Title: Service Learning Coordinator
Company: DePaul University
Location: Chicago, Illinois, United States
Bro. Mark Elder, CM, Service Learning Coordinator at DePaul University, has been recognized by Marquis Who’s Who Top Artists for dedication, achievements, and leadership in arts education.
With more than 40 years of experience to his credit, Bro. Elder has excelled as a serving learning coordinator and an adjunct art professor in The Art School at DePaul University since 1994. In this position, he teaches art that reflects the philosophies of Plato and Aristotle, including mural painting, to undergraduate students while simultaneously supervising their internship program for service learning. He was previously active as a teacher at the Vincent Gray Alternative High School from 1989 to 1991. Bro. Elder began his career as a teacher and coach for St. Louis Preparatory Seminary South between 1981 and 1989.
Before embarking on his professional path, Bro. Elder pursued an education at DePaul University, from which he earned a Bachelor of Science in physical education in 1979. He continued his academic efforts with a Master of Arts in painting at Fontebonne University in 1991. He concluded his studies at the University of Denver in 1994, graduating with a Master of Fine Arts in painting. Moreover, Bro. Elder was designated as a religious brother by the Congregation of the Mission, which he holds to this day.
Beyond his primary responsibilities, Bro. Elder has found success in numerous creative endeavors outside of his immediate circles. A self-taught muralist, he has created a number of notable art pieces, including “We Are DePaul2,” a mural of St. Vincent DePaul from 2001 that stands more than 68 feet tall and 36 feet wide. More recently, he completed “The Little School Under the L,” a mural highlighting the past, present and future of DePaul University on pillars beneath their Fullerton stop in 2016. Furthermore, Bro. Elder is the former co-host of an art-centric radio show titled “The Buffalo Bro Half-Hour Show.”
Bro. Elder has participated in myriad art exhibitions as well over the years, including those at Chicago’s Wintrop and Argyle, the Orleans Street Gallery in St. Charles, Illinois, the DePaul University Art Museum, Lorimer Gallery in Cape Girardeau, Missouri, and the Biblical Arts Center in Dallas, to name a few. He has also crafted art featured in permanent installations at the Sacred Heart School in Patterson, California, the St. Vincent DePaul Parish in Cape Girardeau, Loyola Academy in Willmette, Illinois, and Congregatio Missionis in Rome. Bro. Elder has been likewise highlighted in Dr. Roxanne Farwick’s “The Making of an Icon” for DePaul University, Gannet Productions’ “How the West Was Lost” for A&E Networks, and Robert L. McNeely’s “Cape Girardeau: The Story of a Rivertown.”
A lifelong storyteller, Bro. Elder attributes his wealth of success to his unwavering honesty, his dedication to fulfilling promises, and his persistence towards completing all of his projects, especially those in service to his community. He has fostered a passion for illustration from his formative years, having held his work at a high standard after seeing a poor Charlie Brown drawing from a classmate. Among the many highlights of his career, he is grateful to have spent a considerable amount in Rome while crafting a mural. He is also incredibly proud of creating a shadow mural titled “The Mandatum,” consisting entirely of aluminum and vertical appendages for Catholic Charities. Looking toward the future, Bro. Elder hopes to put the finishing touches in his second Philadelphia-based mural, begin a public sculpture in Missouri, and continue teaching future generations in the art of mural painting.
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