Mark Bishop Wins Local Artist Award with Stunning Metal Sculpture

Mark Bishop, a talented artist with a love for a unique and intricate artform, was awarded the Local Artist Award at the 46th Hinchinbrook Art Awards for his piece titled “Youth and Beauty”.

A boilermaker and welder by trade, Mark began to explore metal art as a hobby following on from his retirement, and began to discover his hidden, artistic talents.

“I always wanted to try something different using metal but never had the time until I moved from Tasmania to Forrest Beach,” explained Mark.

With the encouragement of his friends, Mark decided to open a market stall to sell the art he had crafted from recycled cutlery, where he was then presented with the opportunity to install some pieces at the TYTO Regional Art Gallery.

“I entered the Hinchinbrook Bird Life Awards in 2022 and won the Local Artist Award with a black cockatoo made from recycled sheet metal,” Mark added.

Mark was honourably welcomed as a judge at 2023’s Hinchinbrook Art Awards, with his passion for the artform leading him to craft a piece to enter the Hinchinbrook Bird Life Awards, held earlier this year. Successfully winning the Sculpture Form Award led Mark to enter a fantastic peacock sculpture titled “Youth and Beauty” in November’s Hinchinbrook Art Awards exhibition.

“This piece took over 200 hours to craft, and every individual feather goes through five steps to complete,” shared Mark.

“Winning that award was totally unexpected as the quality of the entrant’s work is always of a high standard, and since winning a few awards and having my artwork at TYTO I have been asked to do various commission pieces which I really enjoyed!”

“I would like to take this opportunity to thank everyone at TYTO and all the people involved in these awards for all the work that goes on behind the scenes and would encourage other people to try their hand with various art works.”