Our Cover Artist

For Mark Adams, the painting he created for our cover is about pure joy. Early on as an artist he just wanted to be competent, but now he strives to bring a sense of wonder to the page – as he’s done here. “I love looking at the world through water and seeing how light moves through different media in the world,” he says.

Although he’s reticent to talk about himself, it’s worth noting that Adams is also Scientist/Artist-in-Residence at the Center for Coastal Studies, the recipient of the Award for Individual Artistic Excellence from the Provincetown Art Association and Museum (PAAM), and the Arts Foundation of Cape Cod’s (AFCC) 2023 Artist of the Year.

All this gives him a platform that he uses to shine light on people and issues he cares deeply about. Chief among them: the ecology of our fragile planet and how we as humans fit into it, and the crisis of displaced people around the world. Migration, he says, is something that comes naturally to both people and animals and today the natural order is in disruption.

Adams has deep roots in the Provincetown arts community and sees his fellow artists, PAAM, and the galleries (he is represented by Schoolhouse Gallery) as a vital part of his life and work. But he would like to see greater recognition of the women who are vital to this creative community.

He’s a prolific artist, often incorporating maps, a nod to his former career as a cartographer, in combination with washes of ink or paint. The scale of his work ranges from sketchbooks to room-sized installations. But ultimately he is striving to make art that means something in the world. And he walks the walk, taking inspiration from his time volunteering in refugee camps in Greece to raise awareness through his work of the plight of refugees.

So, if you run into this artist-activist-environmentalist on the street, ask him for thoughts about what you can do to help make the world a little better – I’m sure he’ll have a job for you.