| Contunued from Home Page Ernie insists he makes his sculptures to amuse himself, and the fact that people are willing to pay fairly hefty sums for them is sort of incidental. Ernie first came to Mount Desert Island in the early nineties. Like many others, he grew attached to the area, and returned each summer to work on his sculptures. Early on, Ernie worked in men's fashion design. He can't explain exactly what happened, but somehow this led directly to his present occupation.  Over the years, Ernie has perfected the art of leaning back and letting it happen. He is right-brain driven and not at all given to linear analysis. “Things always work out,” says the seventy-year-old artist. “I don't know how or why, but they do.”He certainly doesn't worry about running out of ideas. "Ideas have always been flying around my head," he says. "I have enough ideas to last the next 100 years." Among his ideas, two themes predominate: locomotion and frogs. He has pieced together cars, trucks, fire engines, motorcycles, and hot air balloons. His frogs are engaged in a number of activities, including playing musical instruments and turning themselves into princes. Although most of Ernie's works are straight from his fertile imagination, he has done some custom work. A few years ago, he made a sculpture of the Mars rover, a work commissioned by the mother of the rover designer as a gift for her son. Ernie will put a client's name or company logo on one of his buildings. Ernie winters in Florida, leaving Maine when the time seems right. "Generally, I head south after I have eaten the last of my tomatoes," he notes. |
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