Bio

Michael Marks was born in Birmingham, Alabama, and spent his formative years growing up in rural Georgia. An advocate for emerging artists, he was a co-founder of the ThreeCitiesGroup artist collective, which was active for over a decade across the Southeast. He has worked with several art collectives, alternative venues, art centers, and as a curator and cultural organizer throughout his career. 

A firm believer in the power of travel and artist residencies to enhance creative practice, Marks has been a fellow and artist-in-residence at the Penland School of Craft, Wildacres Foundation, and the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts (VCCA). Since 2019, he has served as co-director of The South Carolina School of the Arts study abroad program, where he teaches a biennial summer semester on the art and visual culture of the Renaissance in Florence and Rome, Italy.

Specializing in painting, drawing, and printmaking, his creative work spans a range of materials and techniques, and has been exhibited nationally and internationally in over eighty exhibitions in twenty states; in US cities including Greenville, Columbia, New York, Atlanta, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Saint Louis, Austin, and Chicago, and internationally in Copenhagen, Denmark; Prague, Czech Republic; Perth, Australia; and Gimpo, South Korea.

His writings on art and education have been published by Vasari Paints, Temporary Art Review, and the Paris College of Art Press. He has served as a board member for FATE (Foundations in Art: Theory and Education) and as Editor of FATE In Review, an academic journal focused on arts education and visual culture. He is an Associate Professor of Art in the Painting + Drawing area, and Chair of The Department of Art + Design, at the South Carolina School of the Arts.