Sign up now to receive the AnythingArtsNewsletter

Feature Story
Sean Colson

Sean Colson was raised in the Sarasota art scene. Born in Tallahassee, his parents brought him to Sarasota at the age of four. The year was 1964, and the family had purchased the original home of famed watercolorist Hilton Leech because it came with a licensed art studio on the property. His father, sculptor Frank Colson, soon set up Colson School of Art on Hillview Street.

By age five, Sean and his brother Kevin were making illustrations and drawings of cars and selling them in the front yard for 5 cents apiece. As time progressed, Sean's father gave him many opportunities to express the artistic side of his character. His mother, Diana, showed him the world of the performing arts; she taught music at Southside Elementary and used her summers to create short films in various countries of the world.

As Sean's art progressed, he moved from drawing cars to people. At nine years old, Sean had his first art exhibit, a Father & Son Show at the Hilton Leech Art gallery in Sarasota, where his drawings were purchased by such luminaries as famed author John D. MacDonald and photographer Jan Silberstein.

Throughout the ‘60s, his father held summer art workshops in places like Canada and North Carolina, Maine and Mexico. These environments filled Sean with creative energy, and he gradually moved from drawing into sculpture. He first began working with clay, making ceramic art tiles, then evolved into creating whimsical bronze sculptures, These small bronzes featured imaginative things such as cowboys riding dolphins and whales morphing into jet airplanes.

In 1970 and 1971 the family traveled around the world for fourteen months, with his mother making short 16mm films for schools and libraries. Sean would star in one movie while his brother would star in the next. During their extended travels, they made films in Kyoto, Hong Kong, Sydney, Bali, Bangkok, Katmandu and Old Delhi. Sean and Kevin also attended school in Queensland, Australia while their father opened a bronze sculpture foundry. Upon leaving Australia, the family traveled overland from Nepal to London and then back to the U.S.

After graduating from Sarasota High School in 1979, Sean started his bronze casting supply business www.Shellspen.com. He took a few college courses, but left school to partner with his father in the bronze foundry business in what is now Sarasota's Historic Rosemary District. In the late ‘80s he and his brother joined forces with Drew Truitt in a new business in downtown Sarasota called Colson Originals. Here they reproduced historic statuary for the streets of Sarasota.

In the early ‘90s, Sean moved to Central Studios on Central Avenue, helping to develop an enclave of local artists. Here, he continued to reproduce historic Sarasota statuary, and had a visit from a relative of Charles Ringling which motivated him to expand his line. The Ringling Museum hired him to work on repairing many of their weathered pieces, and he also worked with his father on maintenance of metal sculptures belonging to the City of Sarasota.

This year, Sean introduced Sarasota's Ringling Isles Urn, a piece which he and Ed Pinto designed to commemorate Sarasota's rich history with John Ringling. This stunning piece is hand carved in marble and is available to order. It can be seen at Sean's art website: www.ColsonCreations.com

Whether it's bronze casting, statuary, illustrations, art travel or film, Sean Colson is very much the artist.