Biography

China Marks was born and educated in Kansas City, MO, earning a BFA in Sculpture from the Kansas City Art Institute. A Fulbright-Hayes fellowship took her to Katmandu, Nepal, where she spent sixteen months constructing a major installation out of local materials. On her return to the United States, she was awarded a graduate fellowship by the Danforth Foundation.

In 1976, having received an MFA in Sculpture from Washington University in St. Louis, China moved east to make art. She has received numerous grants and awards, including three fellowships from the New Jersey State Council on the Arts, a Mid-Atlantic Arts fellowship, two George Sugarman Foundation grants, three New York Foundation for the Arts fellowships, most recently in 2017, as well as a Pollock-Krasner Foundation grant in 2013.

Since 1999 China Marks has lived and worked in Long Island City, a block and a half from the East River. Her work is shown in galleries and museums in the United States and Europe. Her drawings can be seen at www.chinamarks.net and at the Owen James Gallery in NYC.

Resume

Solo Exhibitions

2021
  • Ghosts in the Machine, Owen James Gallery, NYC, NY
2018
  • China Marks, Owen James Gallery, NYC, NY
2017
  • China Marks: Gods and Men, AVA Gallery and Art Center, Lebanon, NH
2016
  • China Marks: Not Quite Human
    Owen James Gallery, Greenpoint, Brooklyn, NY (catalogue)
  • China Marks: Art Hysterical, Errors and Omissions.
    The Hampden Gallery, UMASS Amherst, Amherst, MA
  • Radiant Messenger: Drawings by China Marks (catalogue)
    Foosaner Art Museum, Florida Institute of Technology, Melbourne, FL
  • China Marks: Time Traveler, The Center for Book Arts, NYC (catalogue)
2015
  • China Marks: Nowhere/Everywhere (catalogue)
    Thompson Gallery, The Cambridge School of Weston, Weston, MA
2013
  • China Marks, The Usual Magic, Art 101, Brooklyn, NY
2011
  • Sewn Drawings of China Marks
    Visual Arts Gallery, University of Montana, Missoula, MT
2010
  • Sewn Drawings of China Marks
    Paris Gibson Square Museum of Art, Great Falls, MT
    Schoolhouse History & Art Center, Colstrip, MT
    Emerson Center for the Arts & Culture, Bozeman, MT
2009
  • Sewn Drawings, Luise Ross Gallery, NYC
  • Everything Old is New Again: the Sewn Drawings of China Marks
    Cole Art Center, Stephen F. Austin State University, Nacogdoches, TX
2007
  • Let Me Show You the World: the Sewn Drawings of China Marks
    Marianna Kistler Beach Museum of Art (catalogue)
    Kansas State University, Manhattan, KS
2006
  • Fabrications, Luise Ross Gallery, NYC
2004
  • New Work, Luise Ross Gallery, NYC
2003
  • Corporeal Threads (catalogue)
    O’Kane Gallery, University of Houston Downtown, Houston, TX
1998
  • Solo Installation: Who Killed the Queen? (catalogue)
    Part Four of the Parallel World
    Tomasulo Gallery, Union College, Cranford, NJ
1997
  • Drawings and Paintings (essay)
    Grand Arts, Kansas City, MO
1994
  • Is There a Circus on Mars?
    Large Scale Drawings (catalogue)
    Trans Hudson Gallery, Jersey City, NJ
1991
  • Solo Installation: Sacred Precinct,
    Part Three of the Parallel World
    Petrosino Park, NYC
1990
  • Angel Fool Prophet King (catalogue)
    Newark Museum, Newark, NJ
  • Fifteen-year Retrospective (catalogue)
    The Rabbet Gallery, New Brunswick, NJ
  • Recent Works on Paper
    Johnson and Johnson Gallery, New Brunswick, NJ
1989
  • Solo Show (catalogue)
    Robeson Gallery, Rutgers University, Newark, NJ
1987
  • Solo show
    Coup de Grâce Gallery, Hoboken, NJ
  • Solo Installation: A World Made Flesh,
    Part Two of the Parallel World (catalogue)
    The Morris Museum, Morristown, NJ
1986
  • Solo Installation: Intimations of a Parallel World
    Two Two Raw Downstairs, 22 Wooster Gallery, NYC

Selected Group Exhibitions

2022
  • Good Times
    Owen James Gallery, NYC, NY
  • Complex Muses
    Art Complex Museum, Duxbury, MA, Curated by Todd Bartel
2020
  • Inspirations: Art for Storytelling
    Kansas State University
2019
  • unfoldingobject, Collage + Works on Paper
    Concord Center for the Visual Arts, Concord, MA, curated by Todd Bartel
2018
  • Water over the Bridge: Contemporary Seascapes
    Morean Art Center, St. Petersburg, FL
  • KCAI Alumni Biennial Exhibition 2018
    Leawood, KS.
2017
  • The New Normal, Owen James Gallery, Greenpoint, Brooklyn, NY
  • Fight or Flight, the Painting Center, NYC
2016
  • China was the guest curator of Transformers: Re-Contextualizing Our Material Culture, a group exhibition at the Ruth Funk Center for Textile Arts, Florida Institute of Technology, Melbourne, FL (catalogue)
2015
  • Face to Face (catalogue)
    Baker Museum/Artis Naples, Naples, FL
  • Lay Lines, University of Wyoming Art Museum, Laramie, WY
  • HEAD, Hampden Gallery, UMASS Amherst, Amherst MA
2014
  • A Redefined Existence, J. Cacciola Gallery, NYC
  • Infinite Mirror: Images of American Identity (catalogue)
    Washakie Museum & Cultural Center, Worland, WY
    Foosaner Art Museum, Florida Institute of Technology, Melbourne, FL
    The Richard E, Peeler Art Center, DePauw University, Greencastle, IN
2013
  • Infinite Mirror: Images of American Identity (catalogue)
    Lowe Art Museum, Coral Gables, FL
    James A. Michener Art Museum, Doylestown, PA
    Juniata College Museum of Art, Huntingdon, PA
    James and Anne Duderstadt Center, Ann Arbor, MI
  • Some Assembly Required
    Albany International Airport Gallery, Albany, NY
  • Wheaton Biennial: Drawing Out of Bounds
    Beard & Weil Galleries, Wheaton College, Norton, MA
  • Face to Face: Artists' Self-Portraits
    Arkansas Arts Center, Little Rock, AR
  • Four Portrayals, J. Cacciola Gallery, NYC
2012
  • Infinite Mirror: Images of American Identity (catalogue)
    University of Maryland University College, Adelphi, MD
    Fort Wayne Museum of Art, Fort Wayne, IN
    Florida Gulf Coast University, Fort Meyers, FL
    Newcomb Art Gallery, Tulane University, New Orleans, LA
  • Tell Me How You REALLY Feel: Diaristic Tendencies (catalogue)
    Center for Book Arts, NYC
  • Strange Glue I: Traditional and Avant-garde Collage
    Strange Glue II: Collage and Installation
    Thompson Gallery, The Cambridge School of Weston, Weston, MA
  • NYFA@Governors Island, Governors Island Art Fair (catalogue)
    Governors Island, NY
  • Blessed Are the Artists: Religion in Contemporary Art
    The Viseglia Gallery, Caldwell College, Caldwell, NJ
2011
  • Infinite Mirror: Images of American Identity (catalogue)
    Syracuse University, Syracuse, NY
    Keene State College, Keene, NH
  • A Novel Idea, Hampton Gallery Incubator Project Space
    U Mass Amherst, Amherst, MS
2010
  • Pages: Books as Medium, Catalyst & Venue
    Paragraph Gallery, Kansas City, MO
2009
  • Pretty, Strange, Luise Ross Gallery, NYC
  • Threads: Interweaving Textu[r]al Meaning
    Center for Book Arts, NYC
2007
  • The Beast in Me, Pelter Gallery, Greenville, SC
  • Rare Birds, Luise Ross Gallery, NYC
  • Group show
    Charlotte & Phillip Hanes Art Gallery at Wake Forest University
    Wake Forest, NC
2006
  • Threads of Memory, Margaret Mathews-Berenson, Curator
    (illustrated essay) Dorsky Project Gallery, Long Island City, NY
  • Stilled Life, The Islip Art Museum, East Islip, NY
  • New Embroidery: Not Your Grandma's Doily (catalog)
    Contemporary Craft Museum, Portland, OR
  • Fractured Fairy Tales, Asian American Arts Centre, NYC
2005
  • A Selection of Works from the Luise Ross Gallery
    Andrea Rosen Gallery, NYC
  • New Art, New York: Reflections on the Human Condition (catalogue)
    Trierenberg Holding, Traun, Austria
2004
  • 2004 Queens International (catalogue)
    Queens Museum of Art, Queens, NY
2003
  • Gallery Group, Luise Ross Gallery, NYC
2002
  • Me Myself & I: Self-Portraits
    George Adams Gallery, NYC
  • Drawings, 2002 (catalogue)
    New Jersey Center for Visual Art, Summit, NJ
2001
  • Artists Respond, George Adams Gallery, NYC
2000
  • Fast: Five Years at Grand Arts (catalogue)
    Grand Arts, Kansas City, MO
  • 25th Anniversary Exhibition (catalogue)
    City Without Walls Gallery, Newark, NJ
  • The Color Line in the 21st Century (catalogue)
    City Without Walls Gallery, Newark, NJ
1999
  • The Art Formerly Known as Prints: 1999
    Kansas City Art Institute, Kansas City, MO
1998
  • Biennial: Lines of Direction (catalogue)
    Ben Shahn Galleries at Wm. Paterson University, Wayne, NJ
  • Peep Show, Luise Ross Gallery, NYC
1997
  • A Show of Hands, George Adams Gallery, NYC
  • Collectors Show
    Arkansas Arts Center, Little Rock, AR
1996
  • Out of ‘Toon: Another Look at Art & the Comics
    George Adams Gallery, NYC
  • Extensions: Large-Scale Drawings, Luise Ross Gallery, NYC
  • Black and White Sculptors’ Drawings (catalogue)
    Marymount Manhattan College Gallery, NYC
  • Body Language (catalogue)
    Art Museum, Florida State University, Tallahassee, FL

Honors and Awards

2017
  • Artist Fellowship in the category of Crafts/Sculpture
  • New York Foundation for the Arts, New York State Council on the Arts
2013
  • Grant, the Pollock-Krasner Foundation
2011
  • Fellowship in Printmaking/Drawing/Book Arts, Gregory Millard Fellow
    New York Foundation for the Arts
  • Residency, Anchor Graphics, Columbia College, Chicago, IL
2006
  • Grant, The George Sugarman Foundation, Inc.
2005
  • Fellowship in Printmaking/Drawing/Artists' Books
    New York Foundation for the Arts
2003
  • Artist-in-Residence, The Newark Museum, Newark, NJ
2002
  • Grant, The George Sugarman Foundation, Inc.
1994
  • Mid Atlantic/NEA Regional Fellowship (Works on Paper)
    Mid Atlantic Arts Foundation
1993
  • Arts Fellowship in Graphics (Drawing)
    New Jersey State Council on the Arts
  • Purchase Award, Esseff Foundation for the Arts
1989
  • Printmaking Fellowship, funded by the New Jersey State Council for the Arts, Rutgers Center for Innovative Printmaking, New Brunswick, NJ
  • Exhibition Grant, Artists Space, NYC
1988
  • Designation as a Distinguished Artist
    New Jersey State Council on the Arts
  • Arts Fellowship in Experimental Arts
    New Jersey State Council on the Arts
1985
  • Arts Fellowship in Mixed Media
    New Jersey State Council on the Arts
1974-76
  • Graduate Fellowship, The Danforth Foundation, St. Louis, MO
1973
  • Grant for the documentation of Tibetan bell-casting in Nepal and India
    The POINT Foundation, San Francisco, CA
1972-74
  • Fulbright-Hayes Fellowship to make sculpture in Nepal
    Institute for International Education, NYC

Bibliography

2016
  • China Marks, Not Quite Human, catalogue essay by Owen Houhoulis, Director, Owen James Gallery
  • Radiant Messenger: Drawings by China Marks catalogue essays by Carla Funk, Director of the Foosaner Museum, Jacqueline Borsanyi, independent curator, Owen Houhoulis, director of the Owen James Gallery, Todd Bartel, Director of the Thompson Gallery, and by the artist.
  • China Marks, Time Traveler catalogue essay by Alexander Campos, director of the Center for Book Arts
  • Inspirational 11, by John Hopper (https://payhip.com/johnhopper)
    #inspirational11 #inspirational #contemporaryart #artpublishing #textiles #fiber #painting #word #poetry #mixed media
2015
  • China Marks: Nowhere/Everywhere catalogue essay, Todd Bartel, Director, Thompson Gallery, Cambridge School of Weston, Weston, MA
2014
2013
2012
2011
  • China Marks: Drawing with Fabric and Print, an interview by Sarah Bogosh, pp. 5-7, Anchor Graphics, Columbia College Chacago, Vol. 5, no. 1/Summer-Fall 2011.
2010
  • 8-page color insert, interview, and front and back covers, Jelly Bucket, Eastern Kentucky State University. Publication date, Nov., 2010.
    www.jellybucket.org
  • H. L. Hix interview by John Poch, pp. 40-47, The Writer's Chronicle, May/Summer 2010, Vol. 4, No. 6
    www.awpwriter.org
2009
  • A Sensual Formalism and a Graphic Wit: The Unexpected Art of China Marks, Tanya Hartmann, for Sewn Drawings, a solo exhibition at the Luise Ross Gallery, Sept.-Oct., 2009.
  • China Marks/Multivalent Narratives, Glen R. Brown, pp. 28-31, Surface Design, Winter 2009.
    www.surfacedesign.org
  • One Stitch at a Time/China Marks, Kristopher Yordice, pp. 58-61, Ins & Outs, Vol II, No. 4, 2009
2007
  • Let Me Show You the World—The Sewn Drawings of China Marks, Marianna Kistler Beach Museum of Art, Catalogue essay by Bill North, p. 7-11.
  • Exhibitions, Let Me Show You the World, etc. Essay by Bill North, p. 1,
    Insight, Beach Museum of Art newsletter, Fall 2007.
2006
  • Les Dessin Cousus de China Marks, Aliette Baud, pp.48-51, Les Nouvelles de Patch Work, Dec. 2006.
2005
  • The Sewn "Drawings" of China Marks, Rhonda Sonnenberg, pp. 52-55,Fiberarts, 30th Anniversary Issue, Sept.-Oct., 2005. www.fiberarts.com
  • Review, China Marks at Luise Ross, Jessica Ostrower, pp. 132-33, Art in America, Feb. 2005.
2004
  • The Sewn Drawings of China Marks, an unpublished essay by Meredith Bergmann, www.meredithbergmann.com
  • Untitled unpublished essay by Cherry Smyth, www.cherrysmyth.com
  • Review, China Marks. Grace Glueck, p. E37, The New York Times, Friday, Apr. 9, 2004.