I don’t go on about this much but for the past 27 years,  I have run a business as a specialist in antique map and print pigment reconstruction/restoration.  This field was a direct result of having studied printmaking with master woodcut artist Antonio Frasconi at SUNY Purchase, a life-long fascination with visual history, and the good fortune of meeting a veteran mentor, Maria Barnett, with whom I apprenticed for 5 years.  I also received a grant from the Rotary Foundation which sent me to study old master techniques in Perugia, Italy for a year.  I love this job, I’m very good at it but restoration is a discreet line of work and I do it best if I don’t focus on it too much.  However, I do come across some amazing imagery and fortunately, I was able to share this with the festival organizers for the New York City Village Halloween Parade and they made some very cool puppets with copies of  antique print details that I sent them over the summer.  If I hadn’t been immersed in the Walkway Over the Hudson Parade, organized by the same crew at Superior Concept Monsters, I would have thrown myself into helping with the 2009 NYC Halloween Parade!  Click here to see more images (and a brief film!)

Denizen from Terra Incognita by Hermann Schedel

Puppets by Superior Concept Monsters for the NYC Village Halloween Parade

Abraham Ortelius Sea Monsters from "Islandia"

Ortelius Sea Horse from "Islandia" by Superior Concept Monsters for NYC Village Halloween Parade 2009