Metal sculptor Edward Casagrande declared 2001 ""Year of the Shrine” on his answering machine message.

Sculptor Edward Casagrande (Tony Jones photo) | ZOOM |

        Callers unaccustomed to the artist's joyous life-view may have been befuddled by his message's meaning. But when the walls surrounding the toppled World Trade Center became plastered with fliers and tributes about the missing and dead — transformed into altars of hope and remembrance — his designation couldn't have been more appropriate.

        “Spiritually, the end of 2001 was so severely traumatic,” he says.

        This year, callers to Mr. Casagrande's Norwood home or Oakley workshop are greeted with a declaration of 2002 as “The Year of Allowance and Balance.”

        Though one client, from Hawaii, called to joke, “I'd like an increase in my allowance because I want to balance my checkbook,” Mr. Casagrande has a more soulful, comforting interpretation.

        “We need to allow grief for undescribable acts against each other and joy for kindnesses to each other,” he says. “The balance is for striking a balance in the process of living. After Sept. 11, people began to re-prioritize their lives. My mantra is "Try to celebrate the little things.' That's where the real joy is.”

        Making sculpture that “elevates the simple to the ceremonial” is the driving language of Mr. Casagrande's career.

        He elevated dining to an art with the creation of a table that seats 10 for Suzanne Soled of Evendale. Ms. Soled is a fan of Mr. Casagrande's work, that usually includes hearts, wavy swirls and what he calls “boinging” figures that celebrate life and hope. His work appears in many corporate offices and public buildings, including Culinary Sol at Rookwood Commons in Norwood and on the Ronald McDonald house in Avondale.

        Ms. Soled's table “is like a ceremonial altar for the breaking of the bread,” Mr. Casagrande says. Appropriately, he finished in time for last week's Seder. “I wanted something unique that reflected my family,” says Ms. Soled, who saw the sculptor's work at a home and garden show years ago.

        “It's spectacular,” she says of the table. “He did a wonderful job blending architecture with artistry.”

        The four twined pedestal legs have characters representing Ms. Soled's three children, forks, Stars of David — a tribute to their Jewish religion — and other whimsical additions.

        Supporting a 500-pound piece of glass, the steel base is a “joyful landscape below the table, a celebratory grouping of spirits delivering the feast.

        “I knew the glass top would be enormously heavy. It ended up at nearly 500 pounds. I couldn't believe how much magic there was when the glass was put on.”

        Other recent works of Mr. Casagrande include a “greeter” for the Interior Services Inc. gallery on Main Street, downtown, and a Wild West gateway for a ranch in Mexico, complete with faux bullet holes.

        “I lived in the West and everything gets a bullet hole eventually, so we put it in at the beginning,” he says.

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