A retrospective exhibition of work by a local Architect will open Saturday, September 27, 2025, with an Artist's Reception at Geisler Studio in Silver City, NM (6:00 to 7:30 pm). Mark Richard has worked on hundreds of projects during his 45-year career in southern New Mexico. Images include photographs, sketches, collages, posters, Architectural drawings and other media.
Mark's art and Architecture is strongly influenced by the Chihuahuan Desert and its ancient peoples. Energy conservation, the natural environment and historic preservation were major design considerations in architectural studio at Kent State University in the 1970s. Other influences include Frank Lloyd Wright's "organic architecture," International Style architects and designers (i.e., Le Corbusier and Marcel Breuer) and study/travel in Europe. Architectural projects have included hotels, schools, hospitals, libraries, restaurants, churches, condominiums, private homes, historic renovation and others. Clients and occupants at the project core always made the work interesting, challenging and rewarding.
The show's art work is a collection of photographs of natural images and architectural landmarks from the South Pacific, Europe and Mexico. The photocollages are composed of juxtaposed and/or edited regional landscapes or objects. Poster designs include Silver City Jazz Society, Tour of the Gila and others. A complete set of blueprints (sitework, structural, mechanical, electrical, etc.) for a 3-story bank can be flipped through. Some design competition entries such as a Kent State Memorial are also on display.
Proceeds from the sale of photographs and photocollages support Rotary International's Global Polio Eradication Initiative, which will be matched two-for-one by the Gates Foundation. This program curbed an August 2024 outbreak in Gaza by vaccinating over 500,000 children. It is one example of Rotary's thirty-plus year commitment to end polio worldwide. Rotary is a service organization promoting international understanding, goodwill and peace.
The exhibition is open Friday, Saturday and Sunday until October 26, 2025, (upon request, 575-956-6940) or when the door is open at Geisler Studio, 102 West Kelly St. in historic downtown Silver City, NM.
