Two days later Kevin Marchetti and Renaissance Man’s towering sculpture was featured on the front page of both the Gulf Breeze News and Pensacola News Journal so we wanted to feature the articles on the blog.

Seventeen Foot Tall Aluminum Sculpture for Gulf Breeze

Our story begins with a casual artists guild – as in local artists getting together to drink and talk about art. Well, two of the artists were Lyn Gentry of Hot Sands Glass and Lou Mitchell of Element Art Forms and a third was Kevin Marchetti and although the artists guild hasn’t really been “meeting” recently, the friendship and working relationships of these three have continued to develop and Kevin’s forthcoming Gulf Breeze sculpture is testament to the value of those relationships.

Some time ago Lou Mitchell Courtney, who works in sculptural and architectural ceramics, mentioned to Kevin that the City of Gulf Breeze were looking to commission some large outdoor sculptures and that the project’s director, Gulf Breeze Artist in Residence Dr. Steve Zieman was looking for artists. Not long afterward Dr. Zieman attended a Gallery Night show at Pensacola’s Jaco’s Bayfront Bar & Grille in which Kevin’s work was displayed, and they made plans for a visit to Kevin’s Renaissance Man workshop and gallery.

Original Model for Aluminum Sculpture

As Kevin will tell you, “I’m an artist, so sometimes I make things for no apparent reason”, and consequently there was a small three dimensional metal sculpture about fourteen inches in height, which combined various geometric shapes on shifting planes, spiraling skyward. Zieman thought that scaling this piece up might be a perfect fit for the Gulf Breeze project and brought the idea before the committee. They approved what was to be a major sculpture project for Kevin, and the committee let him, “do it just how I wanted it”, allowing him to realize the complete vision including design of the lighting, base, decorative fencing and even the specific display location within Wayside Park – on the South side of Three Mile Bridge, just into Gulf Breeze on the East.

The sculpture is composed primarily of 1/2″ thick aluminum plate and stands seventeen feet high and five feet in diameter. It weighs about 1/2 a ton, or 1,000 pounds and Kevin worked with a local structural engineer named Roger Craft to insure the integrity of his design in such a large format. He also brought his old guild-mate Lyn Gentry on board to contribute the colored bulls-eye glass pieces. The base is circular tiered cement, which is shadowed by a circular fence which features round medallions that echo design elements from the sculpture itself, and for lighting Kevin chose programmable colored-LEDs.
The four other artists currently developing sculptures for the project are Peter King, Michael Boles, Lou Mitchell and Sam Nettles, and Kevin is collaborating in two of their sculptures, having developed the structural elements of the Michael Boles piece and working with Mitchell on structure and design. We’re all excited around here. You might say it’s a Renaissance Man renaissance.

The seventeen-foot tall piece, composed primarily of 1/2″ aluminum plate represents a cooperative helix of various geometric entities in skyward ascension.

The sculpture will be illuminated by energy-efficient programmable LEDs using an astrological clock, from 1 hour before sunset until an hour following sunrise. Thematic lighting throughout the year will include Valentines Day, Mardi Gras, St. Patrick’s Day, The 4th of July, Blue Angels, Christmas and New Years Eve.

Please join us for the unveiling this coming Tuesday, April 24, 2012 at 7:30 pm at Wayside Park (at the foot of the Gulf Breeze side of 3 Mile Bridge).

Design by Kevin Marchetti
Construction by Frank Dungca, Jacob Rocereto, James Clark, Jon Proctor and Daniel Monie at Renaissance Man Inc
Bullseye Glass by Lyn Gentry of Hot Sands Glass
Structural Engineering assurance by Roger Craft
Made possible by Dr. Steve Zieman and the City of Gulf Breeze Community Art Project
Special Thanks to Lou Mitchell of Element Art Forms

Kevin Simpson

From March 28th to April 1st, Roger Scott Tennis Center hosted the 9th Annual Pensacola Open Wheelchair Tennis Championship Tournament. Welcoming 140 competitors from 21 countries, it’s one of the largest tournaments in the US.
Great Britain competitor, Kevin Simpson ran into a bit of trouble before he even hit the courts on Thursday. The airlines had accidentally damaged his wheelchair in transit, so our friend Dave Henderson (a tourney volunteer) brought his Kevin to our Kevin for some help.
After some tinkering, swearing, adjusting, attaching, more swearing and a little more adjusting, Kevin 2 got Kevin 1 back in his wheelchair & ready to hit the courts!
Congrats on your performance Kevin, we hope to see you next year! (Kevin 1, that is. We see Kevin 2 enough as it is.)

In order to enhance the contemporary feel of the salon, our team cut their existing Epic, Inc logo out of a sheet of aluminum to create a wrap for the reception desk.  A hand grinder was then applied to the surface of the wrap to achieve the cool texture.  They then cut out some groovy Peace Sign components to be added to the retail products area.

We may be biased, but we think these are a striking addition to an already fabulous salon.

Check out their website at www.epicdowntown.com  And don’t forget to stop by the salon when you’re in the area.

The Reception Desk Wrap

A Groovy Addition

So Kevin – or more specifically Kevin, Daniel Money and Frank Dunca – became reméri for a day. Yes, reméri is the word for the makers of gondola oars. As opposed to squerarioli, which is the word for the makers of gondolas. Don’t ask how Kevin knows these things… or do.

But the point is, I’m charged with entering this item into the Renaissance Man Online Gallery of Metal Worked (Metal-workinged, metal-fabricated, ironed?) items and it seems to defy category. Do we add a category for oars? Seriously, how often is a gig like this gonna come along? Possibly a boat accessories category would be appropriate. They definitely end up doing some repairs and customization to the aluminum (Agh, see? Here we go again – the aluminum what? What is the catch-all term for the aluminum pipes that hold canvas and the like on the tops of boats? Thank goodness for search engines. There used to be a non-electronic way to find these things out. Encyclopedia? How do you look up “aluminum elements on top of boats” in a dictionary? Okay – googled “aluminum boat pipes”, and “rigging” seems to be the term, which apparently includes: Towers, Hard Tops, T-Tops, Radar Arches, Rod Racks – Custom & Bolt-On, Rod Racks – In-bed Truck Racks, Rod Holders, Leaning Posts, Outriggers, Bow Rails, Hand Rails, Aft Rails, Stern Rails, Electronics and United States Coast Guard Pilot House Sun Shades) rigging.

Kevin and Leigh will figure it out.

Paper Towel and Bath Tissue Holders

Most of you are familiar with the Renaissance Man Fish and Hands, and we are looking at other simple fun, creative projects we can get into to turn these tons of metal that accrue around the shop into little gift items and art objects.

Leigh is coming up with things like napkin holders, business card holders, wall hooks, paper towel holders, firewood caddies, candle sconces, coat racks, light fixtures, door knockers and mail boxes.

We’d love to hear what kind of items you would be interested in seeing from Renaissance Man. Please feel free to offer suggestions by commenting below. We’re also always happy to hear from you by email or on Facebook.

• We use small tools that are rechargable to help eliminate the need to buy batteries.
• We encourage e-mail communications rather than faxes and only print documents when absolutely necessary.
• We recycle our office furniture rather than buying new.
• We ask our suppliers to use the minimum amount of packaging possible, then reuse it in a variety of ways.
• We use a permanent coffee filter in our office machine instead of paper filters.  The used grounds can be saved for compost.
• We request that all of our Trade Publication subscriptions be sent in digital format rather than hard-copy paper format.
• We do as much of our banking and invoicing as possible online, and request E-bills from our vendors, utility providers and financial organizations.

Being environmentally kind while maintaining a healthy small business is a challenge, but small concessions can eventually reap big rewards for everyone involved.



We were talking about adding some information about pricing to the website, and are still working on the best way to give customers a clear picture of the costs of what they might be looking for without offering any unrealistic expectations.

Kevin has been doing custom metal work for a long time around the Pensacola area and has had his share of interesting requests, questions, emergencies, exceptions, expectations and demands.

His mention of the inquiry, “I’m not really sure what I want, but can you tell me how much it costs?” prompted my first blog entry here, and Kevin says he gets that “all the time, bro.”

His response?

“Hey, if you come to me with a budget I can tell you what is possible. Or what’s better is if you come to me with exactly what you want and if it’s not within your budget, we can back it off a little bit.”

“I get that all the time, too.”

“But I always recommend spending a little more and get exactly what you want.
If you really want a 47 inch TV and you get that 27 inch you’re gonna be sorry in the long run”, Marchetti continues. “If somebody has a vision it’s nice to have drawings or visions.”

Up here at her perch in the office, Leigh adds, “or a picture of something similar
in a magazine or at a friends house to convey the idea… to help inspire a Renaissance Man original design”

They both emphasize that “Nothing will be copied. Nothing will be duplicated. Everything is original.”