Spend time in the creative space of artist Mark Granlund during this ARTSpeak studio visit. We’ll explore his process, talk about artmaking, and learn from one another through conversation. Whether you’re an artist or simply curious, it’s a welcoming way to meet people and see how another artist works.
Artist Bio
Mark Granlund (b. 1963, Minneapolis, Minnesota) explores the personal experience of natural landscapes, human activity and contemporary culture. His work utilizes traditional genres of landscape and still life. In his landscapes, Granlund shares the rhythms, layers and patterns that he senses particular to the site, capturing the bodily experience of place. In his still lifes, Granlund is taking traditional still life objects/motifs and pairing, punning and counterpointing them with non-traditional still life objects and situations while commenting on our American culture which substitutes and imitates rather than wading deeper into personal experience.
Granlund earned a BA from Bethel University in Saint Paul, MN and an MFA degree from City University of New York at Brooklyn College, Brooklyn, New York.
The artist has participated in exhibitions at the Minneapolis Institute of Arts; Oberling Library, University of Wisconsin-Madison; University of Minnesota at Morris; the Bell Museum of Natural History, Minneapolis; Duluth Art Institute; Charles H. McNider Museum, Mason City, IA; Neville Public Museum of Brown County, Green Bay, WI; Hunter College, Manhattan; Westbeth Gallery, Manhattan; Site: Brooklyn Gallery, Brooklyn, New York; and the Minnesota State Fair Fine Arts Exhibition winning both first place Drawing and First Place Painting Awards. He has had solo exhibits at Hopkins Center for the Arts, Hopkins, MN; Phipps Center for the Arts, Hudson, WI; and Watermark Art Center, Bemidji, MN.
Granlund has also been a public art administrator for the last thirty years. First for the Saint Paul Department of Parks and Recreation and currently with Metro Transit in the Twin Cities. He has overseen the selection and installation of numerous public art projects by other artists, as well as creating or heading the creative team, on twenty-eight public art projects of his own. Granlund also privately consults on public art and its integration into natural and landscaped environments.
Red Wing Arts is pleased to announce the relaunching our monthly ARTSpeak artist professional development program in 2026!
Join us at 6 pm on the second Tuesday of each month for this free program designed to support both emerging and established artists.
We’ll alternate each month between panel discussions — featuring experts on topics that build business skills and professional growth — and facilitated artwork critique and networking sessions. More details about each month’s offering will be shared soon. Artists and creatives of all disciplines are welcome!
ARTSpeak is made possible by the voters of Minnesota through a Minnesota State Arts Board Operating Support grant, thanks to a legislative appropriation from the arts and cultural heritage fund