SAS is now a high quality, well-equipped studio, where artists can make work within a supportive and creative environment. In 1999-2000 “Seahenge Observed”, screen prints and paintings about an archaeological discovery on the north Norfolk coast, was exhibited at venues within the region including the Sainsbury Centre in Norwich. His work has also been in numerous group shows in East Anglia during the last ten years. Mark’s work is typically experimental and often collaborative. In 2001-2003 it involved combining art and science - he made short films of tiny events involving high voltage static electricity and ink and using his body to control them. The resulting marks are then enlarged when they are projected. This work involved collaboration with a science equipment supply company and with Southampton University. Funding was provided by East England Arts through Commissions East (Awards for Artists). This work has been exhibited at galleries locally, nationally and internationally. During 2004 Mark continued to experiment and has been working with real-time digital video, animation and stills using wireless cameras and projection equipment. He has had exhibitions in Southend, Ipswich and Peterborough. After running a series of locally funded workshops earlier in the year, Mark has continued by experimenting with physically interactive video projection. He has also been working with the Wolsey Art Gallery who commissioned him to be artist in residence and to create an installation at St Mary at The Quay, Ipswich in August 2004. As part of the Arts Council Escalator programme Mark worked with Commissions East during 2005 at the Great Eastern Hotel in London. He also travelled to the Czech Republic where he made new work and exhibited in three venues and he has been invited to show work in Prague 2006. Later in 2005 Mark developed a major work involving a 4 screen surround sound film, shot with video cameras installed inside a building to record its demolition from within. Inviting the viewer into a place where no-one usually goes. In 2006 he has been using LED's with circuits triggered by the use of a mobile phone for works shown at Wysing Arts and in Ipswich. The mobile phone triggers were also used in a commission, Lightships, for Grafton House, Ipswich, installed in early 2007 and the idea was developed for Network at the ENTER festival in Cambridge. At the end of 2007 Mark became a studio Artist at Wysing Arts Centre in Cambridge. |