EDUCATION
BSE in art education, Central Missouri State University
MEd in art education and educational leadership, University of Missouri Columbia
PhD (incomplete) in art education and leadership, University of Missouri Columbia
SELECTED AWARDS
2026 STEMS Plein Air, honorable mention
2026 Summit Plein Air Festival, honorable mention
2026 Historic West Bottoms 4th Annual Plein Air, Best of Show, Friday Top Five
2026 Rock Island Bridge Plein Air, Top Five
2026 Rice Gallery of Fine Art Magic Hour Plein Air Paint Out, 1st Place Purchase Award
2025 Paint Marceline Plein Air, Best of Show
2025 Brush Creek Plein Air Art Walk, 2nd and 3rd place
2025 Historic West Bottoms 3rd Annual Plein Air, Best of Show, 1st Place Friday Nocturne Purchase Award
2023 Historic West Bottoms 1st Annual Plein Air, 1st Place Friday Nocturne Purchase Award
2019 Kansas City Parks Plein Air, Top 3 Award
2019 Kansas City Parks Plein Air, Top 3 Award
2019 Brush Creek Plein Air Art Walk
2018 Brush Creek Plein Air Art Walk, Purchase Award
2015 1st place award, MAEA group art show
2014 Best of Show and 1st place award, Liberty Arts Squared
2013 1st place award, Liberty Arts Squared
2000 Cultures without Borders, Kansas City Museum, Missouri, Award Winner
SELECTED SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2011 “Human Spaces,” solo exhibition, Liberty City Hall
2011 “Mark Anderson: plein air paintings and sketches,” GCC Gallery
2010 “Places II,” solo exhibition, GCC Gallery Gladstone, Missouri
2004 “Autograph,” solo exhibition, Central Missouri State University
2003 “Ward’s Cove,” Kenai Fine Art Center, Kenai, Alaska
2002 “Bodyscapes,” Solo Exhibition, Mykel’s, Soldotna, Alaska
2002 “Oil Paintings of Morning,” Solo Exhibition of oil paintings, Alaska
SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2026 STEMS Plein Air, Rice Gallery of Fine Art
2026 “Garden Soireé,” Rice Gallery of Fine Art
2018 “Sanctuary: An Artist’s Perspective,” Martha’s Vineyard Artists Association
2009 Group exhibition, “artist | teacher” at GCC Gallery, Gladstone, Missouri
2009 Group exhibition, Red Door Studios, Kansas City, Kansas
2008 Group exhibition, Columbia, Missouri
2008 Group exhibition, Missouri State University Missouri Fine Arts Academy
2007 Group exhibition, Kansas City Art Institute, Kansas City
2005 Group exhibition, Overland Park, Kansas
2005 Group exhibition, Kansas City, Missouri
2005 Images Art Gallery Annual Juried Exhibition, Kansas City
2005 “Art at the Center” Juried Exhibition, Overland Park, Kansas
2002 “Places,” Two person exhibition of paintings, University of Alaska
2002 Columbia Art Guild’s Plein Air Invitational Exhibit, Columbia, Missouri
2002 “Spirit of Alaska: The Inner Landscape,” exhibition of 100 Alaskan artists
2000 “Cultures without Borders,” The Kansas City Museum
2000 “Artists Along The KATY Trail” traveling exhibition of plein air paintings
2000 “Not Under Glass,”a national exhibit of fine oil and acrylic paintings, St. Louis, MO
SELECTED COMMUNITY ARTS AND RESIDENCIES
2025 Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art Carole Ann Ladd Legacy Scholar Award
2025 Missouri Alliance for Arts Education Creativity and Innovation Award
2017 “This is my story,” HALO
2016 “Pakistani Cargo Truck,” community art project in conjunction with the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art
2015 “Pianos on Parade,” community art project, on permanent display.
2009 Missouri Teacher of the Year (finalist)
2008 Missouri Art Educator of the Year
2007 Named to teaching staff of Missouri Fine Arts Academy, Missouri State University
2003 Artist in Schools mural, exhibition and installation, Kenai Peninsula, Alaska
2003 Artist in Schools Artist Residency, State of Alaska
2002 Artist in Schools Artist Residency, State of Alaska
2002 Gourmet Gardens mural installation, Soldotna, Alaska
2002 Cook Inlet mural installation, Soldotna, Alaska
FEATURED ARTIST
2019 Urban Sketchers International Symposium Correspondent/Reportage Artist
2018 Doodlewash Featured Artist
2018 Stillman & Birn Featured Artist
2018 Kansas City Water Gardens Tour, Martha Lafitte Nature Sanctuary Featured Artist
2017 USk Day in the Life Featured Artist
2017 Strathmore Artist Papers Featured Artist
SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY
Evoking a Sense of Place | The Memory of Trees and Other Things | Excuse Me While I Kiss The Sky | Attracted to the Opposite | Physically Possible | Clutter is the Key | Roots and Wings: Paul Wang’s Philosophy of Balance | Listening Through a Sketchbook | Hello, Sketcher! | The Comic Side of Things | Draw Until You Don’t Care About it Anymore | Takin’ it to the Streets | Embracing the Limitations | The Becoming Art Teacher: A Reconciliation of Teacher Identity and the Dance of Teaching Art | Shooting in a Time Warp. | I’ll Dance At Your Wedding | Let’s All Loosen Up A Little | Hiking and Sketching Portugal | Sketching With Abandon | Almost Heaven | An Existentialist Appraisal of Standardized Testing | Art is Dead! Long Live Art! | Autobiographical Artworks: Digitally Projected Identities | Contextualizing Aesthetic Value Assessments in Art Education | History in the Remaking | Investigating Children’s Drawing and Development in Art | Moveable Murals |
Mark Alan Anderson 