Ronald V. Sullivan

I’m an engineer by training and experience. I came into sculpting more by accident than by design. One day, about 14 years ago (before moving to the South from New Jersey), while surfing the web I happened to come across a Shona sculpture, in stone, created by the hands of a Zimbabwean artist. I was immediately intrigued by the artistry, the craftsmanship, and the imagination. Initially, I wanted to import and sell Shona sculpture, exposing more people to this wonderful art; but that plan did not materialize, and I ended up taking up sculpting stone myself.

After a relatively short time working with the stone, I started carving wood. It wasn’t that I had exhausted the possibilities of stone – I wasn’t even close to doing that, but I figured wood should perhaps be a little easier to manage in some respects. I started collecting wood from anywhere along the street where trees were being cut down. In short, I had 21 collected a variety of woods. Black Locust wood was the first kind of wood I started carving; it turned out to be one of the hardest American woods! But its grain and color are certainly striking and eye-catching.