Wednesday, February 17, 2010
WPKN Radio Interview 2/14
Friday, September 11, 2009
"Venus on A Half Shell" On Display At Easton Library
Wow, Its been quite a while since I have posted here!
I've been a combination of either really busy or completely bogged down in an artist's block which ios sort of like writers block except... You know how it goes. Well, I am back in the swing of things and have alot of new news. My HGTV, "Thats Clever" episode was aired on January 29th, 2009 . Click on the link below to view.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e0kDl1Hxj_E
Since then, Me and my bricks have appeared in hundreds of newspapers from coast to Coast after a write-up appeared in the CT Post was picked up by the Associated Press and distributed all over the place. I have received orders from Baltimore, Dallas an as far away as Alaska! The newspaper coverage is ongoing with a piece appearing in the "Easton Currier" announcing my current show in the Easton Library. My most recent piece, a re-vamped version of "Venus On a Half Shell", who appears taller and more proportioned and goes by the same title is on display in the main showcase along with Lou Gerhig/"Farewell to the Iron Horse", Dale Ernhardts "Last Lap" and some other favorites including my massive 5 brick sculpture "Horace" The Winged Dragon. The dates have been extended due to popularity through November 1st! I will also be working on a series of female bricks similar to "Venus" subjects are "Liberty", "Justice", "Freedom" and others yet to be named.
As usual my works are on display rtegularly at the Valley Arts Council's Gallery@37 which is located at 37 Elizabeth Street in Derby , Ct call 203 906- 4343 for hours .
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Tuesday, December 19, 2006
25 Churches Chiseled in Four days!!!
Monday, December 18, 2006
HGTV Comes To Derby!
Hey it was O.K by me ...that's their job to produce the most interesting segment that they could. The whole shoot took a little more than six hours and upon completion I was relieved that it was over, sorry that it was over as well as excited and mentally exhausted all at the same time. Now looking back at this it was quite an honor to be among the select few to be honored to appear on a national television program.
The Urban Fossil Story
I was helping a gallery owner/ friend set up a large sculpture display in the front display window. There was a sill that obstructed viewing the ornate base of the statue and it needed to be propped up. Since no pedestal was large enough to raise the staue, I noticed that they were renovating a building across the street and piled the old bricks by the curbside. I asked if I can borrow some bricks and proceeded to construct the make-shift pedestal for the statue. The two foot tall brick pedestal was finished in a matter of minutes and I went to retrieve the large statue for display. A large tour bus loaded with Japanese tourists disembarked in front of the gallery and filed inside. They proceeded to pickup the bricks and walk towards the register. I said "Hey, please leave those bricks alone, they have plenty of them across the street!" The spokesman for the group explained to me that they wanted to purchase the bricks. Not wanting to pass up a sale the gallery owner obliged. The tourists didn't even blink when he told them they can have them for $10 a brick. I asked the man why he wanted to buy the old bricks? He told me " We wanted to take a piece of New York home with them." I was fascinated by his reply and offered to clean the mortar off the old bricks. I grabbed a hammer and a screwdriver and proceeded to chip away at the dried mortar. With the slip of the hand, I discovered that the bricks were easy to carve. I sculpted the very first brick, a genuine, New York City cockroach! We decided that albeit kinda cute that a cockroach was too icky to sell. We moved on to produce New York City icons such as the Empire State, Chrysler Building as well as other famous and not so famous landmarks and we dubbed them *"Urban Fossils". They soon achieved much acclaim appearing in several magazines and newspapers. Special edition "Urban Fossils" where presented to ators and actresses upon leaving thier theatrical runs on the Broadway Stage so that they too could take a piece of New York so that they too could take a piece of New York home with them. In the late 1990's they were a victim of success and went into retirement. Upon moving to Connecticut, I was inspired by the abundance of picturesque lighthouses and restarted the brickwerks in my basement studio. I can now sculpt just about anything in a brick from people, pets houses cars boats, ships planes and trains...you name it,
I can sculpt it. A recent sale of a high end gallery "Urban Fossil" had led the HGTV program "That's Clever To contact me to appear on their program. The show was filmed on December 16th and will aire sometime in June 2007.