MARK DANKER
OKLAHOMA ARTIST
Mark is a graphic designer by trade, and a metal sculptor at heart. His creativity births an array of metal sculptures from Native Americans, buffalo and horses to longhorn cattle, scissortails and guitars.
Accomplishments and Achievements
- Paseo Arts Festival 2020 & 2024
- Oklahoma City Festival of the Arts 2023
- Edmond Arts Festival 2024
- Featured in Southwest Art Magazine Oct/Nov 2024
- National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum Small Works, Great Wonders 2024 & 2025
- Oklahoma State Capitol Governor’s Gallery 2025
- Punchy Contemporary Western Art Invitational 2025
- Uncorked: Ben Johnson Days 2026
Art is Mark’s escape
When Mark channels his energy and thoughts into his artwork, stress and negativity are left behind in the wake of his creative process. With a God-given gift, Mark loves expressing himself through the transformations of vintage metal into unique sculptures. While Mark is a graphic designer by trade, he spends his free time creating art in his shop and picking farms, ranches, estate sales and antique shows for the metal used in his sculptures.
Each sculpture idea comes from one tool or interesting piece of metal. In Mark’s imagination, a pipe bender becomes a fish, a two-pronged farm implement turns into horse’s ears, or a Native American headdress reveals itself in a pile of rusty lawnmower blades.
Mark’s backstory
Mark is proof that we should never accept another’s perception of us as the truth. When his graphic design professor in college told Mark that he would never make it as a graphic designer, he refused to accept the claim and used the harsh words as fuel instead. A long and successful career in graphic design later, Mark often ponders revisiting the professor to thank him for the inspiration.
Before college, Mark was active in sports and vocational agriculture in high school where he learned to weld and won the State Entomology Championship three years in a row. Upon graduation, Mark was offered a partial scholarship to attend Oklahoma State University to major in Entomology as well as a scholarship to play baseball for Tabor College in Kansas. He didn’t see a future as an Entomologist, and being far from home wasn’t an option for a rural young man with strong family ties.
Deciding to major in architecture at the nearby University of Central Oklahoma, Mark was set to begin his journey into the architectural world until he discovered the amount of math required to complete such a degree. Realizing he was not going to fulfill his dream of designing structures, Mark researched careers that blended an art focus with technology and redirected his career path toward graphic design. And it only required one math credit!
Many years later, Mark parked at a restaurant while on vacation where a larger-than-life bull stood on a flatbed trailer. The bull was built from various metal scraps. From nuts and bolts to scissors, pliers, wrenches and pulleys, the massive metal beast stood proudly as Mark moved around the trailer taking in every detail. Afterward, Mark wistfully told his wife that he would like to do something like that someday. In 2015, Mark cleared an area behind his home, built a shop, sharpened his welding skills and Mark Danker Metal Art was established. Over the years, Mark’s style has made a place among the metal art world with intriguing sculptures that speak to the Western art enthusiast.
Mark’s advice
Get inspired, and find your passion. Blaze your own trail on your terms, and never let another’s opinion sway you from your dream.
