You could say that Mark Heine has art in his blood. His father, Harry Heine, was an acclaimed Canadian marine artist who exhibited his work worldwide. Towards the end of his time in the commercial arts, Harry was a partner in a business called Designs of Canada, a massive warehouse studio that housed 10 to 15 artists of varying skills from around the world.
“I wandered around ‘the shop’ and took it all in,” says Mark. “I can’t imagine where you would go these days to find a collection of artisans who could do the crazy, creative stuff they dreamed up. It was awe-inspiring stuff for a child, and I knew then what I wanted to be when I grew up.”
Even family vacations were spent crawling through the galleries and museums of Europe and sketching in the countryside. In Mark’s Grade 12 year in 1979, he won the Attorney General’s Art Scholarship, which paid for his art school after that.
Like his father, Mark started in the commercial art field, rounding out his income with the odd creative challenge to pay the rent, and which helped him build a portfolio of samples that would allow him to get where he wanted to be — a professional artist.
“I taught airbrush illustration in night school. I painted murals all over Western Canada, often with my father and sister, Caren. I sculpted waterpark rides, built models, illustrated textbooks, did architectural rendering, and graphic design,” says Mark. He eventually wound up specializing as an airbrush illustrator, working for clients like Disney and Nintendo.
Then, in his 40s, Mark decided it was time to try his hand at fine art. He saw that the illustration business was changing, with the popularity of digital computer rendering. Mark was raised with brush in hand and didn’t want to spend his life in front of a screen.
“Perhaps it was all preordained anyway,” he says. “Each week, my father and his artist buddies would meet for coffee. The conversation often centered on ‘what’s Mark going to paint when he finally takes up fine art?’ Like a Renaissance apprentice, I learned a great deal from those masters.”
As a Vancouver Islander, it’s no surprise that Mark began his fine art career painting his children enjoying the West Coast lifestyle.
Mark’s current work “Sirens,” a book and painting series, has proved to be his most popular. The book (he’s working on the sequel to the original) is a work of magical-realism fiction, about the unexplored, mysterious world full of amazing creatures below the surface of our oceans, where all life began. He also interweaves the mythology of the Coast Salish First Nations into the stories.
“The Coast Salish have a long, rich legacy of mythology and legend,” says Mark. “My intent is not just to respect their legacy in a story that is set on their ancient ancestral lands, but also to embrace Salish mythology to explore the similarities between ancient Eastern and Western beliefs. So, we have two very different cultures coming from opposite directions and colliding, but with some surprising similarities. Perhaps we are not so different after all.”
Most of the paintings are visualizations of key moments in the books, contemporary interpretations of the femme fatale temptresses of ancient Greek mythology, made famous in Homer’s Odyssey.
“Paintings of figures in water generate a lot of emotion, and reactions vary, depending on people’s comfort levels and phobias. Reactions are frequently visceral, which can make them provocative and memorable,” says Mark.
But there’s also a deeper meaning behind Mark’s work.
“I’ve spent a good part of my life on the water,” he says. “I’m a partner on a sailboat, and we often sail on the remote west side of Vancouver Island to parts of the outer western and Inside Passage coasts, where few people are able to experience the unspoiled, incredible natural beauty of this region. Unfortunately, that beauty is under increasing threat, as pipelines are proposed to vastly increase shipments of raw diluted bitumen from the Alberta tar sands to seagoing tankers.”
For Mark, it feels important that if he’s going to exploit the natural beauty of the West Coast, he should do his part to protect it for his children and future generations.
“There is no shortage of scientists quoting statistics about climate change and global warming — and those statistics are important, but our non-scientific brains can be overwhelmed. As a storyteller, I approach it differently, through the heart. I hope to engage young people and inspire them to embrace sustainable thinking and environmental stewardship.”
The Sirens works are a family affair. Mark’s wife, Lisa Leighton, designs and creates the costuming. She also helps the models when they’re underwater and being photographed.
“I’m an artist who likes to write, and she’s an editor/writer who creates costumes,” says Mark. “We both have photography backgrounds. The combination of our skill sets is a boon for the Sirens project — or perhaps the Sirens project exists because of that unique combination. I think it’s both.” One of Mark’s daughters is also a Sirens model.
Mark’s lifetime of art has paid off, and his work is now recognized worldwide. Five years ago, he was given the designation “Associate Living Master,” by the Art Renewal Center, a group dedicated to the renaissance of realistic and traditional painting techniques.
He’s also been a finalist in the Center’s annual competition for five consecutive years, the largest judged event of realistic art in the world, called the ARC Salon, resulting in prestigious exhibitions at the European Museum of Modern Art in Barcelona, Sotheby’s in New York and Haynes Galleries near Nashville.
“The Haynes Galleries represent many of the biggest names in art, so it was thrilling for me to be hanging on the walls with the likes of Andrew Wyeth,” says Mark.
Recently, Mark learned that his two entries to the ARC Salon this year were both chosen as semi-finalists, from among 5,000 entries from 83 countries. He’s keeping his fingers crossed they will be winners.
Really, Mark is only just reaching the top of his game.
“The thing about being an artist,” he says, “is that you peak in your experience and skill level at the end of your days. I don’t imagine retiring. I don’t have a driving interest to travel. We have done a lot of that. Perhaps some more writing, sailing and fishing, and keeping an eye out for new opportunities.” Such is a life of art.
For more info, visit Mark Heine’s website: www.mheine.com
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