DRAWN TO ART Retired engineer Dave Janni was fond of art as a child and drew a cartoon strip for his high school newspaper.
Artist Dave Janni Combines Math And Science With A Passion For Creating Impactful Works
Dave Janni’s passion for creating oyster sculptures began with a single shell resembling a bird’s webbed foot.
But it runs much deeper than that, down to the steel, wood and wire that resides within each handcrafted piece and the visions of creativity that can engulf his mind instantly but sometimes take much patience to form. His sculptures are about more than shells.
“This is far from shell art,” Janni, 69, said of the work that has grown quite popular beyond the borders of his quaint waterfront hometown of Chance in Somerset County. “It’s a sculpture and a real art form that just happens to have the final dressing in oyster shells. If I took all of the oyster shells off of it, it would still be a piece of art; it would still be a sculpture.”
“I wanted to do something that was totally different and never seen before.”
In a way, Janni always was destined to find his way to oyster sculpting. He was drawn to art as a child and even drew a cartoon strip for his high school newspaper prior to pursuing a career in engineering, which he enjoyed until retiring in 2008.
“You need to have some creative juices flowing just to do engineering.” Sculpting with oyster shells is far different, he added, than what you ordinarily see around the Eastern Shore art scene. “I wanted to do something that was totally different and never seen before,” Janni said.
He may have simply stumbled across this unique art form while walking on a beach. But that initial shell merely was the first step in a journey that blends the exactness of math and science with the complexities of what lies within people’s hearts.
Every piece, from the driftwood that fowl like herons, owls and pelicans are perched upon, to every oyster shell, has to fit together precisely for the sculpture to come together perfectly. Then comes the true test of his work — how those seeing it perceive it.
CREATIVE COMBINATION Dave Janni’s work with oyster shells blends math and science with human emotion.
“I still enjoy what I see when my clients buy a piece, the pleasure that I can give them,” Janni said. “That’s what really keeps me going, the people that appreciate what I do. In this crazy, mixed-up world we live in, if I can bring a moment’s joy from my artwork, it doesn’t get any better than that.”
Story by Victor Fernandes
Photos by Todd Dudek
1 comment
I love your creations!!! Where can I purchase?