Prairie Arts Council in Princeton to host Mark Robinson railroad art gallery

The Prairie Arts Council in Princeton is hosting a gallery show in February featuring local artist Mark Robinson.

His art can be viewed through February during gallery hours 1 to 3 p.m. Saturday and Sunday at 24 Park Ave. E.

“I am grateful to the people at the Prairie Arts Center in Princeton who have asked me to display some of my artwork through this coming February,” Robinson said. “I have been interested in art my whole life, drawing, illustrating, etc. "

Over the past 20 years, Robinson said he’s worked with watercolor as a medium with an interest in railroads as the subject matter.

“A somewhat self taught artist, and attending several collage instructional classes over the years, I consider my one on one tutelage with Aurora, Illinois artist Joyce Reuland as the catalyst for directing me to the world of watercolor,” Robinson said. “My work has been shown at local art shows in the state, with award placements in many of them. I have several pieces currently hanging at the Skidmore gallery in Galena, Illinois, as well as pieces in private collections.”

Robinson is a charter member of the American Society of Railroad Artists and a past member of the NWS. He retired from the Aurora Fire Department in 2016 (where he and a friend designed a painting to commemorate Sept. 11, raising more than $25,000 donated to the New York fire department).

He lives in Walnut with his wife Carol.

This program is partially supported by grants from the Illinois Arts Council Agency through federal funds provided by the National Endowment for the Arts and the Princeton Closet.