Growing up on a ranch in Oregon with a famous sculptor for a father, gave all of the Ghiglieri children an advantage in life. Their father taught them to value freedom of expression and take chances with their art. The rewards are obvious, as all three children have grown into artistically gifted and successful adults.
Mark Ghiglieri was as mischievous as they come as a child. Though, there is generally something about all that wide open space, wilderness, freedom and being a child to begin with that beckons one to adventures of all kinds. Who could have ever blamed him for taking full advantage of what he was offered.
Even growing up he liked to build things. Not every project came out perfectly right from the start, but Mark would not give up until he had exhausted every means available for making it work. Once, when he was young, he built a tree fort. He started small, adding floors and rooms little by little, until he had a treehouse that was almost 11 feet tall. It was wonderful, and then the tree collapsed on a neighbor's shed leaving no chance for rebuilding.
His love for the water kept him nearly submerged full time in the rivers near the ranch; fishing for salmon with his hands his favorite pastime until he secured a boat. His first boat, a 12 foot Zodiac with a 9 point mercury outboard engine, allowed him, and a few of his friends from time to time, to explore the beautiful Oregon coast near the Tryon Creek River's inlet into the Columbia River. The area was ripe with salmon, and the perfect stomping ground for any young adventurous boy.
On one occasion, Mark and his friend Darren were in the Zodiac when they were capsized and run over by a larger boat. Both boys were run over by the propellor. Darren injured his leg and the propellor opened Mark's chest with a large gash. The boys were fished out by a passing boat and in Mark's own words are "lucky to be alive" today. He still has the propellor scars on his chest.
He started skiing in junior high and has skiid all of the resorts in Oregon, and most of those in Utah as well. He loves to hike and has a particular affinity for the sand dunes in Pacific City. He reminisces that it took him 40 minutes to climb to the top of one that was 500 feet high and 1000 feet wide, and then, childlike, only 5 or 10 minutes to run back down. He has always had a tremendous love for all things outdoors.
The brilliant business mind and creative imagination of Mark Ghiglieri was not molded in the typical fashion. He will be the first to tell you that he never went to college, and only just barely scraped by in his later high school years. Previously an 'A' student, after having to change schools his grade point average dropped substantially. Aside from not liking the transfer school, Mark had difficulty with one teacher, and so did not like the class.
In spite of any troubles, Mark was a typical teenager in the fact that he liked to do all of the usual things that boys in their teens do. He was unusual however, in the fact that he already knew how to fly an airplane and did so every now and then; dive-bombing the fields outside the school. Something the student body applauded, while the faculty, did not.
All mischievousness aside, Mark was a good kid. He had been raised with family values, a great deal of freedom, and access to some of the most beautiful wide-open spaces in the country from his parent's ranch in Oregon. He says that he had so much freedom, at times it seemed that he was raised by chickens and fish.
Still, he is close with his family; even now, spending significant time on the ranch where he grew up. He spends a lot of time with his father, brother and sister as well, building and creating art sculpture for Masterpiece Investments Art Gallery.
Even with everything going on in the background, the gallery, his artwork, various business endeavors, and the necessary travel, Mark likes to live quietly on the ranch with his father; driving his Ford F150, and going off fishing of course, like the boy he once was, every chance he gets.
