Statement & Bio

I am interested in improvisation, perception, and transformation.
My images encourage active seeing, where the perceptual experience becomes visual exercise.

My paintings offer no concrete destination but seek to suspend a viewer in the present moment. My interest in the intersection of references to anatomy, man-made structures, early esoteric philosophies, and ancient scientific examinations of the world supports this objective.

I rely on the confluence of process, material, color, and metaphor to direct me. It's enigmatic and unpredictable, entirely reliant on previous painting decisions. My images evolve, without a known target. I work in intuitive and unexpected ways so that I can find alternative solutions. In this way, I relate to analytical processes - how many ways can I approach or manipulate an idea? Early decisions in the paintings provide structures to push up against with more and more spontaneity. I am excited by the discovery of things I've never seen before while I am painting. I want (and work) to be surprised, and I hope that the person viewing the work will be as well. I'd like to offer people something unique and new to look at.


Honour Mack lives, teaches and maintains a studio practice in Portland, Maine. Born and raised in central New York, she moved to Maine early in her career. Her studio practice focuses on process, perception and transformation. While she primarily focuses on painting, she loves to experiment with a variety of materials and approaches to making work. She feels a deep connection to color and light as conduits for poetic communication and is inspired by nature, science, and the cycle of seasonal changes in New England.


Honour Mack is a Professor in the Painting Department at Maine College of Art & Design in Portland, Maine. She exhibits her work regionally and nationally and has received Fellowships to the Fine Arts Work Center in Provincetown, the Vermont Studio Colony, and Chautauqua Institution.


She received her Bachelor's degree from Skidmore College, and her Master of Fine Arts degree from Yale University School of Art.