These recent pieces are created from recycled and new copper commonly used in construction, roofing and plumbing. Inspiration was born from historical iconic American mammals, which have given change to our social and moral landscape from conservation to the creation of our national parks and zoos, reflecting a snapshot of an essential American story at its root and still evolving. Looking for essential gestures, a moment where we record brief, but provocative memories. Tension between the negative and positive help create, within a rich mix of passing light and contrast, giving life to the core. As pieces are shaped and soldered together an endless change to color and mass bind permanent harmony within them.

Grade Level: K–3
Project Title: Gentle Giants
Objective: Explore empathy and texture in sculpture.
Activity: Students sculpt small clay animals with exaggerated soft features and gentle postures. Discuss how form and line express emotion.

Fawn is created from new and recycled copper commonly used in construction, roofing, and plumbing, reflecting the artist’s interest in transforming industrial material into expressions of the natural world. Nativio writes that his work draws inspiration from “historical iconic American mammals… reflecting a snapshot of an essential American story at its root and still evolving,” seeking “essential gestures” that capture brief but provocative memories through simplified form and shifting surface.

The artist describes a “tension between the negative and positive” that gives life to the work through light and contrast. As pieces are shaped and soldered together, “an endless change to color and mass bind permanent harmony,” allowing the sculpture to evolve over time while emphasizing fragility, renewal, and continuity within nature.