About

Mark Ford is a mixed media artist and teacher living in Portland, Maine. He began making artist's books in 2003, bringing to the medium a background in both photography and graphic design. His materials come largely from the beach, the street or the recycle bin (with a particular interest in repurposed packaging, discarded books, old photo albums) and his process is improvisational and rather wet (e.g., washed up from the sea, left out in the rain, dissolved and disassembled).

Recently, his materials are largely "bookscrap," meaning the collected disassembled parts of books that are far removed from their original purpose of providing a container for ideas or content. The resulting abstract work openly discloses what it is and how it is made, emphasizing surfaces and structure.

Exhibits

Viva Magenta, Zand Head Gallery, Maine College of Art, Portland, Maine, July 2023
Want/Need, Zero Station Gallery, Portland, Maine, Nov.-Dec. 2021
Connecting Distances, Rountree Gallery (Platteville, Wisconsin), September 2020
When Net Becomes Form, Pt. II, The Museum of the Future, @artetceteraetcetera, 2020
Anthology: Books as Art, Merrymeeting Arts Center, November 2019
Juried Student Exhibit, Best in Show award, University of Southern Maine, March 2018
Solo show: Kate Cheney Chappell 83 Center for Book Arts, USM, Summer 2017
USM Summer Book Arts Program Exhibit, USM Library, September 2016
Create V, Maine College of Art, September 2016
Create IV, Maine College of Art, September 2015
Turquoise International Mail Art Project, Feb. 12, 2015
Can You Hear Me Now?, StoneCrop Gallery (Ogunquit, Maine), June 2012
Statewide Multi-Disciplinary Juried Virtual Showcase, Maine Art Scene, 2012
Solo show: Recent Photographs; Jet Video (Portland, Maine), December 2011
10x10 Brunswick; Curtis Memorial Library, September 2011
August Member Show; Time Gallery (Portland, Maine), August 2011
The Soul of the City: Eight Photographers; Dallas Institute of Humanities and Culture, 2003
Envisioning Dallas through the Camera Lens; Dallas Institute of Humanities and Culture, 2002
The Historic Architecture of Dallas; Dallas City Hall, 2001
The Great State Fair of Texas; Great State Fair of Texas, 2001
Dallas, City of Splendid Realities; Hall of State Gallery, 2000
Fiesta Grande de Tejas; Cathedral Dallas, 2000

Residencies

Hewnoaks Artist Colony, June 2019
Vermont Studio Center, August 2015