Meet Mark McKinney | Founder and creator of Artsology

We had the good fortune of connecting with Mark McKinney and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Mark, how does your business help the community?
The goal of Artsology has always been to engage kids in something fun related to the arts, in the hope of inspiring their interest in learning more or getting involved in their own creative endeavors. The idea of playing fun games online that have an art history element to them will hopefully spark some curiosity to learn more. Creative thinking as a result of doing something fun seems like a great combination. We often hear about schools cutting back on their arts education budgets, with so many people thinking that the arts fall low on the list of important subjects, yet studies and interviews with corporate CEOs find them often listing “creativity” as a leading quality that they look for from people, knowing that it aids in problem-solving. Artsology’s arts games, investigations, and other arts-related materials is meant to provide a gateway or springboard to further engagement and enjoyment of the arts, for people of all ages.

Alright, so let’s move onto what keeps you busy professionally?
I studied art history and took studio art classes in college, and after graduation, I got a job at an art gallery in New York City, where I worked for 10 years. During that time, it was also my dream to open my own art gallery, and I did that, curating shows of local artists and exhibiting them in my gallery space for two years. The art business is difficult, though, in making a living from the sale of art, and after two years of breaking even, I decided to go back to school and learn web design. While I was learning programming code, sometimes I would practice writing code by making simple games that I would share with my kids, to entertain them. These were the “seeds” for Artsology, in that my kids had fun playing the games, so I put them on a website, and other kids found and played the games, and then teachers found the website and shared it with their students, and it organically grew over 19 years out of these simple little programming exercises I did making games for my own two kids.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
I’m located in New Jersey, so I would probably say that I would take a friend into New York City to experience some of the art venues available there. It would likely include a walking tour of art galleries in the Chelsea neighborhood, as well as a visit to some of the museums, such as MoMA or The Met. However, I’m also a big fan of street art, and would enjoy sharing my favorite neighborhoods where graffiti and street art cover the walls of buildings all over these neighborhoods, such as the East Village and Bushwick (in Brooklyn),

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
While Artsology has a strong focus on the visual arts, I try to include music and literature as well, and a big part of the original inspiration for the goals of the site came from my looking back at a high school band teacher. When I was a teenager I was in the school band, and we played all of the standard fare. However, our teacher offered an extra-curricular jazz band, and I joined. I was soon learning about swing, fusion and be-bop, and for a kid used to listening to Top 40 pop music and classic rock, this was an eye- (and ear-) opening experience. This teacher made an extra effort, far beyond his formal teacher responsibilities, to expose us to music we may not have otherwise heard. I truly believe this had a major impact on my life, opening my mind to different thoughts and ideas.

Website: https://artsology.com

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/artsology/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/artsology

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/theartsologist/

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/user/Artsology

Other: https://www.pinterest.com/artsology

Image Credits
Images courtesy of Artsology.com