PRESTON MARK

Mark Preston was born in 1960 in Dawson City, Yukon, and grew up in Whitehorse, Yukon. Of Tlingit and Irish ancestry, he felt at home in B.C and Europe alike and travelled to many places exhibiting his work, but it was always the Yukon that was closest to his heart. He attended the famed ‘Ksan School in Hazelton BC, where he studied with well known print and jewellery artists. Mark studied various mediums in paper, cloth, wood, metals, stone and glass. He studied silver carving with well-known master jeweler and carver Phil Janze (Gitskan Nation) at Hazelton, BC.
Mark learned about his Tlingit ancestry through family and school study. Initially, he began studying art through European masters such as Leonardo da Vinci, but later discovered Northwest Coast Native artists such as Bill Reid, Robert Davidson, and Roy Vickers. He cites Mark Rothko and Jack Bush as influences in his more recent aboriginal paintings and artworks which transcend the traditional Tlingit Native art form and move him closer into the abstract and contemporary realm.
About his art, Mark said: “When I think about what art is, it is more than illustrations or objects to be doted over. Art is magic, the glue that binds and brings us together. It is the language that transcends its forms. Art gives us reason to think, ponder and speak our minds.”
Mark Preston worked in prints, jewellery, furniture, and architecture, blending modern art with his Indigenous culture. His ideas were always changing, new, and innovative. He was a visionary who was continuously looking for new ways to express his creativity. Mark passed away in October 2022 after a long battle with cancer. His signature, Tenna Tsa Teh (Master of the Copper), incorporates the copper shield.