Nature Speaks in Churchill Man's Art

Pasquale Pristera is a hunter.

But as he ventures into the woods, it’s not flesh he is after. He simply seeks vision, inspiration, wood and stone.

“I only enhanced its beauty, I didn’t force the beauty on it,” he said of the materials he finds in nature.

Born in Calabria, Italy, Pristera, 61, lives in Churchill surrounded by sculptures in his own home and throughout his backyard haven. Owner of Hair Network salon in Squirrel Hill, Pristera is inspired by visions he discovers in nature.

“I am passionate about finding stone or wood, and taking it from an almost decayed state, and I take that rotted wood that looks like it is going to crumble and I work it,” he said. “I only produce what it says it is—if I see a beautiful nude woman or a hummingbird, I let that come out with minimal force on my part.”

In one corner of his backyard, which has become an outdoor art gallery in itself, a piece of driftwood that has been shaped into a hummingbird seemingly floats in a garden scene.

But the wood itself is subtly shifted and sculpted, still resembling its original form.

Pristera said that incessant need to create is what he considers his utmost inspiration.

“Time stops for us and sometimes, this is not egotistically said, but in that state, I have wondered how I did that,” he said of his artwork. “When I look at a sculpture, I have insecurities and I think, ‘Did I do that?’”

Pristera has been a professional sculptor for 25 years and currently has a studio in on West Swissvale Avenue. He took a clay class in 1983 at the Pittsburgh Center for the Arts, where the St. Francis sculpture was born. The piece now lies above a bird feeder in his yard.

During his first experience in wood carving, he looked down at an old tree stump and instantly saw a female torso. It became his first award-winning piece at the Wilkins Township Arts Festival.

Over the course of his career, he also has learned from other great artists who became friends and mentors.

“It was meant to be because when a student is ready to learn, the teacher arrives,” he said. “When it was time to really perfect my realistic work, my mentor showed up—Josef Stachura.”

Pristera had seen the man’s work years ago at Concept Art Gallery when it was in Squirrel Hill and was blown away by its detail. Pristera helped his new mentor as he struggled with Parkinson’s disease, while learning more about the craft of sculpting.

“I started meeting one-on-one with him and driving him to classes,” he said. “I inherited his studio in Edgewood.”

Neighbors on Garden Terrace stop by to gaze at the great works in his backyard, bringing people over from out of town.

“I offer them a glass of wine,” he said with a laugh.

Pristera watches things form in nature and does his part to accentuate its own beauty.

“Sometimes, I am tempted to take a piece of wood and just mount it the way it is,” he said.