Statement
Batman, Iron Man, Spiderman and the Rawhide Kid.
These characters are childhood memories of the ultimate man – the Dad every boy wants, the man every boy wants to grow up to be. My hand knit acrylic re-creations of these heroes’ costumes combine their heroic, protective, ultra masculine, yet vulnerable personas with the protective gestures of my mother – hand knit acrylic sweaters meant to keep me safe from New England winters. The costumes are life-size, my size, wearable objects that hang limply on hangers challenging the standard muscular form of the hero and offering the space for someone to imagine themselves wearing the costume, becoming the hero. They become the uniforms I can wear to protect my family from the threats (bullies, murderers, terrorists, pedophiles, and fanatical messianic characters) we are told surround us.
The Sweatermen, Every-Any-No Man, and Bobbleman are heroes of my own invention. They push the image of the hero by highlighting knitting materials, textures, and traditions (cables and the use of “ends” to make a sweater) in the form of the costume. Some of the color and texture choices are based on the sweaters my mother made, her love of cables and her color choices. In these I work to forge the link between childhood experience and an adult understanding of protection, masculinity, and heroism.
Performances, prints, and photographs are my opportunity to expand the narratives the suits suggest to me. While earlier works in print and photography focused on the hero in the costume, where and how he functions, these pieces start to explore the alter ego within the costume and the connotations of knitting in relation to various roles and activities. Knitting remains the questionable activity for the protagonist while costumes change to more socially accepted garb. In each scenario the knitting seems out of place or defensive. Is the man in “Pick-Up” attracting or repelling the woman speaking to him with his knitting? How do these different stereotypes of men relate to an activity like knitting?
Biography
Mark Newport is an artist and educator living in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan. Newport’s work has been exhibited throughout the U.S., Canada, and Europe, including solo exhibitions at The Arizona State University Art Museum; The Cranbrook Art Museum; The Chicago Cultural Center; and Laumeier Sculpture Park, St. Louis, MO. His work has been recognized with grants from the Creative Capital Foundation, the Arizona Commission on the Arts, and the Herberger College of Arts at Arizona State University. It is included in the collections of The Whitney Museum of American Art; The Renwick Gallery of the Smithsonian American Art Museum; The Cranbrook Art Museum; The Racine Art Museum; 4Culture, Seattle; City of Phoenix Public Art, Microsoft, and Progressive Insurance. The Greg Kucera Gallery, and Lemberg Gallery, represent his work.
Newport is the Artist-in-Residence and Head of Fiber at the Cranbrook Academy of Art. He earned his BFA at the Kansas City Art Institute in 1986 and his MFA at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago in 1991.
Resume
Selected Solo Exhibitions And Performances
| 2010 | “Self-Made Man," Laumeier Sculpture Park, Saint. Louis, Missouri. Exhibition and performance. Catalog. “Mark Newport: New Work," Greg Kucera Gallery, Seattle, Washington. |
| 2009 | “Mark Newport: Superheroes In Action,” Cranbrook Art Museum, Bloomfield Hills, Michigan. Exhibition and performance. Catalog. “Mark Newport: Alter Egos,” Lemberg Gallery, Ferndale, Michigan. |
| 2008 |
“Un-Knitting: A Performance,” The Stanlee and Gerald Rubin Fine Arts Center, University of Texas, El Paso, Texas. |
| 2007 |
“A Performance by Mark Newport,” Housing Projects, Phoenix, Arizona. |
| 2006 |
“The Guardians,” live performance at Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Art and Scottsdale Center for the Arts, Scottsdale, Arizona. “Heroic Endeavors,” Autzen Gallery, Portland State University, Portland, Oregon. “Ready for Action,” here gallery, Bristol, United Kingdom. |
| 2005 |
“My Heroes,” LyonsWier Gallery NYC, New York, New York. “Mark Newport: Super Heroics,” Arizona State University Art Museum, Tempe, Arizona. Traveled to San Diego State University Art Gallery, San Diego, California. Catalog. |
| 2004-05 |
“Mark Newport: New Works,” Chicago Cultural Center, Chicago, Illinois. “Superhero Pantheon,” Greg Kucera Gallery, Seattle, Washington. |
| 2000 |
“Samplers and Plaques,” Greg Kucera Gallery, Seattle, Washington. |
| 1999 |
“Ours for the Giving,” Charleston Heights Arts Center, Las Vegas, Nevada. Brochure. |
| 1998 |
"Mark Newport," Lyons - Wier Gallery, Chicago, Illinois. |
| 1997 |
"Doing Good Works," Western Washington University Art Gallery. Bellingham, Washington. |
| 1996 |
"Acts of Devotion," Lyons - Wier and Ginsberg Gallery, Chicago, Illinois. "Mark Newport - Sculptures," Lamar Dodd Art Center, Lagrange College, Lagrange, Georgia. |
Selected Awards
| 2006 |
Arizona Commission on the Arts Artist’s Project Grant. Phoenix, Arizona. |
| 2005 |
Arizona Commission on the Arts Career Advancement Grant. Phoenix, Arizona. Creative Capital Visual Arts Grant. New York, New York. |
| 2003/04 |
Artist in Residence. Yaddo. Saratoga Springs, New York. |
| 1993 |
Finalist Award. Illinois Arts Council Fellowship Awards, Chicago, Illinois. |
Selected Group Exhibitions
| 2010 |
“Black and Blue,” Lemberg Gallery, Ferndale, Michigan. “Made in America,” Greg Kucera Gallery, Seattle, Washington. |
| 2009 |
“Staged Stories: The 2009 Renwick Craft Invitational,” Renwick Museum of American Art, Washington, DC. “Dissolving Views,” Cheongju International Craft Biennale 2009”, Cheongju South Korea. “Form Follows Function or Does It?” University of Arkansas, Little Rock, Arkansas. |
| 2008 |
“Superheroes and Secret Identities,” Sun Valley Center for the Arts, Sun Valley Idaho. “Vested Interest,” John Michael Kohler Art Center, Sheboygan, Wisconsin. “Noun, Verb, Adjective: Cranbrook Defines Craft,” Cranbrook Art Museum, Bloomfield Hills, Michigan. “Un-Knitting,” The Stanlee and Gerald Rubin Fine Arts Center, University of Texas, El Paso, Texas. and the Houston Center for Contemporary Craft, Houston, Texas. Catalog. |
| 2007 |
“Pricked: Extreme Embroidery,” Museum of Arts and Design, New York, New York. Catalog. “Close to You,” Dalhousie Art Gallery, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada. Traveling to the Textile Museum of Canada, Toronto, Ontario. Catalog. “Knitnic” Vestlandske Kunstindustrimuseum, Bergen, Norway. Traveling to the National Museum of Art, Oslo, Norway and Gallery Bomuldsfabriken, Arendal, Norway. “Heroes,” Bowling Green State University Art Gallery, Bowling Green, Ohio. “Gender Stitchery,” Carleton College Art Gallery, Northfield, Minnesota. Catalog. |
| 2006 |
“Transformative Portraits: Altered Identities in Contemporary Art,” Grossman Gallery, Lafayette College, Easton, Pennsylvania. “Embroidered Stories and Knitted Tales,” Bedford Gallery, Walnut Creek, California. “Esquiador en el fondo de un pozo,” Fundacion Coleccion Jumex, Ecatapec, Mexico. Catalog. “Pop: Contemporary Textiles Influenced by Popular Culture,” Northern Illinois University Art Museum, DeKalb, Illinois. Catalog. |
| 2005 |
“Hanging by a Thread,” The Moore Space, Miami, Florida. “Extra / Ordinary: Fiber Artists Rethinking Art and Everyday Life,” The Cube at Beco, Kansas City, Missouri. |
| 2004 |
“Face Off,” Ronald Feldman Gallery, New York, New York. “Democracy in America: Political Satire Then and Now,” Arizona State Art Museum, Tempe, Arizona. |
| 2003 |
“Threads,” Richard Levy Gallery, Albuquerque, New Mexico. “Pins and Needles,” John Michael Kohler Art Center, Sheboygan, Wisconsin. “Comic Release: Negotiating Identity for a New Generation,” Regina Gouger Miller Gallery, Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Contemporary Arts Center, New Orleans, Louisiana, University of North Texas, Denton, Texas, The Western Gallery, Western Washington University, Bellingham, Washington. Catalog. |
| 2002 |
“Stitch by Stitch,” Elizabeth Leach Gallery, Portland, Oregon. “Super-Heroes,” Gallerie Mitterrand, Geneva, Switzerland. |
| 2001 |
“Jerry Bleem and Mark Newport,” Maryville University, Saint Louis, Missouri. “Drawing the Thread,” Southwest School of Art and Craft, San Antonio, Texas. Brochure. |
| 2000 |
“Inherited, Salvaged, Embroidered,” The Art Gym, Marylhurst University, Marylhurst, Oregon. “Consumed: Craft Inspired by Popular and Media Culture,” Craft Alliance, Saint Louis, Missouri. |
Selected Articles And Publications
| 2010 |
Buszek, Maria Elena PhD. “Mark Newport: Self-Made Man,” Interview for the exhibition catalog. Laumeier Sculpture Park, Saint Louis, Missouri. April. Hemmings, Jessica, PhD. In the Loop: Knitting Now,” Black Dog Publishing, London, United Kingdom. April. Baran, Jessica. “Featured Review: Mark Newport Self-Made Man,” Riverfront Times, Saint Louis, Missouri. February 17. |
| 2009 |
Bonansinga, Kate. “Staged Stories: The Renwick Craft Biennial 2009,” The Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington, DC and Scala Publishing United Kingdom. O’Neil, Megan. “Pop Goes The Hero,” Metrotimes, Ruxton Media Group, Detroit, Michigan. February 25. Zilber, Emily and Taylor Sue. “Mark Newport: Superheroes In Action,” Cranbrook Art Museum, Bloomfield Hills, Michigan. |
| 2008 |
Monem, Nadine, editor. “Contemporary Textiles: The Fabric of Fine Art,” Black Dog Publishing, London, United Kingdom. Kenins, Laura. “The triumph of Bobbleman,” Visual Arts News, Visual Arts Nova Scotia, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada. Summer. Ryan, Dinah. “Reviews: Transformer,” Art Papers. Atlanta, Georgia. January / February. |
| 2007 |
Quinton, Sarah. Close To You, Contemporary Textiles, Intimacy, and Popular Culture. Exhibition catalogue essay. Dalhousie Art Gallery, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada. McFadden, David Revere. Pricked: Extreme Embroidery. Exhibition catalogue essay. Museum of Arts and Design, New York, New York. Ylvisaker, Anne Britt and Slattum, Berit. Opplegg pa gang. Exhibition catalog essay for “Knitnic” Vestlandske Kunstindustrimuseum, Bergen, Norway. |
| 2006 |
Ellin, Nan and Booth-Clibborn, editors. “Phoenix: 21st Century City. Booth-Clibborn Publishers, London, United Kingdom. Blancsube, Michel. “Confusion Will Be My Epitaph,” in Esquiador en el fondo de un pozo Fundacion Coleccion Jumex, Ecatapec, Mexico. September. Spiak, John and Marilyn Zeitlin. “Mark Newport: Super Heroics,” San Diego State University Art Gallery, San Diego California and Arizona State University Art Museum, Tempe, Arizona. Catalog essay. Sussman Susser, Deborah. “Review: Tempe, Arizona; Mark Newport at the Arizona State University Art Museum,” Art in America, Brant Art Publications, New York, New York. January. |
| 2005 |
Harper, Paula. “Report from Miami: Dynamic Domesticity,” Art in America, Brant Art Publications, New York, New York. December. Lengel, Kerry. “Knit Wit,” The Arizona Republic A & E, Phoenix, Arizona. July 3. Harris, Morgan. “Review: Mark Newport: New Works,” Fiberarts, Interweave Press, Loveland, Colorado. Summer. |
| 2004 |
Davenport, Misha. “Artist leaves comic book superheroes in stitches,” The Chicago Sun-Times, Chicago, Illinois. December 17. Kangas, Matthew. “Thought-provoking imaginary worlds,” The Seattle Times, Seattle, Washington. August 20. Miller, Barbara. “Reviews: Bellingham, Washington,” Art Papers, Atlanta, Georgia. July/August. |
| 2003 |
Clark, Vicky. “The Power of Suggestion, The Suggestion of Power,” in Comic Release: Negotiating Identity for a New Generation. January 2003. MacCash, Doug. “Fine Tooning,” The Times-Picayune, New Orleans, Louisiana. May 30. Shaw, Kurt. “Artists explore the development of the cartoon character and its impact on society,” Pittsburgh Tribune Review, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. January 31. |
| 2002 |
“Review: Stitch by Stitch,” Portland Mercury, Portland, Oregon. December 24. Villani, John Carlos, “Sew evolved: Fiber art moves beyond crafts,” The Arizona Republic, Phoenix, Arizona. May 5. (Includes reproductions of Freedom Bedcover: Possibilities and work in progress.) |
| 2001 |
Armstrong – Gillis, Kathy and Owens, Paula. “Drawing the Thread,” Southwest School of Art and Craft, San Antonio, Texas. September. Robertson, Jean. “Review: Indiana, Men of the Cloth,” New Art Examiner. May/June. |
Education
| 1991 | Master of Fine Arts. School of the Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois. |
| 1986 | Bachelor of Fine Arts. Kansas City Art Institute, Kansas City, Missouri. |