Bayside

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Born in Gouverneur, a small town in upstate New York, his love for the arts was apparent even before school age. Rick attributes his interest in painting and drawing to his father who was a miner to support the family by day, but also a self taught artist at night. Through the early years Rick was continually encouraged to continue with his art interests. Fresh out of high school Rick developed a skill for hand lettering signs and painting murals on trucks and billboards. This led to working full time in a sign shop while he pursued Fine Arts degree at SUNY Oswego, in upstate New York. After college he set out to see some of the country and by chance ended up in Sarasota Florida. There, he started a hand lettering business called Manasota Art Sign. Soon he was called upon to letter the circus trailers for Ringling Bros. and Barnum and Bailey Circus in Venice Florida, their winter home at the time. As fate would have it, this would lead to a long career in the live entertainment industry that has spanned nearly 30 years.

   Starting out as a scenic painter in the prop shop, Rick was promoted rapidly to Art Dept. Lead to Production Manager to Director and finally to Vice President of Scenic, overseeing all of scenic, props and special effects for Feld Entertainment's properties worldwide. During his tenure as VP, Rick was also called upon to create the Production Design for many of the company’s shows including; Gold Show Circus, Disney On Ice and Disney Live Stage Shows as well as Feld Motorsports shows and special events.

   Those many years being immersed in this environment had a major impact on his painting and artistic vision.. His use of pure color and movement in his painting is a reflection of the many years working on over the top dramatic shows with super saturated color, lighting and costumes and world class performers.

   Rick recently has scaled back from live entertainment to devote more time to his Fine Art/ Painting while still pursuing Production Design opportunities. He still resides in Sarasota Florida with his wife Lois.

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