I.M.A.G.I.N.E. PEACE NOW

I.M.A.G.I.N.E. stands for The Innovative Merger of Art and Guns to Inspire New Expressions of Peace Now curated by Boris Bally. I am honored to have been chosen to be a part of this huge opportunity to provide  new insight and showcase the perspective of guns in a new light. I am deeply humbled to be in this exhibition with over 100 artists. This is a traveling show which started last year in November at the Wellington B. Gray Gallery at East Carolina University, Greenville in North Carolina. The show is currently being hosted at the Boston’s Society of Arts and Crafts. 

The piece I made for this show is titled, Adolescent Allure. You can find the statement I wrote for this piece here. This piece references the concept of gangs and the "drive by" and how the fabric of an impoverished or noxious community often teaches children violence.

Last week, I was informed MOMS Demand Action has used the image of my piece for their speaker series. See below! If you are around the Boston area, the Society of Crafts is hosting this event. 

American Craft!

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It's an honor to be in this magazine! 

New House!

I am proud to announce that I have finally bought a house located in downtown Point Richmond. I am excited to be living in this great community. Eventhough it's only a two bedroom house, it has a full basement which will be my art studio as soon as the renovation is completed. The basement is actually the ground floor with a great view and access to the yard with all sorts of plants. It's a little piece of paradise. I will be posting pictures soon of the new renovations. Stay tuned.

I wouldn't be doing this without my old man, Paul Esola!

Fireplace

My newest project is one that I am building for a good family friend on their property in Santa Cruz. It is an outdoor fireplace constructed of reclaimed brick that I salvaged from the old Richards Cannery in Sacramento. It's a great honor to build this fireplace due to the fact that my grandfather built the origanal interior fireplace to the house. Another note of interest is the "Little Man". He is a cast concrete figure that dates back over eighty years and was part of the origanal fireplace to the origanal estate (no longer standing). Before the demolition of the origanal house he was retreaved by the family and has resided up at Lake Tahoe ever since. It has been my pleasure to be able to build this fireplace as a way to commemorate my grandfather George and to honor the Smith family as well. Likewise it's a great honor to return the "Little Man" now known as "George" to his rightful home in Santa Cruz into the new fireplace. Welcome home George!

Images are in the Private Works.

on ETSY

I sell much of my completed work on an individual basis, as well as doing custom work. In addition to one-off pieces I have developed an expanding line of lapel pins, brooches and other jewelry on ETSY at strikingmetal.etsy.com