Mark Mitsuda studied at Alfred University, Alfred, New York from 1988 to 1992. Since November 2006, he has been employed as an Academy Art Instructor at the Punahou School, a coeducational college preparatory day school in Honolulu, Hawaii.
Mark Mitsuda was born and raised in Honolulu Hawaii. He learned the art of glassblowing in high school at Punahou School, working under the tutelage of Hugh Jenkins.
He continued his studies at the New York State College of Ceramics at Alfred earning his BFA in glass in 1992. He also studied at Pilchuck Glass School and at the University of Hawaii with Rick Mills. During this time he was also a teaching assistant at the Punahou Glass Shop, an experience he relates “that really taught me how to blow glass”.
In 1995, he co-founded a glass studio with two classmates from Alfred in Saratoga Springs New York where they specialized in functional and decorative glass for the wholesale and retail markets. In 1998 he accepted a faculty position at Punahou School as the glass instructor. In 2005 he took a sabbatical from teaching and was the Artist in Residence at the Appalachian Center for Craft. Mark Mitsuda continues to teach glassblowing to high school juniors and seniors at Punahou School and actively shows his work. His work is in numerous private collections as well as the Hawaii State Foundation for Culture and the Arts.
