Manhole artist, environmental artist – About Bobbi

Manhole artist, Bobbi Mastrangelo

Bobbi Mastrangelo, The “Grate Artist”, is internationally known for her unique creations based on the theme of manhole covers. Deeply embossed prints on her hand-made paper transform the mundane iron covers into jewel like mandelas. Her tromp l’oeil sculpture relief works artistically capture the essence of utility covers in urban settings. Their appearance is so realistic that viewers wonder how she managed to put all that “weight “ up on the wall.

“The Grate Works” have won many awards and are in prominent museum and water authority collections. The artist is a member of The National Association of Women Artists and is listed in The Marquis’s “Who’s Who in American Art”, etc. Her achievements in art and the environment garnered her an Alumni “Hall of Fame” and Rotary International Paul Harris Fellow Awards.

The Baltimore Public Works Museum and The Islip, NY Art Museum have extensive collections of the artist’s works. Other museums owning her work are The Heckscher Museum of Huntington, NY, and the Zimmerli Art Museum at Rutgers University (National Association of Women Artists’ Permanent Collection). Port Washington, NY Water District and Suffolk County, NY Water Authority own her Water Works Prints. Other important collectors include: Nassau County, NY Community College (purchase prize), author Fr. Joseph Girzone and The Moscow Collection of World Manhole Covers.

The Moscow web site: Sewers.artinfo.ru entitled “Sewers of the World, Unite” features not only her art works, but also art happenings and a poem about her manhole cover adventures.

The former “Barbara Betschen” graduated cum laude with a BS in Elementary Education at SUNY Buffalo NY where she met her future husband Alfred. She must have had an inkling that one day she would follow her dream. Surely a last name like Mastrangelo would sound much more like an artist. First an Elementary School Teacher, who always stayed in the classroom to learn from the art teacher: then a Stay – at Home Mom.

When the urge to create could no longer be suppressed, Bobbi took most of the basic undergraduate art courses at SUNY, Stony Brook, NY and Suffolk Community College in Selden NY. Influential printmaking instructors included Dan Welden, Gail Cohen Edelman, Clare Romano and John Ross. Papermaking was studied at Manhattan Graphics Center and at The Women’s Studio Workshop in Rosendale, NY. The sculpture techniques of the wall relief works are her own development.

“Reliefs by Bobbi Mastrangelo based on sections of roadway and sidewalk, reinterpret gratings, manhole covers and paving as abstract shapes without sacrificing their commonplace associations. By zeroing in on these details and exploiting their formal potential, the artist literally elevates them from the utilitarian level.”

—Phyllis Braff, art critic for The New York Times

“Bobbi’s work allowed us to create a fascinating juxtaposition of art and meaning against our installation of a major national traveling exhibition at our regional history museum about plastics. As the Chief Curator of the institution, not only did we love the depth and message of Bobbi’s work, but she has truly been one of the most delightful and stress-free community partners and artists we have had the opportunity of exhibiting. Multiple visitors cited Bobbi’s exhibition as inspirational and that it encouraged them to look for the often-unnoticed beauty hiding in plain sight throughout our everyday lives.”

—Pam Schwartz, Chief Curator Orange County Regional History Center
Mastrangelo’s Awards and Accolades

2018 Esther M. Bjeldanes Memorial Award for Sculpture: Nat Association of Women Artists

2015 Daughters of the American Revolution: National Women in the Arts Award

2014 “Best of Show” FL Orlando Museum of Art’s 1st Thursdays Exhibit: “Inside/Out”

2014 Fifth Place www.lightspacetime.art “cityscapes”

2010 The NRDC (Nat. Resources Defense Council ) Environmental Art Prize

2009 First Place Award in Sculpture: Osceola Center for the Arts, Kissimmee FL

2008 Third Place Award in Mixed Media: Osceola Center for the Arts, Kissimmee

2007 “Sewer Hall of Fame” www.sewerhistory.org

2005 First Place Award in Sculpture: Osceola Center for the Arts, Kissimmee, FL

1994 Hall of Fame Award (Art & Envir. Achievement) Maryvale High School: Cheektowaga, NY

1994 + 1992 SOS Grants; NY Foundation for the Arts & East End Arts Council

1997 Aida Whedon Memorial Award: Nat Association of Women Artists, NYC.

1992 Eve Helman Award: Nat Association of Women Artists, NYC.

1991+ Marquis Listings: “Who’s Who in American Art” “Who’s Who Amer. Women”

1998+ “Who’s Who in America” and “Who’s Who in the World”

Website is under construction currently, please revisit soon. Thanks, Bobbi

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