I have never considered myself lucky (I’ve never won at craps), but I have had a lifetime of fortunate experiences that have led me happily, creatively, and successfully, through over seventy years of life on earth.

     First, I was born in Los Angeles in 1946. Great parents, my dad was a police officer, my mother a homemaker. It was fortunate because LA was a fun city to grow up in during the 50’s and 60’s. I had a great Catholic education, president of the senior class in grammar school, Editor of the senior year book in high school, in 1964.

     I spent two formative years at the University of San Francisco, worked on the “Foghorn” newspaper and thought I would continue a career in journalism. But my father died in a helicopter accident in 1966 and I moved back to LA and received a Bachelor Degree in English Literature from (what was then) Cal State Long Beach.

     By then I was married to my high school sweetheart and we set off on the next experience. Happily married, I went through a series of jobs, and eventually became a manager of a Jean’s West mod store. We had a daughter, Kelly, and though I was successful, I was overworked and hated being a salesman and in LA.  So, we moved to Santa Cruz, California, where I got a job, of course, as the manager of the mod store at the new Roos Atkins clothing store. I liked Santa Cruz and before long was promoted to Men’s Dept. Manager. The down side was I had to cut off my mustache.

      The third fortunate experience was the day in 1972 when John Duffy walked into the store for a shirt and tie. Bearded, big and boisterous, he was a metal sculptor and after the sale and learning I was an English major he asked if I would write a brochure displaying his work.  After going to his studio, writing his brochure, I became very interested in what he was making: nut and bolt figurines. He invited me to learn how to make them and help him out. Through a series of events and with a partner we bought Duffy out and continued expanding nut and bolt figurines across the country. Two years later I bought my partner out.

     I was semi-successful, a hippie artist with five like-minded helpers making whimsical metal art. But my marriage wasn’t and we divorced in 1976.

     Part four of this life-line started at a Super Bowl party where I met Brenda. She was a Special Education teacher who put up with my idiosyncrasies and we married in 1979. In the mean-time, the nut and bolt business did well. I was making over 60 different figures.

     But by the mid-80s it was time for a change. I had been cutting back on production, putting more emphasis on my own fine art, and we decided to follow the dream: move to Hawaii. Brenda could get a job anywhere and I could drag my acetylene tank behind. So, in 1987, we moved to the North Shore of Oahu, found a place we rented for 28 years, B got a job at Kahuku High School and I sold nuts and bolts, Hawaiian petroglyphs, and fine art at outdoor art fairs, galleries and gift shops until the present.

      I have had the opportunity to sell thousands of works of art to people all over the world in the 48 years I’ve been a sculptor. A few famous people have bought my work and I have won a few awards: a piece presented to the President of Greece commemorating the ancient Olympic Games in Nemea; a piece honoring King Kamehameha is on exhibit in the State Capitol Building; the King of Dubai bought one of my petroglyphs; I was commissioned by Mickey Hart of the Grateful Dead for three personal works; I made baseball sculptures for Reggie Jackson and Fred Lynn; and I’ve won awards in judged contests, strangely enough, for a 9’ Giraffe and a 7’ Bear.

     But the best was the thousands of people I’ve met at shows and exhibitions who appreciated my work and the few who became good friends.

      I guess that the 5th great experience is that Brenda and I, over the last two decades, have been able to travel to Europe many times. The cities, the people, the tours, the art galleries, the museums in every country have left me awestruck, excited and inspired.

There’s still plenty to do…..  John Ilnicki