Matthew Gemmell and David Showalter
Although unconventional today, Matt Gemmell established his career like many artists and sculptors of the past. Entirely through apprenticeships, on-the-job training, and first-hand experience he has developed comprehensive knowledge in the production of public sculpture. At the age of 17, he became an apprentice to commission sculptor Antonio Tobias Mendez at Pleasant Valley Studios. After 2 years, learning the fundamentals of figurative sculpture, he decided to follow the natural progression a sculpture takes in becoming bronze.
He dedicated the next several years to understanding and performing all stages of the lost wax process at New Arts Foundry in Baltimore, MD, beginning as mold maker and ending as metal finisher. In 2012, he moved to Brooklyn to work as a sculptor at Studio EIS. During his eight years in New York, he (among a team of talented artists) sculpted, fabricated, and facilitated the creation of over 200 life-sized figurative sculptures that now reside in museums, public parks, and institutions across the country.
In addition to full-time employment he has simultaneously worked for 15 years as a freelance bas-relief sculptor, averaging 25 portrait commissions per year. Today he works in Washington, DC as a Portrait/Pictorial Engraver Apprentice at the Bureau of Engraving and Printing, learning the art of intaglio through banknote engraving. Never one to rest on his laurels, Matt continually pursues new opportunities and regularly sculpts bas-reliefs, personal work, and portrait commissions from his home studio.
David Showalter was born in East Canton, Ohio in 1977. In 1996, he was awarded scholarships from the the Scholastic Art and Writing Awards and the National Foundation for Advancements in the Arts, as well as a Distinguished Merit Scholarship from The School of the Art Institute of Chicago to study painting and drawing. David then moved to Baltimore, Maryland in 2002 to work for New Arts Foundry applying patinas on bronze sculptures. Over the years, he's been involved in a wide variety of public and private projects, ranging from monument restoration to sculpting commissioned portrait reliefs. In addition to working in the bronze casting studio, David has exhibited work throughout the Mid-Atlantic. He is currently focusing on creating new sculptures and paintings to exhibit publicly.
