Great Lakes artist Mark McMahon takes his talents to the water. story by jodie jacobs artwork by mark m c mahon
Artist in Residence P
Parry Sound, ON
Mark McMahon
arry Sound, Ontario might seem an unusual place to win a watercolor by noted artist Mark McMahon. However, the gorgeous setting on Georgian Bay was the scene of the Great Lakes Grand Banks Association’s Rendezvous July 26-28, 2012. McMahon, a Lake Forest, Illinois artist-reporter who captures events and scenery in sketches and watercolors, was asked to record the occasion in a painting to be raffled. He and wife Carolyn McGregor McMahon, an award-winning sculptor, were invited by Mettawa, Illinois couple John and Sarabess Cahill who have a Grand Banks trawler. Friends for more than 20 years, the Cahills knew of Mark’s talent.
Living with art, art as a living Mark’s art path was in his DNA. His dad, the late renowned artist-reporter Franklin McMahon, recorded United States presidential conventions, the Vatican, NASA milestones, travel destinations and sports highlights with artistic renderings. Mark followed in similar mode for corporations, governments, sports associations and NASA. “I always took it for granted that this was how to make a living,” Mark says. “I remember when I was nine years old I put the bricks in dad’s drawing of Killarney, ON 36 LAKELANDBOATING.COM november/december 2012