Master | Instructor | Mentor

I am a storyteller. My art is the expression of a carefully chosen moment, captured from a larger narrative. This story is constantly playing, moving forward and changing, as each painting alters the course of the narrative. As it ignites my imagination for the next. So the road is never a straight line.

I believe that artistic growth is directly bound to the challenge we undertake. The larger the risk, the greater the reward. So how winding the creative road is, will depend on how far from a straight line you’re willing to push yourself. For me, the story is what I use to navigate that road – stories rooted in both my imagination and my experience. They give me a reason to paint … a concept. They give the painting a reason to exist beyond the surface visual. Sometimes the journey is loud, long and nerve wracking. Sometimes it’s short and quiet. Even tranquil.

My writing has evolved, from simple anecdotes of my life, into the driving force of my creative process and how I connect to my subconscious. Using the anonymity of the story, I can explore and express my own joys and nightmares, pushing the edge of my comfort zone. It’s the creative license that allows me to diverge from reality and present a sur real vision. It also gives me the freedom to explore darker themes. And the more I dip below the surface, the more I dis cover in myself. It’s an endless source of inspiration, because each visit opens a door to the next.

The human form is, in my opinion, the most difficult and most complex challenge for an artist. Underpinning that challenge, are the technical considerations that face every artist. But the overlay, for me, is the most interesting aspect. And that comes from the nature of human interaction.

As humans, we have developed acutely tuned conscious and subconscious sensitivities to body language, posture, expression and situation. How we interact with each other is crucial to survival and is at the core of all culture. I call this the Social Aspect. These Social Aspect instincts vary from person to person, depending on his or her experiences, upbringing, religious beliefs, personal joys and pain. This diversity creates a reaction as personally distinct as a strand of DNA. I see this Social Aspect complexity as a unlimited, mysterious resource for reaching deeper and connecting with my emotions and those of my audience. And with figurative painting in particular, because it is “us,” these connections are critical if the work is to resonate.

This Mastermind+ is for

Emerging Artists

About The Artist

Originality… easily recognized, but elusive to achieve. 

To conjure something from nothing is the act of creativity, no matter the medium. I’m thirty seven years down the rabbit hole, and still descending. My life has been spent building a mental  vocabulary to first visualize, then the physical ability to realize. Finally comes the passion,  embracing a cause and using my skills to champion positive social change.  

Mark Heine was raised by artists to be an artist. His was a childhood spent wandering his father’s  massive warehouse studio, absorbing the progress and process of the monumental projects  underway. It was art by the ton, measured in yards, not inches. There were always diverse skills  in action, to watch and learn from… sculptors, designers, architects and artisans, working in  plaster, resin, concrete, fiberglass, wood, stained glass, tapestry and, of course, paint. 

Mark’s  father, Harry Heine, RSMA, CSMA, FCA, NNWWs (1928-2004), would eventually became one of  Canada’s most celebrated artists, culminating with his election to the Royal Society of Marine  Artists in England. He is the only Canadian to ever have achieved that status. 

As a child, Mark and his family toured and sketched the great cities of the world, immersed in  galleries and architecture. First as students, then eventually as instructors. From the masters,  learning the learnable… technique, color, composition, and so on, but also developing the  sensitivity to recognize the intangible conceptual aspects, which make the difference between a  mere rendering and a work of art. 

In his teens, Heine was awarded the Lieutenant Governor’s Art Scholarship, eventually  graduating with honors from the Applied Arts Program at Capilano University in Vancouver,  British Columbia. He established his own studio and, over the course of 37 years, has become  one of North America’s most sought-after talents, working through agents and galleries in New  York, Los Angeles, Santa Fe, Denver, Philadelphia, Seattle, Toronto and Vancouver, where he has been showing with some of the most recognized artists in North America. His work can also  be found in galleries and collections throughout Europe, including the European Museum of  Modern Art (MEAM) in Barcelona, Spain. Corporate commissions for clients such as Sony,  Disney, Starbucks, and many others garnered him more than 40 national and international  awards, and the Art Renewal Center recently designated him an Associate Living Master.  Heine’s work has also appeared in numerous print and online publications, including the  magazines Hi-Fructose, Beautiful Bizarre, Magazin’Art, Applied Arts, American Art Collector,  International Artist, The Guide Artist, Poets and Artists, The Artist’s Magazine, and The  Creators Project. 

Heine has come to realize that he is a storyteller. Writing has long been a key component of his  creative process, and the symbiotic relationship of these two distinct disciplines has led to a  unique approach to both. Bringing one of those stories to life – to larger than life – marrying  fiction to painting, is the focus of his most recent works: the Sirens series. Each of his paintings 

is a captured moment in his coming Sirens book, a work of fiction in the genre of imaginative  realism. 

Mark, his wife and creative collaborator Lisa Leighton, and their two daughters, Sarah and  Charlotte, live in beautiful Victoria on Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada.

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