Mr. Marcus is proud to be the keynote speaker at this year’s CASP Conference. He is thrilled about sharing his premiere art gallery and home painting studio with you. I trust you will find his talk inspiring, thought provoking and humorous.

 

Hal Marcus was born in 1951 in El Paso.  His interest in painting began in high school and developed into a life-long passion for the arts.  His sense of color originated from the influences of Mexico where as a child he accompanied his grandmother on weekly visits to the Juarez market. 

 

His early paintings were colorful expressions of a cubistic world of shapes within shapes.  His love for art slowly began to reflect the environment in which he lived.  The people, streets and mountains began to show up in his works of art. This made people proud of their community along the border. Marcus began to publish cards, posters, and calendars which he sold door-to-door.  The works became cultural icons for the community.  Today Hal Marcus is consistently voted ‘Best Artist’ by local media polls. 

 

Hal Marcus' self-taught folk-art style has become main stream in the isolated art community along the Rio Grande.  His works express local and global themes derived from his experiences. His entrepreneurial pursuits have led him to collaborate with hundreds of institutions creating images for worthy causes.  His works are found in public, private and corporate collections worldwide.

 

Hal Marcus was inducted into the El Paso Artists Hall of Fame in 2003.   He served as a member and then as Chairman of the El Paso Museum of Art Advisory Board from 2004 – 2007.   Marcus was appointed to the Accessions Committee for the El Paso Museum of Art serving from 2010 – 2014.   He is a founding member of the Early El Paso Art Collectors Organization, (EEPACO).  For 22 years the Hal Marcus Gallery has exhibited only local art, both contemporary and Early El Paso art.

 

An active member of his community, Hal Marcus is a vice-president of the Vegetarian Society of El Paso; 2016 recipient of Las Americas Immigrant Advocacy Centre’s Border Hero Award;  2015 recipient of the Dialog Award from the Dialogue Institute of the Southwest; and served as trustee and vice-president of El Paso’s Reform Jewish Congregation Temple Mount Sinai 2008 – 2015.