Today we’d like to introduce you to Marc Clements
Hi Marc, can you start by introducing yourself? We’d love to learn more about how you got to where you are today?
I was born and raised in Cleveland Ohio. My father was a commercial artist by day, and a painter and member of the Cleveland art community by night. I grew up surrounded by art, artists, and the materials, passion and encouragement to create my own work.
I attended vocational art classes in high school, spending six hours a day developing my skills, and my commitment to being an artist was cemented. I enrolled in the Cleveland Institute of Art, eventually moving on to the Minneapolis College of Art and Design where I earned my BFA.
I have always been fascinated with mythology and symbolism, and that has been the underlying theme of all my work, uniting a variety of mediums and materials. I paint on canvas and panel, I carve wood and stone, I assemble skin and bone, I cut and collage; each of these methods creates a body of work, all of them tied together as I explore this underlying theme, a carnival of the imagination.
I live in Minneapolis, where I am active as an artist and in the local art scene. Along with my wife I manage a studio and gallery called Follow the Muse in the Northrup King Building, which is the largest arts complex in the Northeast Minneapolis Arts District. We participate in all of the District’s events, including the largest open studio tour in the nation – Art-A-Whirl, which happens the third weekend in May..
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
I could say that it’s a bed of roses being an artist, but beautiful as they are, roses also have thorns.
For me, being an artist has meant a lifetime juggling two pretty much full time jobs. I have had several careers, including restaurant management, construction worker, and sales; this has been what has kept me financially stable and free to create the work that I find meaningful.
The second job, of course, has been as a fine artist, creating artwork along with doing the business of art. This includes seeking out shows and opportunities for exposure, photographing, pricing, cataloging and inventorying my work, delivering, installing and dis-installing my work, and safely storing it until the next opportunity arises.
Being an artist also requires a great deal of hard work as a businessperson to support the creation and showing of the art. While it is at times exhausting, an artist is what I am, and making art is the most rewarding thing I do.
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
Most artists identify as painters or sculptors, etc., using their artform to define their art label. I don’t use a specific medium or identify in that way. Instead, I identify as a Mythologist..
For me the medium is not the message, Whether working on pigment and canvas, wood, stone or bone, the materials are only a means to access the imagination.
My current body of work involves deconstructing and reconstructing playing cards in a many layered collage format under resin. The juxtaposition of these images often seems to reveal an allegorical storyline that I am not always consciously aware of. I enjoy it when observers tell me what they see in a piece; it reminds me that the story is bigger than my attempts to bring it forward. In some ways the art I produce is only completed when the viewer has brought their own ideas to the work – Then it’s journey to becoming art is finally complete.
What quality or characteristic do you feel is most important to your success?
Perseverance.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.followthemuse.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/marcclementsartist/
- Facebook: Marc Clements – Artist https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100043865895413
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/marc-clements
- Other: https://nemaa.org/search/Marc+Clements/
Image Credits
Sarah Whiting Photography
