Mark Black:  

Reports of my demise have been widely exaggerated. LOL! Did any of my "classmates" ever really know me? I remember all too well those malcontent adolecent years...Yikes! I sure was a little devil wasn't I? If you're among the few who befriended me back then, I am astonished by your unconditional kindness. After graduating from Laguna Beach High school I was Gratefully Deadicated right up until Soldier Field '95 (R.I.P Jerry). Then I lived in Yosemite National Park for 7 years. Climbing big walls & working for the National Park Service. I climbed El Capitan 7 times and guided over 75 parties up Half dome. Climbing that is... I've never been UP the cables route. LOL Once I tired of the National Park Service bureaucracy, I headed to Lake Tahoe & managed a bookstore for awhile, then a snowboard shop, coming away with a wealth of retail experience. Going to Tahoe was definitely a good move because that's where I met my wife Glaucia, at Kirkwood ski resort. Drawing upon the profound impressions left by a childhood visit to Murano, glassblowing presented itself as an ideal media to work in. I was fortunate enough to apprentice under some prominent Nor Cal artists for a few years before opening my own Glass Paradise Studios. I've subsequently expanded my business to the internet (Google: Mark Black Glass) and started importing items from some of my favorite countries (especially French Polynesia and Brazil where I live part of the year). We had been considering relocating for quite some time. Tahoe is just so cold for too many months of the year...which brings us to So Cal We have a 100 acre ranch in the San Jacinto Mtns. about halfway up the 274 to Idyllwild (near lake Fulmor). We'll likely be moving to Brazil for a few years in the near future as my art expositions have been very well received there. This site is interesting. I love seeing how everyone is so mature now. Kids, careers, and all that good stuff. It's totally surreal because I feel like it was last week that we were all together persuing our scholastic endeavors. I almost feel guilty for never becoming such a "responsible" adult as so many of you appear to be. Oh well... looks like you've all got the family thing pretty well...Expand for more