Louisiana Cultural Vistas - Spring 2006 - (Page 68) 68 LOUISIANA ENDOWMENT FOR THE HUMANITIES\Spring 2006 people had hardened to the facts and were seemingly in good spirits. They wore “this tragedy that had befallen them like a badge of honor.” As local residents became accustomed to his presence, many liked the idea of an artist capturing the immediacy of the tragedy. “We provided them some needed distraction, and perhaps made their plight seem more important, that artists thought it worthy to paint.” In his wanderings through the worst of the destruction, paintings drifted in out of his imagination as silent stories waiting to be told. “I hope some great art will come out of this,” he says, describing his somber experiences. “I’ve seen hundreds of opportunities. I’ve seen little still lifes like little teddy bears with muddy family photographs next to them. I am drawn to larger views but other artists could be doing this. In one block there’s enough material for artists in a lifetime, but I don’t see anybody out there doing this. I’ve seen photographers out there but there are very few easels out there.” Over the last decade, the 48-year-old Jacksonville native has built a considerable following for his unique style of painting. He is represented in New Orleans by Cole Pratt Gallery, in Atlanta by Reinike Gallery, and Stellers Galleries in Jacksonville. And his paintings can be found in corpo- above: Blue House on top of F-150 rate and private collections from New Orleans to New York, including the New Orleans Museum of Art and La Mama International Center for Creative Arts in Umbria, Italy. When not roaming the streets of New Orleans looking for inspiration, he teaches painting at the New Orleans Academy of Fine Art. In addition, he is the author of the 2003 book New Orleans en Plein Air. FROM Sandusky began his working career not as an artist but as a physicist on the oil platforms of south Louisiana. As a child he loved painting as well as science and math, and his aptitude for art was evident early in life. By the third grade, he was copying the Old Masters from books. Later at Jacksonville University he majored in physics and took art classes to help improve his skills. Unfortunately, the Pop Art movement was at its zenith and this was no place for someone who loved traditional academic realism. Between semesters and during his summers, he studied painting at New York’s Art Students League and took private lessons with Jacksonville artist Cleve Miller and the acclaimed Russian-born New York artist Robert Brackman, who taught for many years at the Art Students League. In 1980 Schlumberger Well Services hired the young physics graduate as an engineer to work on drilling platforms in the Gulf of Mexico off the Louisiana coast south of ENGINEER TO ARTIST
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