North Texas Performing Arts proudly presents
Diversity in Artistry: Mark Mullino
Free reception for the artist and NTPA Patrons
Wednesday, February 25, 7-9 PM
at Neiman Marcus Welcome Center inside the Willow Bend Center of the Arts
The art will be on public display through February 28.
North Texas Performing Arts Diversity in Artistry series continues with an exhibit by the 2022 Stardust Distinguished Collegiate Performing Arts Educator, Mark Mullino. Musical Director, visual artist and professional actor Mark Mullino presents stained glass-styled paintings based on some of your favorite Broadway productions and pop stars! Mark has been painting since the age of 6 but took a break from painting during high school to focus on music and theater. At the age of 38, he was inspired to paint again.
A cabaret-style artist reception will be held on Wednesday, February 25, from 7:00–9:00 PM, offering guests the opportunity to experience his work in an intimate, performance inspired setting, free to the public. The reception will be held at the Nieman Marcus Welcome Center, located inside the Willow Bend Center of the Arts at 6121 West Park Blvd, Suite B216, Plano, Texas 75093.
Mark Mullino is a Dallas-based visual artist whose work is deeply rooted in a lifelong love of both music and art. As a child, Mark gravitated toward drawing and paint-by-number sets, preferring sketching horses and birds over neighborhood sports. Alongside his visual interests, he studied piano and immersed himself in music. His passion for art deepened in junior high, but by high school, musical theater captured his heart, leading him to step away from visual art entirely for nearly two decades.
Mark pursued music and theater professionally, earning a degree in music in 1989 and beginning his acting career at age 22. His work took him across the country—from Florida and Utah to Texas and New York City—before returning to Dallas in the mid-1990s. By 2000, he was music directing for musical theater productions, firmly establishing music as a central force in his life.
In 2004, a casual backyard painting gathering reignited Mark’s connection to visual art. What began as an afternoon experiment quickly became an obsession. By 2005, he left teaching to recommit to painting, and over the next 15 years, he developed a distinctive visual style while continuing to work in musical theater education and accompaniment. Today, Mark is a full-time visual artist by day and a musical theater music director by night—successfully merging his two greatest passions.
Mark’s paintings are immediately recognizable. Each piece incorporates musical notation, bold outlines reminiscent of stained glass, and metallic gold accents applied through a dry-brush technique. Influenced by Gustav Klimt’s decorative canvases and the luminous beauty of Tiffany stained glass, his work celebrates the harmony between sound and image. Music is not an accessory in his paintings—it is essential. The notation, outlining, and metallic elements are the defining hallmarks of his artistic voice.
While much of his work is inspired by musical theater, Mark also creates paintings celebrating pets, families, weddings, anniversaries, children, sacred themes, sports, and school communities. For Mark, both music and art evoke emotion, memory, and passion—and his greatest joy is honoring that sentiment by bringing the two art forms together on canvas.
The Neiman Marcus Welcome Center inside Willow Bend Center of the Arts is available for artists exhibits and is an initiative of NTPA’s Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Committee.
North Texas Performing Arts is committed to acknowledging diversity and promoting equity and inclusion in all programs. The NTPA Governing Board of Directors, Management Boards, and NTPA Staff strive to create performing art spaces that are positive, safe and inclusive regardless of one’s race, creed, gender, religion, orientation, communication differences or abilities. We encourage our families and patrons to exhibit our “10 Characters” taught at NTPA including integrity, leadership, respect, and more importantly, to love one another.