About the artist:

I was born in Caltagirone, Sicily Italy which has been revered since the ancient time of Greece for it's beautiful ceramics.

True to my environment, an innate, artistic talent became evident early in my life, and by age five I was drawing and sculpting. At age six my first job was sweeping floors at the Caltagirone Sculpting Foundry. This was the perfect arena to fuel my creative passion.I spent the next six years there working, learning and tuning my skills. I used to get out of art school at two in the afternoon and then go to the foundry until eight every day.

Though appreciative of my background, I had a fascination with New York City, and during my first visit at age twenty, I discovered that behind the impressive skyscrapers were immigrants from all over the world. To me, this made New York City the greatest city on earth.

I believe I was destined to become a master in sculpture and painting. Even my surname, "Furnari", which means, 'the people who attend the oven with fire' alluded to my future at the kiln. Through the years I took sculpting to new levels, blending old and new to create my own unique style. I have learned and perfected all different types of materials and mediums; terracotta, porcelain, bronze, stainless steel.

My sculptures represent regular hard-working people with their own joy and sadness of life. My approach is both sensitive and whimsical, and my keen ability to show emotion instantly brings the viewer into my subjects’ world. My sculptures come alive, as if they may have souls. "Even a thousand years from now they will still be alive"