“The engine that makes art move in Chicago.”
Bianca Marks, Founder & Principal
Bianca Marks is an arts & cultural administrator with over 15 years of professional experience in project management and strategic communications within corporate and creative environments. Referred to as “the engine that makes art move in Chicago,” Bianca fosters strong partnerships between artist studios and their collaborating galleries, museums, institutions, and partner organizations, impacting studio performance, exhibitions, and programs. She represents artists who drive the critical discourses that inspire and affect the city of Chicago and beyond, including: avery r. young, Brendan Fernandes, Faheem Majeed, Tonika Lewis Johnson, and the arts collective Floating Museum, where she serves as deputy director. Her previous roles of distinction include: Studio Manager for MacArthur Fellow Artist+Architect Amanda Williams (2017-2022), Manager of Curatorial Affairs for the Chicago Architecture Biennial (2023-24), and Communications & PR Liaison for the US Pavilion’s Thrival Geographies at the Venice Architecture Biennale (2018). Bianca received her BA in consumer sciences with a focus on business administration from the University of Arizona (Bear Down!) and resides with her family, complete with an impressive garden, on Chicago’s Southside.
The MOC Story
Bianca Marks dreamt up Marks On Canvas as a path towards helping artists regain their capacity—in valuable time, space, and energy—to create. The idea? If artists had a help running their studios like businesses, they wouldn’t be bogged down with day-to-day studio operations, they would have more time to create and send art out into the world and, to top it all off, they would be more profitable. Marks On Canvas helps artists play to their strengths and fills in the gaps with a collage of managerial support, like offering thought partnership in decision-making; guiding opportunity and time management; liaising with project collaborators, institutions, and vendors; promoting artists through marketing campaigns; fostering intentional relationships, and much more to make it easy for artists to have a successful business. Between the phases of being an idea in 2017 and forming into an LLC in 2024, Marks On Canvas has and continues to work with several artist studios around Chicago, in partnership with a variety of national and international art museums, galleries, and organizations, to effectively streamline artist management, increase artist productivity, and bring more art into the world.