We were lucky to catch up with John Maisano recently and have shared our conversation below.

John, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today It’s always helpful to hear about times when someone’s had to take a risk – how did they think through the decision, why did they take the risk, and what ended up happening. We’d love to hear about a risk you’ve taken.

I’ve designed Museum exhibits for the past 34 years for Yale Universities Peabody Museum, The Texas Memorial Museum at the University of Texas, and the Jackson School of Geology at the University of Texas. I’ve always worked day jobs even through college.

I met my wife at Yale when she was getting her degree in Paleontology and her post doc brought us to Austin Texas. The first risk was leaving my family and friends in Connecticut and starting over. It was a year into my museum job that I was presented with the biggest challenge of my career.

After being sent to the Zilker Botanical Garden in Austin to look at dinosaur tracks to potentially be removed, they were in need of a sculptor for a life sized dinosaur. I was a painter and designer but not a sculptor. My new boss, the director of the museum, gave them my name as a potential artist fore the commission. Not wanting to disappoint him I took the challenge and began to research which dinosaur would have left the tracks, bought some sculpy and began to sculpt the Ornithomimid dinosaur. To my surprise sculpture was like breathing…..not the struggle and torment of painting at all.

I worked with the paleontologist at my disposal, fortunately I was surrounded by them in the from of professors and grad students. I was able to sculpt a maquette of this dinosaur but not after a trip to the ER with my first and only panic attack upon receiving news I was awarded the commission. I was terrified, what did I get myself into!! I’m no sculptor and now I have to create a 12 foot dinosaur for a prominent garden!

So here is the fork in the road ….as I explain to art students. The choice to take the risk and do something you’ve never imagine doing. Or walk away, go back to your day job and continue on the safe path. Had I done that I would not have discovered that I was indeed a sculptor. I have well over 100 individual sculptures now and various commissions of all sizes in a unique style that i developed over the years.
So Take the Risk!
The road less traveled ….the worst thing that can happen is you discover what doesn’t work for you.

John, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

As I described in the first question I fell into sculpture almost accidentally and my first sculpture is a life sized dinosaur!

When I was awarded the dinosaur commission I realized I needed an art foundry but i didn’t even know where to begin looking. While walking through the museum at my day job, I was approached by a man looking for his friend who worked at the other campus. He handed me a card and said “give this to him…I’ll be at this location for a few months”
Of course I completely forgot….but what I did remember was that it was a foundry card ….a foundry located a town away!
I’ve been working with this same foundry for the past 21 years now.

After the dinosaur sculpture, the owner and I became friends and he would give me a variety of commissions to create. A Chinese Dragon for the Getty Family, A life sized Soldier for camp Swift, various other jobs and challenges. He mentioned to me that I could obviously sculpt anything but I needed a style.

STYLE….almost a dreaded word to me as I never found a style with my painting. For the artist style sets you apart in the crowd and makes you collectible. I worked for two years trying to discover my style. I finally sat down and wrote down three things that I love….things that make my heart beat faster.
Animals, Art Deco, and Art Nouveau.
I went out in the yard and grabbed a stick, attached it onto a board at an angle and covered it in clay. I created leaves at the bottom looking very much in the art nouveau style. I put a lizard on the stick because my wife studied lizards for her dissertation at Yale, then carved African style designs into the lizard. I was excited because I felt this was finally a style!

I was always intrigued with all the designs i saw on artifacts in the museums where i had worked. Now I began to combine animals with a variety of design inspirations. I love the combination of curves and angles so I began to facet the bodies of the animals with sharp edges moving into soft curves.

My style continues to evolve with more softer shapes but still maintaining the sharp edges and designs. I’m always grateful when someone they know my work and recognize my style anywhere.

What do you think is the goal or mission that drives your creative journey?

So occasionally I give talks at the University on Science and Art and how they are similar. Working with and being married to a scientist has shown me a lot of crossovers in our journeys.

I give an example that I’ve come up with to encourage creatives and anyone else who might feel lost on their journey. I call my Pyramid example.

So our lives are shaped like a pyramid. At the bottom level we do a variety of things as we are growing up in this life. I worked retail, Construction with my Dad, Cleaned a machine shop, Tile work with my best friend, Architecture, General Contractor, …..these things make up the lower levels of the base of our pyramid. The base is very important as it holds up the entire structure. These are skills that will carry you through your life. You will learn how to bid jobs, communicate with people, how business works, etc…
Now as you age and travel up your pyramid, things will drop off and you will become more focused. The pinnacle of your pyramid is what you were made to do in this life. For me it is sculpture. I have always know I was an artist but the challenge of keeping art in my life was great and very rewarding.
My goal on this journey is not only to find the pinnacle of the pyramid but to encourage others along their journey. There are many weary warriors of the art world who need some encouraging words.

Is there something you think non-creatives will struggle to understand about your journey as a creative? Maybe you can provide some insight – you never know who might benefit from the enlightenment.

For non creatives we are probably viewed as a messy bunch of wierdos. We are definitely tapped into an entirely different realm than they are and it can be very challenging for us to exist in this world. I always say that’s why artists are so tormented. We have a drive in our hearts to create, to express our inner most struggles and feeling and put them out for the world to accept or trample.

Most of us are empaths, feelings things deeper than most, which can be absolutely tormenting at times (it’s why many artists quit or turn to drugs and alcohol). It takes not only a vision of what you want to create but also skills. Skills are sometimes natural to some of us but like a muscle they need to be exercised regularly in order to grow. It takes years to develop your set of skills in order to create.

I once taught a group of teachers to draw dinosaurs. I had one hour to explain top them how to draw, many never drew a thing and they were absolutely terrified! I began with simple shapes and explained how everything around us is made up of simple shapes. Then we added shading and details. Every one of them had a fantastic drawing at the end of an hour….it surprised them and me! So this showed me that with the right teacher and technique you can really accomplish anything.

Even if its not your passion, you can learn technique if you are open to try. It’s one of the greatest lessons I’ve learned and something I really want non creatives to understand. They have more creativity in them than they realize!

Contact Info:

• Website: Maisanoart.com
• Instagram: Maisano_sculpture
• Facebook: Maisano Art LLC
• Linkedin: John Maisano