In the summer of 1994, after witnessing a terrifying close call involving his five-year-old son and some carelessly-discarded shards of glass in a public park near their home, Mark Nelson decided to do something to bring attention to and alleviate the chronic issue of dangerous glass debris lurking in public spaces where children and families gather to relax and play. That next year, at Art League Houston, he exhibited a sculptural work called “110 Lbs. of Park Glass,” and for his NYU Fellowship, Nelson established and ran a public art project called GLASSfreeGROUNDS (GfG)—creating 36 workshops held over time at City parks where children and adult participants painted and decorated a thousand GfG art buckets—then using them to gather broken glass. In 2000, 1,500 pounds of that glass were melted down at a marble making factory in Reno, Ohio, producing 180,000 cobalt blue “MARBLEOUS” marbles. His True North 2026 installation “MARBLEOUS GfG BUCKET CORRAL” is composed of 80 of these buckets, inviting us to study each piece’s unique and whimsical artwork and reflect upon the dangerous issue of illegal glass usage and litter in public spaces. Nelson earned his BFA at Pratt Institute, Brooklyn, New York, and MFA at University of Houston. Presently, he maintains his art practice and lives in the Heights with his wife, Maria.