The Art of Living Lightly

By Sophia Harris

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When most people picture a painter, they imagine someone working quietly in a studio, brush in hand, surrounded by canvases. For Mark Shasha, art is something else entirely.

The American artist, author, and educator - who has lived in Swampscott for 30+ years - has spent more than four decades chasing light outdoors as a plein air painter. His work has been shown in museums and galleries worldwide, his paintings are held in public and pirvate collections, and millions have read his children's books, which he has both written and illustrated.

"I've always been interested in telling stories," Shasha said in a recent interview. "Art, for me, is about connecting. When I see something on the beach, I think, 'Oh my God, look at this - That would make a great painting.'

"And then when I want to do the painting, I want to make sure...other people can look at it and feel the same feeling that I have. That's what the connection is - sharing the feeling," he said.

Shasha grew up near the beach in New London, Connecticut, where long walks and daydreaming shaped his creative instincts. As a child, he collected shells, experimented with photography, and made short films.

"I was a notorious daydreamer," he said.

At the Rhode Island School of Design, Shasha immersed himself in an enviornment of musicians, writers, and visual artists. After graduating, he illustrated for newspapers and magazines before mojving into children's literature.

One of his teachers was Chris Van Allsburg, author of "Jumanji" and "The Polar Express." Shasha's first book, "Night of the Moonjellies," drew on childhood memories of working at his grandmother's hot dog stand. The book was published by Simon & Schuster in 1992 and remains in print.

"Crazy thing is: It's still in print to this day, and..it climbs one of the best-seller lists ever summer," he said. "Because it's a summer story."

Plein air painting - working ourdoors, directly from life - demands discipline and patience. Shasha packs canvases, brushes, and oils before heading out to paint the coastlines and harbors of New England and beyond.

"Everything is urgent," he said.

"The light is moving. The shadows are changing. You have to work quickly, capturing not just the scene but the feeling before it slips away."

Shasha describes himself as a bohemian, guided by four pillars: love, truth, beauty, and freedom.

"That's it. That's my whole life," he said. "That's what I care about. Love, yeah, absolutely. I love places. I love people. I fall in love easily. I'm always falling in love anyway. The beauty, absolutely, I have a weakness for looking for all sorts of beauty in all sorts of ways. Most of us do.

"But then there's truth, and this was where that really meant a lot to me," he said. "I've really become a person who really loves...to live the truth and find the truth and seek the truth, and to recognize that you don't always get to the truth, but the pursuit of the truth is itself really important."

The path has not always been easy. Early in his career, Shasha often struggled financially.

"Art is a great way to make a life. It's a terrible way to make a living," he said. "You have to be the type of person that will be poor and laugh about it."

He encourages younger artists to follow their passion but to be realistic about the challenges.

"Please resist the drive to pursue money," he said. "The thing about art, no matter what art form it is, you got to do it because you love it."

Shasha was chosen to be a part of the Cape Ann Plein Air festival in Massachusetts, one of the largest events of its kind in the U.S. about 30 invited artists gather each October to paint the rocky coastline and historic fishing towns of Gloucester and Rockport.

"It's going to be beautiful," he said. "That is one of the original places where plein air painting really started in the United States about 100-and-something years ago. The early great painters of the era - you know, Lester Stevens, Emile Gruppe, there's a lot of great artists - and Hopper also painted up there."

Although plein air work is central, Shasha resists labels. He continues to honor his work on writing and illustrating children's books, and he has performed on stage, most notably playing Atticus Finch in "To Kill a Mockingbird" at Marblehead Little Theatre in 2019.

"Of all the things I ever did in, quote, unquote, 'the arts,'..that was so magnificent. I will never have a role like that again, I don't think," he said. "It was breathtaking."

Shasha's instructional workshop, "Shimmering Light," available on Amazon, explores the delicate balance of light and shadow in plein air work. But the title also reflects his philosophy as an artist: to find what shimmers in ordinary life and give it lasting form.

"Art," he said, "is about sharing the shimmer of life while it's still here."