Books:

Discovered! 505
Odd Enterprises

Hidden Dollars

How to Make
Money at Home

Small Business
of Your Own

You Can Own
a Business

This form of art has been called many things—construction sculpture, construction painting, construction panels, and three-dimensional material painting. Remely prefers the latter definition.

He explains that his work is a form of actual material construction, using any object derived from minerals, woods, and metals, having either patinas (a beautiful finish put on metal by exposure to the elements) or natural finishes in highly polished surfaces. For backgrounds he uses variously textured plywoods, including Checkwood and Weldex. The frames are box-like, made of oak, wormy chestnut, redwood and various other deep-grained woods which will blend with modern decor.

Remely's use of plywoods and similar materials is so amazing that the United States Plywood Corporation gave him the first one-man show ever held for this type of three-dimensional art. The show, which was given a great deal of publicity, was held last November in the Weldwood Building, 55 W. 44th Street, New York. It attracted a large number of interior decorators who not only raved over the display but placed many orders with Remely.

THE PICTURES sell for $50 to $150 each. The price varies not only with the type of materials used, but with the mental agility necessary to symbolize the idea. Remely was grateful, of course, for the orders based on this one-man show in New York, but he also realizes that his main source of customers will continue to be Bethlehem and the surrounding territory. With that in mind he is continuing the methods he has always used to create interest in, and to sell, his material pictures. His idea is a simple one. It is to place the pictures on display in places where he is reasonably certain people who would be interested in this type of work will see them. Almost any public place would be eager to have him display a picture, but Remely selects his spots carefully. Because of the beauty of the pictures he naturally wants them in surroundings that will fit them. He has pictures in a shop that sells glassware in all its forms; one is in a modern bookstore; one is hung in the lobby of the leading hotel; and several are hung at every performance of the local community theater.

Remely is also careful about two things in displaying the pictures. One is that they be changed frequently. The picture in the bookstore (if it has not been sold in two weeks) is moved to the hotel lobby. The picture from the lobby is placed in the theater, etc. He keeps moving the pictures so that each one has been on display in each place no longer than two weeks. The second thing he is very careful about is to be certain that the price of the picture and his name and telephone number are clearly shown on a small card attached to each picture. He learned quite early one of the important facts of business—many a sale is lost because people are shy about asking the price of an object. They seem to have a fear that if the price is not shown it will probably be exorbitant and out of the reach of their pocketbook. Because his name and telephone number are attached to each picture, he receives many calls asking about the pictures on display, as well as numerous calls from persons who want to ask him about making a picture using their own ideas.

Storekeepers are happy about having him display his pictures for two reasons. One is that their unique quality and beauty stimulate interest and cause people to come into the shops looking for the new pictures when they go on display; the other reason is that Remely pays them 10 per cent of the selling price when one is sold from their wall. Another thing is that the storekeeper is not involved in the actual transaction. If a customer shows interest in a picture he is asked to call Remely, or Remely will call him. He feels that the pictures are so individual that the customer should be told everything about it; not only the idea, but why each part was made and where the materials were obtained.

The beginning of every picture is, of course, the idea. That, according to Remely, is the most difficult part. The idea can be anything; but the trick is to show it simply. The more simply it is presented, the more striking is the impact on the viewer. The perfect idea is one that can be symbolized with two or three objects. It is the placing of these objects and the care taken in finishing them in relation to the background and frame selected that makes them stand out in any display, and when placed on the proper wall, makes them positively breath-taking. In the beginning, Remely would get an idea, work it up, and display it for sale. He still does that, of course; but lately a great many ideas are given to him by people who place direct orders for pictures to represent a hobby, business or profession.

REMELY, NOW thirty-four years old, and an employee of the Bethlehem Steel Company, became interested in conventional painting only eight years ago. An operation kept him from work for a few months, and he looked around for some means to occupy his time. Although he had never painted, he had always thought he might like to, and so he invested in a small oil set and started to splash away.

He became so interested in his hobby that he continued with it after he returned to work. In these last eight years he has had three one-man shows of his paintings in Bethlehem, and has been represented in exhibitions at the National Academy of Design, New York; the Woodmere Gallery, Germantown, Pennsylvania; the Ohio Valley Oil Show, University of Ohio; Miami University, Miami, Florida; Muhlenburg College, Allentown, Pennsylvania; and the Lehigh University Gallery in Bethlehem. He is also president of the Palette Club of Bethlehem.

IT WAS not until the spring of 1949, that Remely began to experiment with those materials and forms that have resulted in his unique material painting. An explanation of how some of the pictures took form will show his method of working.

Remely became interested in the idea of Pegasus, the mythical flying horse. On a piece of walnut stained plywood, which was rubbed to a satin smoothness, he mounted, with the aid of glue and small screws from the back, the very stylized head of a horse cut from one-inch white pine. The horse was finished in gray, and a glittering piece of red glass was inserted for an eye. Next, in the upper right hand corner, and touching each side of the frame, he put a replica of a modern airplane wing. This was of natural wood and highly polished. From the upper corner of the frame, through the wing, and across the horse's head—to tie it all together—he stretched a gleaming stainless steel wire. Each piece of material making up the picture has been so very painstakingly finished that the result is eye-stopping wherever it is shown.

Another picture is called "The Web." Using a piece of natural Checkwood as a background, Remely looked through his box of odds and ends of wood until he found a section of root that resembled a hand or paw. This was waxed and polished and then attached to the Checkwood panel with a screw through the back. Glued in the paw or hand was a clear glass ball—to symbolize witchcraft and mysticism. Radiating from under the ball and across the paw he strung thin copper wire to form a gleaming web. The ends of these wires were attached to the Checkwood with small tacks in such a way that when the frame was put on, the wires seemed to disappear under it. Suspended in the shimmering web are bits of colored glass to represent objects gathered by the spider. The overall picture is striking.

Another picture—"Sound of Oarlocks," was made in this way: While on a trip to the seashore Remely found, while walking on the beach, an old oarlock which was still attached to a piece of wood from a boat. He left the metal oarlock as he found it, with its beautiful green patina (due to the action of the water and the elements); but he carefully polished the wood it was fastened to. He hunted until he found another piece of driftwood. This was polished, too, and a sea shell was fastened to it. The two pieces were combined on a plywood background—painted grey-green to represent the sea—and the whole thing crisscrossed with nylon cord (obtained from an old parachute) to suggest seaweed. These materials made a picture that prods the viewer into immediately thinking of the mystery of the ocean and of the countless wrecks of once stately ships that sailed it.

An odd sort of material picture Remely is now working on as the direct result of an order from a local physician will have as its center point a root in the shape of an actual heart. Stemming from this piece of polished wood will be copper and steel wires of various thicknesses to represent arteries and veins. It will certainly attract attention in the doctor's office.

Almost any idea can be symbolized. Remely has made construction pictures not only for physicians, but for musicians and dancers and other professional people. One of his most beautiful was made to order for a teacher of the ballet. This had four very thin copper wires strung diagonally across the frame and passing over a violin bridge. In the background was a real ballet slipper.

REMELY IS continually on the lookout for odd shapes in woods, especially driftwood, knots, boles and roots. These can be worked on with sandpaper and wax until they are beautiful. And it is amazing how the natural or unnatural shape of some pieces will suggest ideas. The search for these things is one of the great pleasures Remely gets from his hobby. Every weekend he tries to go to some section of the country around Bethlehem. His usual procedure is to approach a farmhouse and ask the farmer for permission to ramble over the land. If he finds an object he likes—a root, a stump, or odd stones, he will ask permission to take it. Usually the farmer is glad to get rid of the things. The Pocono Mountains are within easy driving distance of Bethlehem, and it is there, winter and summer, that a great many of Remely's discoveries are made. Some of the most beautiful of his roots and stumps have been discovered in small ponds or on the edges of lakes. The action of water on wood over the years sometimes makes shapes that need only polishing to make them breathtakingly beautiful.

An interesting side line has developed in the search for and finding of roots and stumps for the material pictures. Some of the oddly shaped roots are too large for pictures and much too beautiful to be cut into smaller pieces. From these it is easy for Remely to make lamps that are beginning to sell with a frequency that amazes him.

The making of the lamps is very simple, but the result is lovely and practical. The root is selected and polished with his usual care and thoroughness. It is then attached to a plain wood base that will complement it. Through the base and up through the root a half-inch hole is bored. Into this is placed a piece of thin pipe—either copper or steel—with a quarter-inch opening. This pipe can be bent to complement the shape of the root, or left straight—whichever will add to the beauty of the piece. On the end of the pipe is fixed an ordinary electric light socket, with a bracket to hold a shade. The finished lamps have a strange and almost fascinating beauty. Remely usually uses one of these lamps on a stand near the picture he is displaying. The lamp also carries a card with the price and his name and phone number. The lamps sell for from $20 to $50. It is a development from the material pictures that he never expected, but it is turning out to be almost as profitable.