Marc Hanson

Marc R. Hanson
Having grown up in a military family, Marc’s youth was spent on the move. He was born in Oxnard, California and spent some of his early school years there. But his geographical resume soon included Alaska, Florida, Arkansas, Nebraska, South Dakota and Norway. After his father’s retirement from the Air Force, Marc’s family settled in the small northern California community of Loomis. Marc began college as a biology major, but soon applied to and was accepted into Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, California, majoring in illustration. After Art Center and a brief stint as a staff illustrator in Sacramento, California, Marc moved to Minnesota where he lived for 33 years while raising a family and pursuing his art. He currently lives near Savannah, GA on Tybee Island.

“I have pursued a career as a painter for many years now. Along the way my methods, materials and focus have evolved. A naturalist at heart, the landscape is the perfect vehicle for expressing the joy I have for the world that surrounds me. My real interest and challenge as a painter is how to best manipulate the core principles of painting into effective visual statements. I’m most successful when I’m able to communicate that joy to the viewers of my paintings.”

Marc teaches landscape painting workshops locally and nationally. “I love working with other painters in their pursuit to better their craft. My goal is not to have them assimilate my style and technique, but to teach them how to more closely examine the subject and apply the principles that representational painters must follow to become effective visual communicators.”

Marc has shown his work in galleries and museums nationally and internationally since the early 1980s. He is a Master Signature Member of Oil Painters of America.

Other Recent Awards

AIS Award of Merit 2021
IAPS HK Holbein Award 2020
NOAPS Award of Excellence 2020
OPA Juried Salon Bronze Master Signature Division 2020
OPA Wet Paint Award of Excellence 2020
OPA Eastern Regional
Door County Plein Air Festival, Honorable Mention 2011, Artist Choice and First Place 2012, First Place 2013, Third Place 2015
Olmsted Plein Air Invitational, Atlanta, GA, ‘Cezanne Best Landscape’ Award 2016
Oil Painters of America, Master Signature Member Status 2016
Rocky Mountain Plein Air Painters Paint the Park, First Place 2014, Best Body of Work 2014, Best Body of Work and Award of Excellence 2015
Olmsted Plein Air Invitational, Atlanta, GA, Francesca Kerpel Wenger ‘Best Sense of Place’ Award 2015
Plein Air Artists Colorado, Third Place 2015

Recent Publications

Plein Air Magazine, Feature and Cover 2013
Southwest Art Magazine, Feature and Cover 2012
Oil Painting Secrets with the Masters (Cindy Salaski/Publisher Northlight Books) 2014
American Art Collector 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011
The Artist’s Magazine 2005
Plein Air Magazine, Featured 2005, Feature and Cover 2013
The Pastel Journal 2002, 2003, 2004, 2008, 2011