Dr. Mark Van Stone

A lifelong autodidact, Dr. Van Stone spent twenty years as a professional calligrapher and independent scholar of world paleography. He spent 1972 studying Celtic Manuscript Illumination in the libraries of the British Isles. In 1982-83 he apprenticed as a netsuke carver in Japan with Sensei Saito Bishu, the first foreigner ever to do so.

In 1988-89 he received a Guggenheim Fellowship to study and photograph ancient writing around the world. In 1990 he worked for Will Vinton Studios learning clay animation, making California Raisins. He later entered the University of Texas graduate school to study Maya Hieroglyphs with Linda Schele in 1994. One of Linda’s many gifts was ability to discern and cultivate the most useful talents in her students, and she trained Mark to draw inscriptions. This final gift bore fruit in the book "Reading the Maya Glyphs", co-authored with Michael Coe.

Mark is now Professor of Art History at Southwestern College, and published his new book, "2012: Science and Prophecy of the Ancient Maya" in 2010. His dual background in science and art provides a unique understanding of Maya calligraphy, and to the development of every writing system as a visual art.