Mark is an Athabascan Alaskan Native who, at six months of age, was adopted by Melissa and Terry Chapin who resided in Fairbanks. From 1989 to 2000 the Chapin family lived in the “lower 48.”  A year before they moved “south,” Mark was at Ice Alaska and saw the Chinese ice sculptors at work. While Mark was an art illustration major at Rhode Island School of Design, some of his classmates in the culinary school took him to see an ice carving class. Seeing the Chinese sculpting ice and his friends’ class was the extent of his experience with ice carving.

In 1994 Mark’s mother was the first in the family to sculpt in Ice Alaska. She volunteered to be a translator in Russian and French, but also had a keen eye for what the sculptors were doing.  With that keen eye and advice from some of the Russian sculptors, she felt confident enough to try it for herself.

In 1995 Mark and his mother came back to Fairbanks to volunteer cleaning the sculptures, selling tickets, and doing whatever else was needed. Someone offered him a chance to carve an ice sculpture. That was Mark’s beginning of becoming an ice sculptor. They visited again in 1999 and he’s been sculpting ever since. Mark taught the basics to his father so now Terry assists Mark in the single block competitions. Both Terry and Melissa have helped create the kids’ park sculptures and Terry has made the cabin a few times in past years.

Enduring the cold and being tired from the weight of moving big blocks of ice is difficult. For some sculptors, formulating the design is the difficult part, but Mark says that is the easy part for him. Terry is impressed with Mark’s ability to free-hand draw a figure on a block of ice and then turn it into a three dimensional design. Mark’s sculptures usually are based on sports themes. This year his sculpture is honoring the famed Alaska musher, George Attla.

Mark is especially proud of the multi block sculpture, “Call of Tiger” which he created with his mother and two Russian sculptors in 2002. It was chosen for the artist award.