Meet Mark Lewis Wagner | Traditional & Digital Artist, Author, Educator, World Record Chalk Drawings

We had the good fortune of connecting with Mark Lewis Wagner and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Mark Lewis, is there something that you feel is most responsible for your success?
Showing up… in front of a blank canvas, an empty book, an undrawn school playground. The most coveted thing in the art world is not talent, it’s discipline, and connections. It’s the discipline of being a freelance artist, getting into the studio again and again, and making art even when no one is waiting for it.

A blank canvas can be intimidating, it’s facing the unknown and potential failure each and every time. Showing up in spite of all the mental chatter, all the reasons not to, and having tools to bi-pass any fears of making something out of nothing.

I’ve been working on a sci-fi/fantasy graphic novel about Art and War going on 17 years. I published the first book of the trilogy last year – that was an epic journey in showing up. I once had a creative block with the book and got past it by literally tying myself with string to the drawing table, and setting a timer for 20 minutes.

I am the founder of a small creative arts nonprofit, Drawing on Earth. We connect art and creativity to youth and communities around the world. We focus on chalk drawing on playgrounds with elementary school kids. I have worked with 40,000 kids and community, have two world records, have drawn on three continents, and created six pieces of art photographed by satellites. That takes a lot of showing up.

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
I’m mainly a 2D visual storytelling artist whose work is symbolic, visionary, shamanic, and archetypal. I paint, draw, and use the computer. I’ve been using Photoshop everyday since 1995. I use the computer in all aspects of my life, it’s a seem-less tool and toy. I’m also interested in some of the new AI stuff emerging. I see it as collaborating.

One of the things that sets me apart is seeing and working with the big picture. All the work I am doing now relates to the creative evolution of the planet. I’ll be 65 this year and I’ve created the life I want to live. I tell my students to do this, “create the life you want to live.” It may take awhile, just don’t stop.

I’m proud and excited about living 1/2 the year in rural northern New Mexico. When I am there I paint “Spirit Birds.” They are about ascension, the bigger picture, the holy spirit, and animal powers. It’s something that has grown over my life as an artist. Call it a series, I’m up to over 100. I painted 40 Spirit Birds last year – my record. They are 8 x 20 inches, to 4 x 8 ft. I paint them as prayers. I try to stay in a positive and loving creative space when I paintings. I work on each one until it comes alive, until it’s energy wakes up and flies. I have a goal in getting into 2-3 galleries in the southwest and selling paintings. I am in one gallery now in Taos.

I’m also proud that I am a volunteer firefighter and New Mexico state licensed First Responder.

The other 1/2 of the year I live in the Oakland area where I work on my graphic novel, GRAFFITI WARS – When Art Saved the World. The elevator pitch; the God of War is enslaved by men, power and money (which is true). Two Oakland graffiti artists, with the help of an alien universe, a Vietnam vet, ghosts, a whale, and a dog, travel through time and madness, trying to save the world, and each other. In the bigger picture I have a life long commitment to help heal War, and help humanity evolve from a teenager mentality into an initiated maturity where we take responsibility for ourselves, friends and family, communities, and the World. I love this story, I’ve cried writing it so I know I’m on to something. It’s written as a screenplay and comes with a Spotify soundtrack – a book with a soundtrack! A goal is to have it made into a animated feature film.

Was it easy? Sigh… half the reason I lost my marriage was over financial security. Only I will ever know how hard I have worked. I put 40 years into getting where I am now. Now it’s easy – that’s so cool. I know who I am and why I am here. I teach art live and online at a community college in the Oakland area. I teach the fall semester beginning from New Mexico online. I have a ton of creative freedom, I love teaching, and it pays great!

Lessons I’ve learned. Be physically strong in your body, stretch often, have a spiritual practice, have a mindfulness practice, have an artistic/creative expression, be kind, be of service, take care of yourself first, get help when needed, get out into nature by yourself, make friends with darkness and death.

What do I want the world to know about me & Drawing on Earth.

Ten Reasons Why Art is Good for Kids & the World by MLW

1) Art Generates a Love of Learning & Creativity. Art develops a willingness to explore what has not existed before. Art teaches risk taking, learning from one’s mistakes, and being open to other possibilities. Kids who are creative are curious and passionate about knowing more.

2) Art Develops the Whole Brain. Art strengthens focus and increases attention, develops hand-eye coordination, requires practice and strategic thinking, and involves interacting with the material world through different tools and art mediums.

3) Art Prepares Kids for the Future. Creative, open-minded people are highly desired in all career paths. Art and creative education increases the future quality of the local and global community. Being creative is a lifelong skill and can be used in everyday situations.

4) Art Teaches Problem Solving. Making art teaches that there is more than one solution to the same problem. Art challenges our beliefs and encourages open-ended thinking that creates an environment of questions rather than answers.

5) Art Supports Emotional Intelligence. Art supports the expression of complex feelings that help kids feel better about themselves and helps them understand others by “seeing” what they have expressed and created. Art supports personal meaning in life, discovering joy in one’s own self, often being surprised, and then eliciting it in others.

6) Art Builds Community. Art reaches across racial stereotypes, religious barriers, and socio-economical levels and prejudices. Seeing other culture’s creative expression allows everyone to be more connected and less isolated – “see how we are all related.” Art creates a sense of belonging.

7) Art Improves Holistic Health. Art builds self-esteem, increases motivation and student attendance, improves grades and communications, nurtures teamwork, and strengthens our relationship to the environment.

8) Art is Big Business. At the core of the multi-billion dollar film and video game industry are artists creating images and stories. Every commercial product is artistically designed, from chairs to cars, space stations to iPods. And a Leonardo da Vinci painting just sold for 450 million dollars.

9) Art Awakens the Senses. Art opens the heart and mind to possibilities and fuels the imagination. Art is a process of learning to create ourselves and experience the world in new ways. Arts support the bigger picture view of life: beauty, symbols, spirituality, storytelling, it also helps us step out of time allowing one to be present in the moment. Art keeps the magic alive.

10) Art is Eternal. Creativity and self-expression has always been essential to our humanity. Our earliest creative expressions were recorded in petroglyphs, cave paintings, and ancient sculptures. One of the first things kids do is draw, paint, and use their imaginations to play.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
Great question. The first place that comes to mind is a storm drain tunnel in Oakland that I have not been to in years. I’ve done some graffiti in there a long time ago. We’d also go to a very secluded Pacific Ocean beach north of Bolinas. We’d hang out at the studio and make art, make fires outside, and make up new stories.

We’d get take out food, stay away from people and crowds. In New Mexico there are off-the-chart beautiful canyons 10 min. from my place, rivers, and amazing vistas. Every night we wait for the unbelievable sunsets, and then marvel at the billions of stars while listening to coyotes, great horned owls, and elk.

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
Nice prompt. Our success and where we are in life is with the support of others. First my brother, we use to keep monster and spaceship sketchbooks as kids. In second grade I saw a drawing he made and it did something to me, it blew me away. I said to myself, “I want to do that, I want to draw that good!” Thirty years later I worked on a Disney/Pixar film where I drew monsters and spaceships.

Second, my mom, she was my art advocate as a kid. I probably wouldn’t be here without her. In college she majored in elementary school education and minored in art. There was always art and music around the house as kid. She recognized something in me. It was her idea that I go to college to study art, which I had never considered. Good idea!

I had a college teacher Barron Storey who showed me the way into layering images and telling stories.

I was given a grant from the NEA in 1983 to experiment on a computer at NYU. The computer was worth a million dollars, had 8 colors, filled a small room, and no one really knew how to use it. That was the beginning of my digital art career.

I’ve have had tons of friends supporting me, buying art, helping me make connections, hiring me. I thank all my clients. I’ve only worked in one job for 8 months, everything else has been free-lance.

I and grateful for mentors like Joseph Campbell, Carl Jung, James Hillman, Native American Elders, all the artists living and dead who I admire so much.

I am grateful spirit, the Great Mystery, the Unknown. I have a connection to the unseen worlds that helps guide me into so many interesting place, projects, creative adventures. My job is to pay attention, look for the signs, and follow intuitions. It’s pretty easy to see the way these days.

Website:  www.marklewiswagner.com, drawingonearth.org

Instagram: marklewiswagner

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC8oNQZCSA3r9ocUjHEh4-mg

Image Credits
All photos: MLW