Mark Runge: Peace is Patriotic Art Opening
Veteran’s Day – Thursday, Nov. 11, 7pm at Fogartyville

On Veteran’s Day, Thursday, November 11, Fogartyville will open its 2021/2022 Visual Arts Gallery season with Peace is Patriotic, a solo show by artist and educator Mark Runge of Miami, Florida. Mark will demonstrate his longtime work using gunpowder as an art medium.

A reception will be held from 7-10pm and includes a social hosted by the Florida Veterans for Common Sense, a cash bar, a gunpowder art demonstration, and live music with Bill Schustik (dulcimer) and Ray Hodges (guitar).  The exhibit and reception are free and open to the public.  Gallery hours are Tuesday and Thursday from 5-7pm. 

Runge, a U.S. Army veteran who served with the 5th Combat Engineer Group during Operations Desert Shield and Desert Storm, said he expresses his memories, or “mis-remembrances,” through his art work. While he is grateful to have served in the Army, he would rather be thanked for his lifetime membership and service with the Veterans for Peace organization.

Several pieces in Runge’s exhibit were created using gunpowder and pyrography. He said he began drawing with gunpowder around 2005, when he was teaching at a small college in Florida. Several students were veterans, and they decided to have a show about their wartime experiences.

“My work usually includes images of the materials and tools of war coupled with toys and animals, a commingling and convoluting of my war-time experiences with my childhood war games. I have always made war and art.” Mark Runge

Mark Runge has received many awards for his artwork in local, state and national art competitions, studied art at Hillsborough Community College in Tampa, Fla.; the Maryland Institute College of Art in Baltimore, Md.; and the University of South Florida in Tampa, where he earned a Master of Fine Arts (MFA) degree. Mark currently shares his work and teaches art, technology and engineering at Miami Country Day School in Miami, Florida.

The Fogartyville entrance is located at the west side of WSLR building on 525 Kumquat Court, Sarasota, Fl 34236.  

Photo from Fogartyville