MARK THURMAN
Mark Thurman graduated from the Central Technical School Art Program in 1966, and has been a working artist since then. As an artist his primary focus has been the human figure and portraits. He works in several different styles: realistic, impressionistic and symbolic.
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Biography
Mark graduated from the Central Technical School Art Program in 1966, and has been a working artist since that time. He has worked as an illustrator, a designer and has shown as a gallery artist. He has taught life drawing anatomy and illustration/design at the Toronto School of Art, anatomy/figure drawing at OCAD, and picture-book illustration and figure drawing at Central Technical School. Currently, he teaches anatomy/figure drawing in the Classical Animation department at Sheridan College.
He is best known as a children’s author illustrator. He has written and illustrated 16 books and designed and illustrated more than 25 books for other authors. He was co- creator and illustrator of the “Mighty Mites”, a scientific comic, in Owl Magazine. From 1976 to 1991, he co-authored (with Emily Hearn) and illustrated 153 episodes. He has appeared on TVO Kids, Romper Room, Mr. Dress-up, Polka Dot Door and Caribou Club.
As an author/illustrator he has toured Canada extensively, sharing his stories and ideas with children and teachers in hundreds of schools. “Constant touring means being on the road, I’m a travelling salesman — only I’m selling information, ideas and inspiration.”
As a gallery artist his primary focus has been the human figure and portraits. He works in several different styles — realistic, impressionistic and the symbolic — according to the requirements and mood of the subject matter.
The Osborne Collection of Early Children’s Books at the Toronto Public Library, Lillian H. Smith Branch, has an extensive collection of Mark Thurman’s work as it applies to his books and book illustration. A commissioned portrait of Edgar Osborne painted by Mark Thurman hangs in the library conference room.
He is a member of CANSCAIP, IBBY, Writers’ Union of Canada, and ACTRA.
Gallery Shows
1969 Masterpiece Gallery, Toronto – Solo show
1969 to 1972 Masterpiece Gallery, Toronto – Group shows
1973 Sir George Williams University, Montreal – Group show
1973 The Evans Gallery, Toronto – Group show
1975 Gallery O, Toronto – Group show
1976 The Evans Gallery, Toronto – Solo show
1990 Canada at Bologna, Italy – Group show of book illustrators/books
1990 to 2000 “CANSCAIP Tours”, Canadian book illustrations exhibited across Canada
1994 O’Keefe Centre, Toronto – Group shows
1995 to 2003 Circle Arts, Tobermory, Ontario – Group shows
1995 to present Painted City, Toronto – Solo show and group shows
1998 to present Walter’s Falls, Ontario – Walter’s Falls Group of Artist Summer Exhibitions
2003 to present The DeBoer Gallery, Owen Sound, Ontario – Group shows
