By Sal Maccarone Throughout history major civilizations have impressed the future with their own distinctive style. The best parts of one popular style will often influence another in some fashion. It is the Architectural Revival that makes use of important elements from a previous era. Italianate, a Renaissance revival style, draws from a wide range of architectural models. Borrowed from ...

By Sal Maccarone After the turn of the 20th century every field of art seemed to be in flux. During this time there were several artists whose work would serve to influence, and thereby change the direction that art would take. Romain de Tirtoff, (1892-1990), simply known to the world as Erté, was one of these multi-faceted individuals. Although he ...

By Sal Maccarone Born shortly after the Revolutionary war, Cornelius Vanderbilt would become the richest man in America. Known as, “The Commodore”, he was a hard working genius who built a shipping empire that began with a raft. His son “Billy” doubled the fortune! Those two stories are long ones, but it was their heirs that would make a lasting ...

By Sal Maccarone A good imagination, careful contemplation and personal interpretation are just a few of the ingredients that go to define artistic creativity. The ability to produce something from virtually nothing requires a myriad of skills. Sometimes what appears to be haphazard is really the result of very long consideration. Studies of highly creative individuals have shown that they ...

By Sal Maccarone The word utilitarian refers to something that is useful, or serves a function. Utilitarian art is something that has function as its main priority, but is at the same time aesthetically pleasing. Like many other artists, I like to think of my own work as utilitarian art. The fact is, many important architectural wonders can be considered ...

By Sal Maccarone A finished piece of sculpture can take many forms. The sculptural process is loosely defined as: The art of carving, modeling, or otherwise producing works of art which are three dimensional, such as would be a relief, an intaglio, or a sculpture-in-the-round. Breaking this definition down, a relief gives the impression that an image has been raised ...

By Sal Maccarone Artists have been experimenting with animation for thousands of years. During the first century, China’s Imperial Dynasty developed a contraption that created the illusion of motion through a rapid succession of pictures. Later on, the Victorian era “Zoetrope”, a revolving cylinder viewed from the outside, was a big hit in the 1890’s. And, of course, there are ...

By Sal Maccarone Before the camera made it so easy for us to document specific moments in time, the job was left up to the artistically inclined. The only visual record of what people looked like, or how events happened to unfolded are depictions made by artists. Before 1822 the world relied strictly on those skillful and insightful enough to ...

By Sal Maccarone It is always entertaining to try and imagine what the world will be like a century from now. Even though it is impossible to fully comprehend what the future has to hold, we need only to look at the strides taken during the past one hundred years to get some clues. For instance, my grandparents were born ...

By Sal Maccarone Architecture has come a long way since builders first discovered how to pile stones on top of one another. In our age of information, and openly shared ideas, the sky seems to be the limit in terms of what can be done. Each time that a new building material is found, or a different way of thinking ...