Mark Sisson, MFA
Professor
Mark Sisson was born in Ann Arbor, Michigan in 1957. He attended Albion College briefly and later earned a BFA from the University of Michigan. After an unsuccessful foray into the world of retail, he returned to the cloistered life of the university and earned an MFA from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 1984. While there the satirical/political works of Warrington Colescott and Raymond Gloeckler heavily influenced him. Mr.Gloeckler also introduced him to the lusty and physical art of Woodcut (relief printmaking). After working his way through a portion of the University of Wisconsin system as a temporary instructor and sabbatical replacement, Mark Sisson found fertile soil to sink his roots at Oklahoma State University in 1989. He was promoted to Professor of Art in 2001 and retired in 2022. His works have been labeled as both “moralist” and “iconoclastic” which makes the powerful contrast of relief printing a perfect complement. His prints are often called political, sometimes humorous, and occasionally acerbic. Technically, they owe a debt to such antithetical approaches as German Expressionist graphics and 19th-century British and American wood engraving. Prints and drawings by Mark Sisson have been in over 230 juried and invitational national exhibitions where they have received over 50 awards. His works are in many public and private collections including the Bibliothèque Nationale in Paris, France, The Fogg Museum of Harvard University, The Nelson Atkins Museum in Kansas City, MO, and the Butler Museum of American Art in Youngstown, OH. His work can be seen in the books: The Best of Printmaking: An International Collection, The Georgia Review, and An Engraver’s Globe, an international survey of wood engraving and woodcut by Simon Brett.