Share This Article
We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Bobbi Mastrangelo. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Bobbi below.
Alright, Bobbi thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. We’d love to hear about a project that you’ve worked on that’s meant a lot to you.
Creating “Borough of Manhattan” sculpture relief was one of my most meaningful projects.
After teaching Elementary School for six years, I became a Stay-at Home-Mom. When Michael and Peter were little, I went back to college, this time to study art. I took one undergraduate course per semester. My printmaking professor advised me to stick to a single art style or art theme.
I went to my art history professor for advice. He perused my art-photo book. The art prints included a rooster at sunrise, an owl with the moon behind him and a circular woodcut of a bearded man, etc.
“My Dear, You have a penchant for circles,” he commented.
I was in a quandary. What would I do with circles?
Eureka!, I discovered the answer when I came across photos of manhole covers which one artist labeled as urban art. His own art was totally unrelated to manhole covers. Manhole covers were circles. No one else did art work about manhole covers, except photographers. So in 1979, I adopted the theme of Manhole Covers.
In New York City, I took a photo of a grate, “DEPT. of PUBLIC WORKS, BOROUGH of MANHATTAN.” I did a rubbing of its twin on a sidewalk. (much safer than doing a rubbing in the street.) The rubbing was used to trace the cover image on foamcore. I cut out the letters and the grate openings. Ready-Cement was brushed on polystyrene layers and painted black to form the asphalt background. The Library Director in Setauket, NY was pleased to hang my piece in their exhibit area. But, she smiled and reported that one of the patrons exclaimed:
Read the whole Article https://canvasrebel.com/meet-bobbi-
Dear Patrons: Happy Summer!
Your comments on this article are appreciated.
One reply on “Manhole Artist, Bobbi Mastrangelo Featured in Canvas Rebel Magazine”
Hello Bobbi, although it’s been some time now ‘tween correspondence, I’m reading this most interesting part of your autobiography, which expounds on what you mentioned (now quite a few years ago) about how you embarked seriously on your special type of Art. Your artwork has given some folks, such as myself, the opportunity to see the suggested “beauty” in those forms. (I’ll be continuing to read your interesting article and you’ll be hearing from me further.)