From Fredericksburg Center for the Creative Arts
Mark Prieto lives on a small farm and does a majority of his painting from memory. He has recently started on a journey of sharing his paintings with others since meeting a new friend. This new friend, a lifetime artist and retired art teacher, loves helping other artists. Prieto’s friend doesn’t want the spotlight on her. Prieto grew up on a tobacco farm in Amelia, Virginia. He has been painting since he was 7 years old.
“When you see my paintings, it is like looking at a photo album of my life,” shares Prieto, “I also do fun paintings…my granddaughters inspire me.”
When asked, by email, what would be his favorite painting? Prieto responds by sending a painting along with the description of who each family member and person in the painting is and where he or she are located. Others have described Prieto’s work as ‘folk art’ and ‘primitive art’; a better description would be “memory artwork” because this is exactly what he shares…memories.
Prieto moved to his small farm from the Buckingham area in the spring of 2017. Since then he has worked with his friend to actively share his “memory” artwork.
You can encounter Mark Prieto’s artwork during the month of January during his solo show in the Members’ Gallery at Fredericksburg Center for the Creative Arts.
