Art to stir the conscience of our nation for the emergence of a compassionate generation
"Artists have a powerful medium for reporting on the consciousness of our current civilization and can paint visual records of the unpalatable realities of our time. The aim is to move the viewer to feel those realities and engage them in a dialogue towards recovering our lost humanity." ~ Mark Barone
Mark Barone has paved the way for compassion by creating a stirring collection of 5500 portraits of shelter dogs, (illustrating the approximate number destroyed everyday) and works with his wife, Marina Barone to run their charity (An Act of Dog) that uses the power of art for social change. PBS created and features a 30-minute documentary about The 5500 shelter dog project.
An Act of Dog uses art to educate for change and donates 40% from every sale to Semper Fi Service Dogs because they save shelter pets with 72 hours left to live and train them to be service dogs to zero out the 22 Veterans who commit suicide, every day.
Mark has been an Artist for over 35 years, with his work featured in top art publications, awarded and exhibited throughout America, with much of his work hanging in private and corporation collections around the World. In addition to this his art career, Mark is a national award winning consultant to cities across America, showing them how to use the arts to revitalize blighted neighborhoods, and is revered for his successful creation and implementation of the “Paducah Artist Relocation Program,” in Paducah, Kentucky. This cutting edge program won the Governor’s Award in the Arts, the Kentucky Chapter of the American Planning Association Distinguished Planning Award, the Kentucky Earth Day Award for Preservation, the national award from the American Planning Association for a Special Community Initiative, and the Rudy Bruner award for Urban Excellence.