Mark Webber
Mark Webber was born in Manhattan and graduated with a BFA in sculpture from SUNY Purchase in 1978. He moved to Sag Harbor in 1999 with his wife, photographer Francine Fleischer, and daughter. He has worked as a cabinet maker and fine furniture building at Custom Woodworking Design since 1981.
Webber, a sculptor and painter, has shown in group exhibitions at Guild Hall, Ashawagh Hall, and folioeast in East Hampton, NY, the Sara Nightingale Gallery and Julie Keyes, Sag Harbor, NY, East End Collected at the Southampton Arts Center and Art Garden Landman, Southampton, NY; at the Mitobo Gallery, Southampton; Anita Rogers Gallery, New York, NY; the Lauren Rogers Museum, Laurel, Missippi; at the Boston Biennial. He was also selected for the 2016 East End Arts Annual National Show. Webber’s work is held in numerous private collections.
“Although I drew quite a bit as a child, I was not actually drawn to making art until my first year of college. By chance I took an art class with Charles Ginnever and Peter Forakis and realized right then that that’s what I really wanted to do. I graduated with a BFA in sculpture and went to work for a sculptor named Robert Perless, who was building an all steel structure. That’s when I learned to love steel.
I have always made art regardless if its degree of visibility. As a cabinetmaker I use materials from the construction trades—glass, wood, steel, plaster, and leaded copper for roof flashing. There is an honesty to them, and they come together in a balanced way that is my aesthetic equivalent to solving an equation.
Moving out here has allowed me access to what I consider its most precious resource: the water. I’ve spent a lot of time on the water, racing sailboats and kayaks. I always look for the currents on top of the water, how the wind is bending around a point or where I can get “free” energy from these elements. It’s about being totally in the moment and letting the nature around me guide me. This is very much like my process with art.” — MW