Arizona
Proof That It’s Not Too Late To Pursue A Life Long Ambition
With a confirmation that is both powerful and rewarding, Sun City West, AZ. Resident, Sam Litrenti captures the imagination of all who have seen his bronze sculptures of horses, cowboys, Indians, and other Western pieces.
Litrenti, a former advertising executive from Chicago, retired to Sun City West in 1992. At the age of 73, a casual visit to Sedona brought him face-to-face, with an artist (sculpture) long admired by Sam. Sam bombarded the artist with all kinds of questions about his work, the type of clay used, questions on how the armatures are made, what type of wire forms are used, etc. Having had most of his questions answered, Sam was ready to leave when the artist handed him a block of clay and suggested that he take it home and try it.
Sam’s talents had surfaced at an early age. As he grew up, he experimented with oil paintings, watercolors, pastels and pencil sketches of horses, cowboys and Indians and anything related to the Old West. While in high school, his painting of Indians hunting Buffaloes was entered in an art competition and won first place and a scholarship to the Chicago Art Institute. He also studied art at the Ray Vogue School of Advertising and Art, and during his years in the U.S. Army during World War II, he was given the opportunity to attend an art school in Bristol, England. Following his tour of duty, he studied advertising and marketing at North Western University and eventually opened his own Industrial Advertising Agency, in Park Ridge, Illinois
Sam is of the conviction, that it’s not too late to pursue a second career. His interest in art, in particular bronze art, was immediately revived. Since then, Sam has created a large number of bronze pieces. His sculptures are mostly of cowboys, Indians, horses in action, and a whole lot more. Sam has devoted many hours studying horses in action, the human and animal anatomy, and Western life styles and cultures. He spends a great deal of time reading magazines like Arizona Highways, books and recording movies with cowboys and horses, rodeos, and documentaries on related subjects. His explicit attention to details can be seen in each piece Sam has created. Each of his pieces display a realism that is much more life-like than one can imagine in bronze. He also works with pieces that are of a size that makes them easy to display and admire in the average household.
How these beautiful sculptures came to be is a story not only of a wife’s pride of her husbands ability, but of a special group of people who recognized the artist’s talent for creating action bronzes on a variety of Western subjects. Support for his new found career has come from many of Sam’s friends and relatives. Recognizing Sam’s talent and ability to create life like creations, they encouraged Sam to attend classes at the Scottsdale Artists School, where he studied under masters such as Lincoln Fox and Grant Speed. Proof of Sam’s innate ability is the fact that he had been chosen as one of the schools “Best & Brightest” in both 1998 & 1999.
At the “Best & Brightest art show, his sculpture of “Plumb Tuckered Out” (a little girl sleeping on her horse) was sold at the event. He also won an award and a second place ribbon for his sculpture of “Plumb Tuckered Out” at a juried art show held at the West Valley Museum of Art, in Surprise, Arizona . . . His first exposure to the general public, which resulted in the immediate sale of several bronze pieces.
Now, at the age of 83, Sam has created a great number of bronze pieces, several of which he was commissioned to do. His nearly life size-sized work of a prospector panning for gold, titled “Lucky Strike”, was purchased and donated to the R. H. Johnson Library in Sun City West. The benefactors are a Sun City West couple who commissioned Litrenti to do the ¾ life size. “They donated it to the library because they wanted to enhance the cultural arts in their community“ Litrenti said of the donors, who wish to remain anonymous. Litrenti has completed several life size pieces he was commissioned to do for people in the Sun Cities, Sc cottsdale and for local businesses.
“I enjoy creating three-dimensional art, it starts out as a lump of clay and before you know it, it comes alive,” said Litrenti,
Litrenti’s sculptures are represented by the Gold Nugget Art Gallery in Wickenburg, AZ., and Cranstoun Court Jewellers in Sun City West, AZ.
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