AN AUTOBIOGRAPHY
First, welcome! My given-Christian name is Robert Presto, but my family, my friends, and all of those who truly know me, know me as “Bob”. I recognized a love for stone sculpture and the visual arts long before I took my first steps to pursue my passion in a physically creative effort. Back in the Summer of my fifteenth year, I vividly remember a day when I was struck with an almost overwhelming drive, or maybe even a need, to fashion some sort of object, to make something that the eyes could behold and enjoy. Something that could be touched. However, at that young age, and without having had the benefit of anyone who might have introduced me to the art of stone sculpting, and having access to only a limited collection of tools, my creative drive seemed hampered. Eventually, I ended up carving a wooden plaque, complete with individually sculpted letters, which I then painted in patriotic colors. Even now, it makes me chuckle a little when I think about it, but I knew that somehow, through
some means, I was going to create something that day.
I live in Huntsville, Alabama, which is known as the “Rocket City”, and which is home to the George C. Marshall Space Flight Center, the expansive Redstone Arsenal, a colossal Amazon distribution center, a Blue Origin rocket engine manufacturing plant, a large NASA facility, the Alabama Space and Rocket Center, and numerous national and regional aerospace and defense contractors. Huntsville has played (and continues to play) a dominant role in America’s exploration of space and missile defense. It now exists as Alabama’s largest city, and it has been ranked in the top ten of the best cities within which to live in the United States. I’m biased, but I have to agree.
I began my professional career in 1981 as a corporate attorney, and I eventually moved into the field of litigation in 1988. I’m also a licensed homebuilder, which allows me to exercise a degree of creative freedom in that line of work. At this point in my life, the practice of law is becoming more of an after-thought or as something that should now be left behind. The results of any legal proceeding come about only as a result of conflict, but stone is peacefully everlasting. Simultaneously, it represents serenity and permanency. Any stone sculpture will outlive all of us, our families, their families, and multiple generations to follow.
I am self-taught as a sculptor, although I traveled to Phoenix in 2010 in order to spend some time with a friend of mine who was, and remains, an accomplished stone sculptor in his own right. The time I spent with him proved to be very beneficial, since the knowledge I gained allowed me to become more proficient in some of what I call the “mechanics” of the art form.
In 1993, I purchased a single piece of raw alabaster, a hand sledge (which I still regularly use to this day), a small collection of chisels, and an assortment of files. At that point, I embarked on development of my art as a three dimensional expression of the inspirations of design that come to me in the course of my work. Within the Gallery, you'll see a piece entitled "Beginnings" (which is intentionally included at the very end of the Gallery's images). It was crafted some thirty years ago from that first raw block of alabaster using only the rudimentary hand sledge, chisels, and files that I had at my disposal at that time.
The “Sun Disk”, which you will see within the Gallery, is special to me. It was sculpted from Pennsylvania blue stone (which is relatively hard and doesn’t easily yield to the file). Once its form was completed and sanded, I gilded it with gold and copper leaf, and then sealed it.
The orb in the middle of the “Sun Disk” represents our Sun. The smaller circular objects orbiting the Sun are the nine planets in our system. Of course, as you likely know, in 2006 the International Astronomical Union stripped Pluto of its former planetary status. Nevertheless, as I grew up, every science class I took on the subject taught me that Pluto exists as our ninth planet. It is and always has been within the confines of our Solar System. It has five (yes, five) moons. It carries its own name, just like the other planets. It’s a rocky structure, just like Earth, Venus, Mercury, and Mars. It regularly circles the Sun in its own independent orbit, and it’s spherical, just like all the other planets. As a result, insofar as the “Sun Disk” is concerned, Pluto gets to remain within our group of original planets, notwithstanding academia’s opposing view on the matter! I’m chuckling as I write this.
At any rate, the undulating shape on the “Sun Disk” that winds in and out of the planets represents the Sun’s warming, life-giving rays. During its creation, I drew inspiration from ancient Aztec, Mayan, North American Indian, and Roman works of art. It serves as our company logo in other ventures, and it will forever remain a special part of my personal collection.
Not long ago, I toyed with the notion of casting the “Sun Disk” in solid gold, which would of course be hugely expensive as a result of its size. (It’s approximately seventeen inches in diameter and nearly two inches thick.) However, gold retains and always has held its own intrinsic value, so the thought didn’t (and still doesn’t) seem entirely out of the question. Who knows? Maybe some day.
To me, stone sculpting is deeply imbedded in whatever it is that makes me who I am. It's simply something that I must do, and without which, my life would be very much less fulfilling.