NMTA Grants “Art Special Award” to Weitzman for Colorado Project

March 21, 2012 - PRLog -- Brentwood, MD – March 21, 2012 – In 2011, award-winning artist Steven Weitzman celebrated forty years as a creator, figurative sculptor and craftsman. In 2012, National Terrazzo and Mosaic Association, the industry’s leading trade organization, will present Mr. Weitzman with its prestigious “Art Special Award” for his work on the History Colorado Center.  This honor is reserved for elite firms, architects and designers who have made substantial achievements within the concrete and art industries. Later this year, Steven’s skills will be displayed with the official opening of the Center in Denver, Colorado. Weitzman created the interactive multimedia art installation called the “Great Map of Colorado” made up of 234 hand crafted tiles for the Great Hall of the 200,000-square-foot cutting-edge museum.  

“It is an incredible project that really stunned the judges with its difficulty.  We spent quite a while amazed at how flawlessly it was put together,” expressed Sharon Moreno, a representative of the NTMA. The NTMA has an honors award competition every year and judges rank jobs individually using a 40 point grading system. The association had 43 jobs entered this year, and in exceptional instances they recognize a job for its artistic value. Weitzman was selected for his special craftsmanship, in what judges noted as ‘truly an astonishing use of terrazzo.

In addition to his artistic and technical achievements, Weitzman is a ground-breaking inventor and businessman. To maximize his work, Weitzman developed a method for casting structural terrazzo flooring material to control the color, design and scaling of any images he created in concrete. Utilizing his own revolutionary concrete, FOTERA®, Weitzman was able to refine the traditional process to produce murals in full, crisp, 100 percent color. This year, Weitzman will also launch Terrazzo.com - a website formed to target contractors, suppliers, designers, consultants, artists, builders and others who use concrete for creative and structural purposes. Professionals who visit Terrazzo.com will be exposed to a variety of industry resources, marketing and networking opportunities, and critical information for using and maximizing the key building material.

Steven’s continued and active engagement in his profession is evidenced by the recent launch of his new website, is his completion of a major historical work and his involvement in numerous civic projects across the nation. In the past five years, Weitzman has continued to reach new heights in national exposure and industry acclaim. In 2007, DC Commission on the Arts & Humanities commissioned Weitzman to create a monumental, bronze sculpture of famed orator and advisor to Abraham Lincoln, Frederick Douglass. The piece, which took over a year to create and $100,000 to produce, was presented to the US Capitol as a gift on behalf of Washington, DC to add to their collection in Statuary Hall of noted residents from respective states across the nation.

Through his company, Creative Design Resolutions (CDR), Inc., Weitzman has been retained to work on numerous large-scale highway and transportation projects for a quarter of all Department of Transportation’s in the country. Each will serve both cultural and municipal purposes.  Of particular significance, CDR was contracted to provide the Aesthetic Master Plan for eight bridges in the city of Norman, Oklahoma which promises to have a significant impact on Oklahoma’s overall urban planning. In addition, CDR has several ongoing projects in Atlanta, GA; Clearwater, FL; San Francisco, CA; and several cities in Arizona.

This entrepreneur executes his endeavors through three businesses – Weitzman Studios, CDR and Creative Form Liners. His 10,000 square foot Maryland-based studio serves as a one-stop clearinghouse for aesthetic civic master planning, project construction and industry information – a unique combination for the field. Weitzman’s portfolio represents projects involving the Smithsonian, United Nations and a quarter of all the Departments of Transportation in the United States. And after forty years, Weitzman’s continues to expand elements of his corporate, commercial and creative domains.

For more information about Weitzman Studios or FŌTERA®, please visit http://www.weitzmanstudios.com, for transportation design and planning visit http://www.creativedesignresolutions.com and for construction industry resources, visit: www.terrazzo.com.

--
For more information contact:
Rita D. Lewis
Weitzman Studios, Inc.
T: 301-699-0873
F: 301-699-0389
info@weitzmanstudios.com
www.weitzmanstudios.com

# # #

Artist Steven Weitzman cannot be restricted to one type of art discipline. Although best known for his site-specific figurative sculptures and environmental designs, his pieces range in scale from objects that fit into one's hand to installations that span miles of space. Many of his artworks show a true-to-life representation of his subject; others abstract the form to become patterns that recall the subject matter. Weitzman creates art in virtually every medium, including ones that he has invented to suit his vision. This website divides his body of work into seven main categories: bronze, painting & drawing, wood, glass, terrazzo, highways & bridges and cast stone