Praise for Daniel

I met Daniel Altshuler on a winter afternoon in Halibut Point. I was having lunch with friends. Daniel and my friend Rebecca Reynolds were at an adjacent table. She introduced us. At the time they were co-curators of “America’s Sculptural Heritage: Anchored in Gloucester”, an exhibition in our City Hall. At the time Daniel was living in Walker Hancock’s studio (where Rebecca now lives) as Hancock’s assistant. Daniel was studying art at the Museum School thirteen years earlier when he met the great sculptor and subsequently moved to Gloucester to become his assistant.

Over the years I have talked with Daniel from time to time when we were at art association openings or in restaurants. He is a quiet, charming, soft-spoken man. I had the opportunity to design a brochure of his work for State of the Art Gallery a few years back and was dazzled by the beautiful pieces he had created. His sculpture is classical in the finest tradition of his friend and mentor, Walker Hancock, but has his own sleek, lyrical interpretation. His statue of Chief Massasoit was exhibited at the National Sculpture Society. (His beautiful Mermaid Fountain is shown below.)

Over the years Daniel has garnered many honors but the most recent came when he attended the unveiling of the two portrait busts he created of former President Jimmy Carter and First Lady Rosalynn Carter at the Carter Center in Atlanta. Daniel received the commission a year earlier and had never met the President but worked from photographs and DVDs. He met President Carter for the first time at the unveiling. How exciting!

I guess there is just no way to adequately express the happiness you feel when someone you know and like is honored in such a way. It helps, when the person is someone as kind and gentle and pleasant as Daniel is. I do not know him well but, as with my friend Betty Lou, I feel privileged just to say I know him. You can’t help but feel elated when someone so nice receives such an honor.

Like most artists, Daniel has gone through tough times. He has devoted himself to his art even when barely able to support himself so it is thrilling to see his work recognized. Currently his work is on exhibit at the Crane Gallery in Manchester-by-the-Sea. He is also working on a project in his home town of Concord, a bas-relief to replicate their Melvin Memorial created by Daniel Chester French, the sculptor of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C. Walker Hancock knew French, who died in 1931. So for Daniel this is an added pleasure.

So I wanted to write this blog today to honor Daniel for what he has accomplished. He is a genuine representation of what can happen to someone with talent who devotes himself whole-heartedly to his art. I wish him nothing but wonderful things from now on.

It said in the newspaper article about him that he intends to resume doing sculpture demonstrations. I hope he does, that would be lovely to attend. However, I have a very special memory of a learning carving from Daniel. Something I will cherish forever. A few Christmases ago Daniel and I were each invited to Christmas dinner at Betty Lou’s house. When it came time to carve the turkey I was inexpertly hacking away at it when Daniel said, “Here, let me do that.” He proceeded to show me how to properly sharpen a carving knife and properly carve a turkey.

Thank you, Daniel. I’ll never carve another turkey without thinking of you. May your star continue to climb and shimmer and to shine your very special and unique light upon the world.

Thanks for reading.