About
I have a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from Youngstown State University and a Master of Fine Arts degree from California State University, Long Beach, with majors in Sculpture and minors in Photography from each institution. Throughout a lengthy career with the Walt Disney Company, I continued to pursue my personal artwork, which included commissions for unique functional-art furniture pieces as well as purely aesthetic three-dimensional sculpture. I have exhibited my work, and sold pieces at various galleries around Los Angeles, New York City, Portland, Oregon and Youngstown, Ohio.
During the course of my Disney tenure, I decided to leave the company, and formed Larry A. Designs, taking on a multitude of projects, ranging from custom exotic hardwood fabrication for the King of Saudi Arabia to models for architectural firms, as well as art-direction on TV commercials & specials, all the while continuing to create my own personal artwork.
I eventually received a “too-good-to-pass-up” opportunity to return to Disney, which enabled me to “bridge my service” with the company, and travel the world. Throughout both of my stints at Disney, I always had “art-in-the-works”, and I closed out my Disney career on a high note as the Executive Producer and Creative Director for the Main Entrance of Shanghai Disneyland. The five years I spent on this final project was the first time I was unable to sustain my personal art focus, due to the overwhelming responsibilities, which included much back-and-forth travel to China prior to moving there for the final two years of construction.
China was inspiring in many ways, while also being a cultural awakening and a wake-up-call about the environment. Even with the intense work-load, I managed to get to art galleries and museums, even forming relationships with some of the local artists, whose work now hangs on my living room walls.
My wife, Maureen, and I have both retired from our long careers, and have been constantly exploring the vibrant art world of Los Angeles by visiting its’ many galleries and museums. I have also been meeting with other artists and beginning to show my work in galleries once again. As an artist, I am excited about the new-found freedom that comes with retirement, and even though it has taken me some time to get back into a creative mode, it is now happening and I am grateful for that. I have multiple pieces in-progress, and ideas for more specifically related to my new series. My intent is to begin approaching galleries as soon as I feel I have enough new work to generate interest, and then reach out to those galleries that I feel would be a fit.