- BA in Physics, gamma-ray astronomy tech, then a calligrapher, carver, and paleographer; now professor of Art History. - Lifelong autodidact, clay-animator, netsuke carver in Japan. Guggenheim Fellow, Ph.D. in Maya Hieroglyphs (UT-Austin). - In 1997, Michael Coe invited him to co-author & illustrate Reading the Maya Glyphs. Mark recently updated and completely rewrote RMG with linguist and epigrapher Barbara MacLeod. It will be published in Spanish and in German later this year. - Other titles: 2012: Science and Prophecy of the Ancient Maya (2010); Maya Mold Made, with Paul Johnson (2022) - A Guggenheim Fellowship took Van Stone around the world in 1988-90, studying manuscripts and inscriptions of many nations, from Medieval Europe to the hieroglyphs of Egypt and Central America. - His unique approach to understanding any craft: practicing it. There is something one learns by actually *making* an artwork that one can learn no other way. Mark's unique combination of scientific training, passion for beauty and calligraphic expertise has bestowed profound insight into all these diverse traditions.
