Mark Prior: biography
Born, Brighton, England, 1957. Attended art college 1975-79 initially as a painter, then majoring in sculpture. My chosen medium of Land Art involved photographic recording for gallery display, which lead to an abiding passion for landscape photography. In my final year I was awarded ‘Best Entry’ in the competition “Young Photographers in the South East”, leading to early exposure in a touring exhibition alongside established professionals.
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After the Fine Art Degree I worked for 5 years as ‘College Photographer’ and Audio-Visual Technician at Queen Mary College in London whilst taking a Diploma in Professional Photography at the Polytechnic of Central London (now the University of Westminster). During the same period I documented the ground-breaking Northern Arts Sculpture Residency in Grizedale Forest, Cumbria, which lead to the book and traveling exhibition "A Sense of Place". The pull of the wild places ‘Up North’ proved too hard to resist, so my first wife and I moved to the County Durham Dales in 1984 and opened “Priors” the next year, a successful Vegetarian Restaurant and Art Gallery combination in the market town of Barnard Castle, representing on average 120 artists/artisans for 17 years.
Another career milestone came in 1997, when I was a ‘Co-Pilot’ of the “Elect Project” (partners: Visa, NatWest Bank, Hewlett Packard and Onyx Internet), an early Secure Electronic Transaction System, as design consultant. It was launched in 1998 by the new Prime Minister, Tony Blair, who purchased a framed etching from 'Priors’ Web Site using the system, with national media attention.
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Back cover, "A Sense of Place" featuring "Seven Spires" by Andy Goldsworthy, 1984
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I met the artist Mitra Ghaffari in 2002 and after a life-changing 6 month trip to India settled in British Columbia, Canada, in 2003 when the 'digital revolution' was still in it's infancy. The relatively remote location meant investment in reliable fine art digital printing equipment, followed by a Better Light Scanning Back for reproducing Mitra's paintings. After I’d been honing these new skills for a couple of years we co-founded Mima Fine Art Publishers & Gallery in 2005, to promote other artists' and photographers' work alongside our own by creating fine art giclee editions. By the time Mima became the art supplier for the Hudson Bay Company, “Mima @ the Bay”, (2008 - 2011) in downtown Vancouver, Victoria and Nanaimo (their 3 largest department stores in British Columbia), we represented 50 artists with hundreds of editions.
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Since then the art market has been changing rapidly with the rise of the Internet and we’ve evolved into providing printing and reproduction services to self-publishing photographers and artists. By now I’ve reproduced and printed thousands of artworks and photographic editions. Coming from both the fine art and craft photography traditions has had important advantages, plus years as a fine art publisher and gallery owner brings professional and marketing expertise into the mix, all of which is available to my clients. (Find out more...)
This specialized service has provided a viable and possibly unique market niche, and so we replaced ‘Mima’ with ‘Print Art Photography CA’ in April 2016 to better reflect the nature of the business.
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2016-Present Print Art Photography CA (replacing Mima Fine Art Publishers) serving artists and photographers across Canada
2010 Closed 'Mima @ the Bay' (unfortunately due to 'unconducive' corporate policies of new US owners)
2009 Opened 'Mima @ the Bay', Downtown Victoria and Nanaimo, BC, Canada
2008 Established 'Mima @ the Bay', Downtown Vancouver, BC, Canada
2005 Founded Mima Fine Art Publishers, Inc., BC, Canada, with artist Mitra Ghaffari
2003 Moved to Denman Island, BC, Canada
2002-2003 Traveled 6 months in India with artist Mitra Ghaffari, taking documentary and landscape photographs
1995-2002 The Ecological Framing Company (EFC), Sole Proprietor, manufacture, wholesale and retail of ecologically sound mouldings and framing for the public and artists, Barnard Castle, UK
1999 BBC2 TV Feature, “Working Lunch” Program, “The Art of e-commerce”
1998 Priors Web Site chosen to introduce Prime Minister Tony Blair to e-commerce
1997 Co-Pilot of Elect Project, Partners: Visa, NatWest, Hewlett Packard and Onyx Internet, leading to S.E.T (Secure Electronic Transaction System)
1997 Research and Development of Constitution of Durham Fine Arts and Crafts, (funded through County Durham T.E.C.), Elected first Chairman
1988-1991 Lilac Cottage Studios, Sole Proprietor (& Photog. Teacher) offering classes and workshops in Fine Arts, Photography, Crafts and Healing Arts
1985-2002 Priors Contemporary Fine Art and Crafts Gallery, Barnard Castle
1985-1996 Priors Vegetarian Restaurant, Barnard Castle, U.K
1985-1987 Teacher of Photography, part-time, Darlington Media Group, Darlington, UK
1981-1984 Photography and Documentation of Grizedale Forest Sculptures, UK (Find out more...)
1979-1984 Photographer and Audio Visual Aids Technician, AVA Dept., Queen Mary College, London University
1979 Stage and Lighting Designer, Brighton Polytechnic’s Brighton Festival Production, UK
2010 Closed 'Mima @ the Bay' (unfortunately due to 'unconducive' corporate policies of new US owners)
2009 Opened 'Mima @ the Bay', Downtown Victoria and Nanaimo, BC, Canada
2008 Established 'Mima @ the Bay', Downtown Vancouver, BC, Canada
2005 Founded Mima Fine Art Publishers, Inc., BC, Canada, with artist Mitra Ghaffari
2003 Moved to Denman Island, BC, Canada
2002-2003 Traveled 6 months in India with artist Mitra Ghaffari, taking documentary and landscape photographs
1995-2002 The Ecological Framing Company (EFC), Sole Proprietor, manufacture, wholesale and retail of ecologically sound mouldings and framing for the public and artists, Barnard Castle, UK
1999 BBC2 TV Feature, “Working Lunch” Program, “The Art of e-commerce”
1998 Priors Web Site chosen to introduce Prime Minister Tony Blair to e-commerce
1997 Co-Pilot of Elect Project, Partners: Visa, NatWest, Hewlett Packard and Onyx Internet, leading to S.E.T (Secure Electronic Transaction System)
1997 Research and Development of Constitution of Durham Fine Arts and Crafts, (funded through County Durham T.E.C.), Elected first Chairman
1988-1991 Lilac Cottage Studios, Sole Proprietor (& Photog. Teacher) offering classes and workshops in Fine Arts, Photography, Crafts and Healing Arts
1985-2002 Priors Contemporary Fine Art and Crafts Gallery, Barnard Castle
1985-1996 Priors Vegetarian Restaurant, Barnard Castle, U.K
1985-1987 Teacher of Photography, part-time, Darlington Media Group, Darlington, UK
1981-1984 Photography and Documentation of Grizedale Forest Sculptures, UK (Find out more...)
1979-1984 Photographer and Audio Visual Aids Technician, AVA Dept., Queen Mary College, London University
1979 Stage and Lighting Designer, Brighton Polytechnic’s Brighton Festival Production, UK
Selected Exhibitions, Articles and Awards
May 2008 - April 2011 'Mima @ the Bay', Downtown Vancouver, Victoria and Nanaimo, BC, Canada
2006 Home & Interior Design Show, Vancouver, BC, Canada.
2006 “Summer Exhibition”, MiMa Fine Art Gallery, BC, Canada.
2005 “Christmas Exhibition”, Pyramid Gallery, York, UK.
2005 “Calligraphy of Birds/Poetics of Space”, MiMa Fine Art Gallery, BC, Canada.
2005 “Calligraphy of Birds/Poetics of Space”, Denman Gallery, BC, Canada.
2005 Comox Valley Echo, BC, Canada.
1998 EFC - Winner, Environment Award, County Durham Business Excellence Awards (News Feature on Tyne Tees Television)
1985-2002 Permanent Collection, Priors Contemporary Fine Art and Crafts Gallery, Barnard Castle, UK
1988 Exhibition and Permanent Collection, Glaxo Operations UK
1988 “Classic Ground”, 3 man show, Bowes Museum, Barnard Castle, UK
1988 Publication, “Classic Ground”, New Arcadian Journal No. 27, UK
1987 “Four Ancient Essex Churches Through The Fall Of Winter”, Bede Monastery Museum, Jarrow, UK and Woodhorn Church Museum, Northumberland
1984-1986 “Four Ancient Essex Churches Through The Fall Of Winter”, Solo Exhibition, Toured 33 Essex Libraries, UK
1984 Solo Exhibition, “A Sense of Place”, Sunderland Arts Center, UK, touring to 4 major UK venues
1984 Publication of Book “A Sense of Place”, Ceolfrith Press, UK (Find out more...)
1983 Article, Grizedale Forest Installations, Studio International magazine
1983 “The Sculpture Show” (photos of sculpture), Hayward Gallery, London
1979-1980 “Young Photographers in the South East”, touring 4 venues, South England
1979 ”Student ’79”, Prize for Best Entry, Photogallery, St. Leonard’s-on-Sea
2006 Home & Interior Design Show, Vancouver, BC, Canada.
2006 “Summer Exhibition”, MiMa Fine Art Gallery, BC, Canada.
2005 “Christmas Exhibition”, Pyramid Gallery, York, UK.
2005 “Calligraphy of Birds/Poetics of Space”, MiMa Fine Art Gallery, BC, Canada.
2005 “Calligraphy of Birds/Poetics of Space”, Denman Gallery, BC, Canada.
2005 Comox Valley Echo, BC, Canada.
1998 EFC - Winner, Environment Award, County Durham Business Excellence Awards (News Feature on Tyne Tees Television)
1985-2002 Permanent Collection, Priors Contemporary Fine Art and Crafts Gallery, Barnard Castle, UK
1988 Exhibition and Permanent Collection, Glaxo Operations UK
1988 “Classic Ground”, 3 man show, Bowes Museum, Barnard Castle, UK
1988 Publication, “Classic Ground”, New Arcadian Journal No. 27, UK
1987 “Four Ancient Essex Churches Through The Fall Of Winter”, Bede Monastery Museum, Jarrow, UK and Woodhorn Church Museum, Northumberland
1984-1986 “Four Ancient Essex Churches Through The Fall Of Winter”, Solo Exhibition, Toured 33 Essex Libraries, UK
1984 Solo Exhibition, “A Sense of Place”, Sunderland Arts Center, UK, touring to 4 major UK venues
1984 Publication of Book “A Sense of Place”, Ceolfrith Press, UK (Find out more...)
1983 Article, Grizedale Forest Installations, Studio International magazine
1983 “The Sculpture Show” (photos of sculpture), Hayward Gallery, London
1979-1980 “Young Photographers in the South East”, touring 4 venues, South England
1979 ”Student ’79”, Prize for Best Entry, Photogallery, St. Leonard’s-on-Sea
education
1979 B.A.(Hons.) Fine Art, Brighton Polytechnic, UK (Now University of Brighton)
1984 Diploma in Professional Photography, Polytechnic of Central London, UK (Now University of Westminster)
1984 Diploma in Professional Photography, Polytechnic of Central London, UK (Now University of Westminster)
