“I’m always having a conversation with myself between art and craft. Art is for the heart and craft for the wallet,” says fine artist and fine craftsman Alan Box Levine in his studio at the McGuffey Art Center In Charlottesville, Va. “Art is a window to the world. It has nothing to do with money. I also restore old things—windows, tables, chairs, book cases—for a living.”
Levine’s compact studio displays the makings of his varied talents. Displayed are wooden benches, boxes of all sizes, dried flowers, toys, vintage family photographs. An antique ladder back chair awaits his refurbishing.
“I’m an old soul, a visual person. I’m looking for ideas in dreams, music. I like to combine things, found objects,” says Levine. His combinations are often playful, whimsical and have movement. A tiny music box plays “Happy Birthday” next to a wooden pillar with a model toy car on top. A fireplace brush sits on a wedge of mahogany. A child’s wagon is made from old Pepsi ad boards. A wooden egg is painted blue to look like the earth.
“Maybe it all started early, in shop class, learning how things work,” he says. “That led to my fascination with tools, and the understanding of materials.
“Growing up in Asbury Park, at the Jersey shore there were boats, and skateboards. I was drawn into how waves break, the run of the wind, and the disappearing perspective.
“Somewhere along the way, I started putting it all together, and the leftover bits were made into free imaginative fun sculptures, and assemblages.”…