Bonehead

Mark grew up in Shipley and attended local schools where his only interest was in art, graphics and design technology.  Going on to art college, he hoped, would lead to a creative career, but jobs on offer to a youngster were poorly paid and in frustration he walked onto a local building site and was offered a job labouring. The combination of hard graft combined with creativity in restoring and developing property worked well until ‘my back fell out of with the building trade’.

Attending night school to learn autoCAD, he came across a laser cutting machine, ‘an amazing bit of kit’ and bought his own to be able to offer signage alongside other building work. Not content with the serious stuff, mark, a fan of street art and graffiti art, put the cutter and spray-paint (not to mention his creativity and sense of fun) into practise on some art work. He then brought them down to the Bingley Gallery where proprietor, David Starley immediately offered the chance to put them in the next show.

Having come full circle, Mark has adopted his schoolboy nickname ‘Bonehead’ as his artist’s name.

BRADFORD-BASED ARTIST: Our programme always features a wealth of locally-based talent, and we are especially proud to champion local artists this year, as we celebrate Bradford 2025 UK City of Culture.