After leaving the Marines I worked in architectural design and construction and also for a time was the CEO of a community health center that employed 150 people in my home town of Coalgate, Oklahoma, Choctaw Nation, USA. I started playing with clay extensively at age four and never really gave it up as play. Throughout my childhood and youth I always returned to it as a major pastime, but it was not until 1990 when I was given an opportunity to study in the studio of a great portrait sculptor, Lena Beth Frasier that I at last realized - I am a sculptor. Lena Beth Frazier was a master sculptor capable of capturing the essence of her subjects likeness and personality in her bronze portraits. During my four years of full time “apprenticeship” in the Frasier studio and shop, I learned the classical methods of representational sculpture assisting her in completing all phases of her sculpture work from the conception of the piece, construction of the model, to chasing and finishing the work in our metal shop. In 1994 I cast my first work in bronze, a small sculpture of a walrus. In the following two years I created many more wildlife sculptures and went on the community art festival circuit, traveling to selected art festivals nationwide. My sculptures have been shown coast to coast at fine arts festivals and galleries and are owned by collectors across the United States, as well as in Canada, Europe and Africa. In 1996 I temporarily suspended my sculpting and became the CEO of a small hospital, nursing home and home health corporation in my home town of Coalgate, Oklahoma. In one day I went from being an emerging artist, with few cares other then what to sculpt next, to being responsible for a multimillion dollar corporation with 150 employees - the life of my community. I took the job with the understanding that as soon as we could find a suitable replacement for me I would return to full time sculpture. I welcome public and private commissions and have assisted in the completion of monuments and commemorative sculptures installed at the Oklahoma Governor's Mansion, the Oklahoma City Zoo, Wills Point Historical Museum, and Mary Hurley Hospital, Coalgate, OK. I strive to capture the essence of my subjects, whether it is a tiny lizard or a giant whale, a valiant soldier or a freezing Choctaw woman on the “Trail of Tears. I find beauty in all life, even on the battlefield - no especially on the battlefield - in men and women willing to lay down their lives for the life and freedom of others! I now strive to capture that essential beauty in my art! .........Mark Austin Byrd |