BRONZE VISIONS Joe Cleary's Dramatic Art
	SEPTEMBER 2004

by Bill Weber
Photos by Brad Shifflett

I'm happy to report that Joe Cleary, will be the featured artist at the Brentwood Arts Commission Gallery at the next show, which is scheduled to open in August.

I would like to tell you a little about this notable artist so that you can join us in enthusiastically anticipating the arrival of this interesting, lovely, and varied collection of artworks.

Joe Cleary has been engaged in creating lovely and moving works of art in his Orinda studio since 1962. His illustrations have appeared in national magazines, including Saturday Evening Post, the Ladies Home Journal, Argosy, Boy's Life, Playboy, and Good Housekeeping.

Besides his work for magazines, Joe did illustrations for Standard Oil of California, taking trips to the redwoods and riding on large oil tankers in order to illustrate the machines and men associated with the company.

For nearly 40 years Joe has created illustrations for the Air Force, dating back to tours he took in Viet Nam for the purpose of illustrating that dramatic time and place.

In order to expedite his movements from place-to-place, the Air Force has awarded him a rank of GS16, which is the equivalent of a Brigadier General. Joe said that this rank provides first class travel to everyplace he needs to go, putting him aboard any bus at the head of the line, and providing him with embarrassingly high levels of service wherever he stays.

Joe's illustrations are found in publications all over the Air Force. Joe's depiction of a missile hangs in the Smithsonian.

Besides becoming a noted illustrator, Joe does all kinds of fine art, specializing in water colors, painting, portraits, and especially sculpture.

Discovery of Art; Growth of Talent
Joe remembers that his artistic experiences began in grammar school. As an assignment, everyone in his class had made a Christmas tree. Joe's tree was judged the best. All the children were then assigned to create a large version of the Christmas tree of Joe's design. He instructed the other children in how to do it. Therefore, he claims that he was conducting himself in the role of an art director in that experience — and he was only six years old.

After graduating from school Joe took classes at the California College of Arts and Crafts (now California College of the Arts). He attended on a scholarship, but had to do this in a secretive way, since he was unable to reveal to his macho dad that he was attending art school.

It wasn't until he dropped out of art school in order to join the Merchant Marine during WWII that Joe realized he had the ability to earn money through his art. On board his ship he discovered pieces of discarded canvas and set up a little business creating nudes on pieces of that canvas using a box of Crayolas for the other sailors on his ship.

Apparently Joe's fellow crewmembers were a band of incipient art lovers so Joe earned a tidy sum of money through the results of his artistic abilities.

After his discharge from the Merchant Marine, Joe returned to the College of Arts and Crafts with a pocket full of money and a heart filled with renewed enthusiasm for the study of arts.

From Illustrator to Fine Artist to Sculptor
While he was still in school Joe got job with an art service — a group of artists who creates art on demand for multiple advertising agencies. Joe worked for ten years and during that time developed his own distinct style.

Joe said he was in the studio one day and got a phone call from a man who claimed to be the art director for the Saturday Evening Post. “How would you like to illustrate a story for the Post?” the man asked.

Joe said he couldn't believe that he wasn't the victim of a crank phone call, since illustrating for the Post was the plumb job in the industry. So he told the caller that he was pretty busy. The guy said, “Well, maybe we'll try you again,” and hung up the phone.

Joe said he realized with a sudden chill that the call had been legitimate and felt awful that he hadn't leaped at the opportunity. Fortunately, a month later the guy called about another story and that first effort lead to a long career making illustrations for the magazine.

Joe said that TV and computers destroyed the business of illustration almost completely. The bottom dropped out of the market for that industry.

Now Joe has become a fine artist of distinction, creating many beautiful canvases and having shows around the US. I find his watercolor techniques to be astonishing. I was especially astonished to discover that he adds Elmer Glue to the water in his watercolors, which produce an indescribable richness of color and texture to his paintings.

He also does richly detailed personal portraits for people on a contract basis.

Remarkable Sculptures
For the past fifteen years Joe Cleary has especially been making a name for himself by creating sculptures that have begun showing up all over the world. The breadth of his work is impressive and includes pieces ranging from small figures suitable for display on a bookshelf or counter in a private home to a massive winged goddess towering 30 feet above pedestrians in a square at the New Orleans Port Authority.

Even more surprising, Cleary creates the models for his sculptures using the same bondo product used for automobile body repair. I was impressed by how easily fine details can be added to the bondo.

Joe told me that he got the idea of using bondo instead of clay while helping his son make repairs to the body of his car. He was immediately delighted by the effect when he began using it as the principle medium for his sculpture.

Joe said that an additional advantage of using bondo is that he can keep the original models intact. The process of removing the molds usually destroys original clay models.

Not only do the original pieces remain intact, you can pick them up and handle them. Bondo is so strong that it isn't necessary to make armatures — metal skeletons commonly used to support the parts of a work made in clay. The bondo maintains the structural integrity of the entire piece in an unbroken manner.

Coming to Brentwood
I've had great times visiting this artist and viewing his works. I'm grateful that he has agreed to send a broad sample of his work for display in our Brentwood Arts Commission Gallery at the next show, which will be August 2 through October 29.

Plan to drop by the Brentwood Business and Technology Incubator at 101 Sand Creek Road (just behind the McDonalds and InShape City, off of Brentwood Blvd.). The hours are weekdays, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Especially mark your calendars and plan to attend the Cheese and Wine Reception held in the artist's honor. The reception will be Tuesday, August 3, from 6 to 8 in the evening. Joe will be there in person talking about his career and will narrate a video showing the steps in the design and construction of his 30-foot tall statue in New Orleans.

Another reason I'm interested in this man is because of the possibility of his creating statuary for enhancing the beauty of Brentwood. Besides the pleasure of having these lovely works of art in our parks and other common places, purchasing some of Joe Cleary's statues would be a potentially good investment for the City. I anticipate all of his works to increase in value in the years ahead.

John Keats wrote the words, “A thing of beauty is a joy forever.” It's a happy occupation for me to continually immerse myself in tasks involving beautiful objects that make me rejoice myself and for the privilege of sharing many of these with others.

I'm sure people will be joyfully looking at the works of Joe Clearly many long years after all of us are gone. Let's not miss the chance of enjoying these ourselves while the opportunity is still ours to do so.