“There are also times when I start from nothing and work with materials until the artwork feels finished. At other times I plot things out, doing sketches or well developed studies. My artwork is often developed by putting together disparate ideas such a illusions of two dimensional and three dimensional forms in the same image, or parts that can function as wholes and wholes that function as parts, contained shapes and shapes that seem to fall away or spill out, shapes that might be real and some that are contrived. In a way I’ve become a bit of a chronicler and cartographer.”
Clinton MacKenzie works out of Portland, Oregon. Originally from Minneapolis, he attended Macalester College and then earned a Master of Fine Arts at Cranbrook Academy of Art. He then taught at Tyler School of Art in Philadelphia and from there he moved to Southern California and is now a Professor Emeritus from Cal State Fullerton. Although today he is known primarily as an abstract painter, Clinton also has a background in papermaking, textile design, and weaving. He has had 13 major solo shows, as well as national, and international exhibitions. He was recently artist in residence at the Grand Central Art Center in Santa Ana, California and his recent exhibits include two drawing shows, one in Venice, Italy and one in Minsk, Belarus. Among his proudest accomplishments are having been a lecturer and studio coach at the national symposium Paintings Edge in Idyllwild, California, a Ford Foundation Visiting Artist at the University of Hawaii, Visiting Artist at the Visual Arts Center of Alaska, speaking at the International Papermakers Conference in Capillades, Spain, and having his art work purchased by the Detroit Institute of Arts, the Delaware Art Museum and the Frederick Wiseman Art Foundation Collection.