Mark Penney

Mark Penney is a contemporary Canadian artist who is widely recognized for his evocative landscape paintings that capture,  in intricate detail, the rugged beauty of Vancouver Island’s west coast.

Deeply rooted in his connection to the Pacific Northwest, his paintings are both poetic and graphically strong, and  frequently feature the misty forests, moss-covered trees, and dramatic coastlines of British Columbia. Working primarily with acrylic on canvas, Penney uses the layering technique to achieve a richly saturated colour, while keeping his palette restrained to emphasize composition and light.

As  a member of the Millbrook First Nation with origins in Nova Scotia, through his art, Penney expresses the aspects of his east coast ancestry with the sense of belonging to the west coast, drawing references from nature while exploring the themes of life, loss, and the “reality” of our environment, with the clarity of his unique style and indigenous perspective.

Profoundly influenced by the life in Ucluelet, on Vancouver Island’s western edge, he describes his goal as capturing the experience and emotion of being there, paying homage to places of significance, their physical beauty, as well as the storied inspiration behind them.

Transitioning from his background and career in graphic art to the realm of fine art, both as a full time artist and art collector,  Penny also passionately embodied the role of a curator and gallery owner. For several years he operated the Mark Penney Gallery in Ucluelet, where he represented various established artists, before refocusing again on creating full-time.

Penney has been highly active in the arts community,  previously serving as the President of the Pacific Rim Arts Society and as a Director-at-Large for ArtsBC and currently serving as a Director-at-Large of the Pacific Rim Arts Society.

He has received awards for his contributions to First Nations outreach and arts programming and his art can be found in private and corporate collections in Canada and abroad.