Tag: Humanitarian

For Our Future

Courageous Intentions

Grand Providentia United

Addendum to the Grand Providentia Projections Pitch

If you’re a new visitor to this site, or you’ve visited on occasion but you’re unfamiliar with the details of the Grand Providentia Projections, please allow me to direct your attention to the comprehensive overview (pitch) I published in May of this year – https://grandprovidentiaunited.blog/2026/05/18/actualizing-the-grand-providentia-projections-peace-power-love-and-riches-going-global/ – Today’s post is an addendum to that comprehensive overview, so the substantive developments I’ll be discussing here will make more sense when they’re considered within the broader context of the project pitch.

An Open Gateway to Opportunity?

Yes, I believe it is!

I’ve had multiple phone conversations over the last couple of weeks with past clients, employees, and business associates concerning a major shakeup in the bronze sculpture industry here in the southeast. The first conversation I had was with Charles Wambold III – President, Founder and Foundry Master of American Bronze Foundry in Sanford, Florida. I’m grateful to say that I’ve regarded Charlie as a good friend and trusted associate for more than 20 years now. American Bronze has been my foundry of choice since I left Bronzart Foundry Inc. in 2008, and I exclusively sub-contracted ABF to “cast and blast” all the bronze work I produced during my eleven years as a business owner in the commercial sculpture industry on the west coast of Florida. Charlie called early last week to share the happy news that he was selling his facility and retiring at the end of the year. He further explained that the offer to buy his property came unexpectedly and confessed that it was an offer he couldn’t turn down. He’d already been planning to retire for some time but hadn’t figured out exactly how to make it happen, until now. I’ve long admired Charlie for his impeccable work ethics and unflinching dedication to the art of bronze sculpture casting. I can’t help but applaud his enduring commitment to the sculpture industry, having experienced firsthand how physically demanding and emotionally stressful the business can be at times. Charles, his wife Renee, and the rest of the Wambold family have persevered through damaging hurricanes, oppressive heat and the highs and lows of the Florida economy for 35 years, ultimately creating the largest and most capable art foundry in the Southeastern US. ABF is located 44 miles northeast of the Universal Orlando Resort. For those of you who are interested, here’s a link to American Bronze Foundry – https://americanbronze.com/

One of my most memorable visits to American Bronze Foundry – In 2013, professional sculptor, Loura Parks Dobbs (center) commissioned me, with Charlie’s consent, to apply the faux granite patina to her 15′ “St. Michael the Archangel” bronze monument at the foundry in Sanford. Charles Wambold III stands with his back to the camera in the third photo (he’s the one without any wings).

Universal Dreamer or Well-grounded Entrepreneur

Well before Charlie had finished filling me in on the details of his unexpected liberation from the responsibilities of Foundry Master at ABF, and furthermore, his newly found pathway to retirement, a familiar sense of wonder began to well up within my mind and spirit. I refer to it as a familiar sense of wonder not because it happens often, but because this particular brand of wonder is almost always associated with sensations brought on by the astute recognition that synchronicity plays a major role in orchestrating the circumstances of life. In other words, I’ve become intimately acquainted with the dynamics of manifestation, and when I perceive that the signs and synchronicities are in alignment, I experience the sensation of knowing that the Source, or the Universe if you prefer, is about to manifest a new expression of reality in a positive and powerful way. Specifically, though, in the context of my conversation with Charlie, I wondered immediately whether his situation, his new reality, was directly connected with my own. Since the beginning of this year, I’ve grown increasingly convinced that NBCUniversal is actively pursuing the development of the Grand Providentia Projections and is possibly closing in on a greenlight for the inception of this worldwide production. If my intuitive sensibilities are as keen as I believe them to be, and my convictions are correct, then it isn’t a very broad leap for me to imagine that the NBCUniversal group might be involved with the purchase of the American Bronze Foundry. After all, the facility is located just north of the largest Universal theme park in the world. With all those resources, human and material, just minutes away, it would be an ideal location to begin production of the flagship GP Projection which I suspect is to be installed somewhere on the east coast of the USA (North Bergen, NJ?). And even if that whole scenario is a figment of my imagination, or simply wishful thinking, there are other, more empirical reasons, that Charlie’s news has the potential to significantly impact the future of my professional career in the visual arts.

For the sake of clarity, before I get into the rest of the conversation I had with Charlie, I’ll back up a bit and recount a yearslong discussion I’ve been having with Mike Elwell, another long-term friend and trusted associate of mine. I met Mike in 2007, when I worked for Bronzart Foundry Inc., Sarasota, FL, and indeed Bronzart’s struggles in the bronze business have been the subject matter of our ongoing discussion. Mike called me about a week ago, just a few days after Charlie’s call to ask if I had any ideas how he, or we together, could help Bronzart survive in the business of bronze. In the interest of brevity, I won’t get into the nature or the origins of their troubles in this post, but I will say that Bronzart has been in steady decline since the passing of its President, Founder and Foundry Master, Richard Frignoca in 2014.

Now, back to my phone call with Charlie. I asked if he knew what kind of business would be moving in when he moved out. He said that he didn’t know, but he didn’t think it would be a bronze foundry because they hadn’t expressed any interest in the equipment or the contents of the buildings. That was when he gave me another bit of info that piqued my interest in an entirely different way. He told me that he’d be attempting to sell all of his foundry equipment from front door to back for $300,000, but it would need to be cleared out by the end of January 2027. He also told me that he wasn’t taking on any new projects because he had to finish up everything currently in the works. Then he mentioned Bronzart, or at least he mentioned all of the panicking clients of Bronzart who had been calling him or dropping in for a visit to ask whether ABF could finish their projects, many of which had been stalled for months due to his primary competition’s rapid disintegration and steady movement toward insolvency. Charlie told me he regretted having to turn down all that business, and that he was sorry to see how things were going for the west coast foundry, but reasserted that he was already committed to winding down his own productions at American Bronze. He elaborated further, telling me that he’d also turned down many other projects, “…including seven life-size figures during the last two weeks alone.” Sensing my interest in the foundry equipment he was planning to sell, Charlie told me that he couldn’t let it go until the end of the year, because it would be in use until then, but preferably the deal would be brokered by that time so everything could be off the property in early January. One added benefit to the package would be his company website and client base contact information.

Taking all of this information into account, I’ll make the following statement – I know in my heart that I’m one of very few people in the states who could pick up where American Bronze Foundry and Bronzart Foundry Inc. left off. I would need to find an investor, or investors, to support me in the endeavor. I’d also need financial advisors and business management executives to help me run the day-to-day foundry work, but I know that my passion for the arts and my creative leadership style would add up to an extraordinarily successful bronze foundry. Time is of the essence, as usual, but I’m ready to get back to business in my creativity and this could be the start of an exciting new chapter in the “True story, as yet unfolding…”

Naturally Progressive

I’ve often professed to being a pragmatic dreamer – unafraid to trust in my own creative abilities, while also remaining grounded in reality – being able to discern the difference between achievable goals and flights of fantasy. Soulfire Creative is Plan-B. It could include a foundry facility, but not necessarily. I wrote a preliminary outline for Soulfire Creative in 2025. (see below)
Written in the Autumn of 2025, this plan doesn’t take into account any of the recent developments I’ve detailed in this post. Starting out with a pre-existing client/project base from American Bronze Foundry, Bronzart Foundry Inc. and Moore Art Expressions would surely bolster Soulfire Creatives’ potential for short-term profitability.

Earthly Dreams Prevail

I’ve never been one to dream in mediocrity. I see mediocrity everywhere, so I perceive that it must be an adequate goalpost for the less imaginative masses. It seems to me that mediocre dreams could be something certain people settle for because they’ve been conditioned to believe they’re simply not equipped to dream in excellence. When it comes to imagining new worlds into being, I prefer to dream in excellence. I strive to envision an improved version of the world; a world moving toward unity and away from intolerance; a world where it’s just as easy to imagine happiness as it is to imagine sorrow; and a world where dreams of peace aren’t summarily ridiculed as unrealistic imaginings.

I dream of a world where the “Grand Providentia Projections” are embraced as a universal expression of human excellence. NBCUniversal has rightly earned its reputation of excellence in the industries of film and entertainment the world over, time and again, for more than a century. In my estimation, this is a world that only NBCUniversal can help me imagine into reality. Together, is the ideal way to build adventurous new worlds.

Urgent call to action: Like so many creatives before me, I look to the world around me for moral and financial support. I need help to realize my dreams. I must confess that I cannot fully comprehend the enormity of the expense or the complexity of the production planning for this project, so I have only a limited understanding of the timeline necessary for development of the IP. Still, I must ask for some form of confirmation, perhaps including short term compensation. Might NBCUniversal offer to purchase an option on the intellectual property, if indeed they are intending to commit to the project? I hold firm that the Grand Providentia Projections will be a gift to the future of all life on Earth. I’m asking NBCUniversal to help make this gift a reality, and together, we’ll start to build a brave new world. A world that has been patiently waiting to be imagined into existence.

“Equilibrium“

"Fortuna" One-of-a-Kind Bronze Sculpture

Greek Goddess of Fortune, Chance, Luck & Fate

Grand Providentia United

The story of Fortuna is as colorful and animated as the living koi fish she was patinaed to resemble. When I sculpted the original in clay, I had an entirely different vision and concept for the finished piece than what it has turned out to be. I’m so pleased to have let this one evolve into what she has become. Fortuna has metamorphosized from a sculpture that was intended as cynical commentary on the superficial pursuits of man into a beacon of good fortune and a recognition of the astonishing beauty of nature on our planet. Originally, this surrealistic representation of the fish as a metaphor for greed and selfish motivations was titled “Suckerfish Ball”. I’d had a vision of a fish standing on its head and writhing like a flickering candle flame. That was the vision out of which the ball and fish form evolved. The addition of dollar signs and stars and the stripe around the ball were intended to represent money, fame and play respectively, but these additions were all envisioned through the distorted lens of my cynical outlook at the time. I’m truly grateful that my outlook has changed dramatically since then!

“Fortuna” and “Suckerfish Ball”

“Suckerfish Ball” is the only other sculpture on the planet that is nearly identical to “Fortuna”. They’re pulled from the same mold, so that’s to be expected. The major difference between them is that the fish figure on the first casting was poured in white bronze which gives it the shiny silver look. “Suckerfish Ball” was purchased years ago and now resides in the collection of Phillip and Lynn Rogers. In my opinion “Fortuna” is the stronger piece of artwork. Not only is it warmer in color and concept, but it is also invested with positive energy and designed to bring good fortune to any home where it is being displayed. Now, those may sound like the words of a snake-oil salesman, and I could see why some folks might scoff at the notion of a good luck charm, but I can’t see where the harm is with a little bit of positive superstition being peddled between friends!

Physical Properties of Fortuna

Fortuna – Bronze casting mounted on cream colored marble base (pentagonal). The patina on this bronze is one of its most striking features. The opaque and creamy tones of the koi fish contrast nicely with the details of bronze dollar signs and the band around the ball. This was a sophisticated patina to perform given the fact that a patina finish can’t be built up like a paint job. The color that adheres to the metal is still only a few microns thick. It’s similar to a smoked glass process where what you get to stick is what you get to keep.

Dimensions: 27.5″ H x 10″ W x 8″ D ~ Weight: 32 lbs.

Approximate time involved: 180 hours from concept to completion.

Price: $9,500.00 USD – Includes metal pedestal shown in photos.

An Investment in the Future of Our Planet and Our People

The sale of “Fortuna” will forward the cause of the “Grand Providentia Projections” as it will allow my wonderful Dani and I to establish our physical home together on God’s green Earth. We’ve been growing our love (online) for almost two years now and we long to be married and live together somewhere in the USA. Together we are unstoppable, just as the GP Projections will be unstoppable with the collective positive intentions of our friends and supporters worldwide.

Almost one year ago (10/25/2025), I displayed “Fortuna” along with “Providentia”, “Return to Hope” and “Monkey Runs Amok” at an art festival sponsored by the The Landings Art Association and the Village Library at the Skidaway (Island) Village Green. Daniela shared in the ambience of the event with me, via Messenger facetime, during quiet times on that beautiful Saturday afternoon.

Head Tales

Casting Dark Shadows #4

Grand Providentia United

Chapter 4

~ Attracting Ghoul Friends ~

For me, the payoff of a nightmare almost always comes in the moment of waking up. Especially if I wake to birdsong and sunshine. I can usually shake off even the most diabolical of night frights quickly in the light of day. But when it’s too early to get up and I know I’ll be going back down for more of the same, all I can really do is try to appreciate the entertainment value of my frightful nocturnal imaginings. There is a thrilling rush of adrenaline that comes when I awaken from a mind-bending vision of abject horror. When I was young, I gradually became addicted to that rush. Being hooked on fear, I would look forward to the next nightmare, hoping only that it would be more terrifying than the last. I was rarely disappointed. Eventually, my mind created a dream routine that would ease me out of the darkest reaches without the shock of being physically jolted into a sitting position in my real-world bed. The routine soon became my favorite part of every scary dreamscape escape. I offer up another recurring nightmare from early childhood to fill you in on the devilish details of the routine.

I find myself standing next to an antique potbelly woodstove that my mother is trying to light up – it’s a gloomy little room, cold and damp – foggy outside and foggy inside. Is it fog, smoke, or an army of ghosts filling this place? – mom is cursing – the fire won’t start – “Stay here Scott, I’m going to get some firewood.” – the room suddenly feels fragile, like a thin-skinned tent – I follow my mother to the screen door and latch it with an equally fragile hasp – as I’m backing away from the door, it dawns on me that I am no safer inside of this wicked crate than I would be outside of it – I know what’s coming – I’m powerless to stop it – my mom comes screeching back to the door with superhuman speed, crazy sharp claws, cruel looking fangs, and hair sticking straight out in all directions – it isn’t my mother, it’s an apocalyptic lunatic. Her tortured howl is maddening – I know the screen won’t hold for more than a second – I know that a second is all I need – my ritual of escape takes the lead and the relief is immediate – I curl into a ball and fly backwards through the air – spinning around, rolling forward and taking control – flying, rolling, out of the darkness and towards my house – bursting through the back door at full speed – up the narrow stair case and down the hall – in the instant that I land in my bed, I’m awake, and I know that I’m safe. Once again, I had left the shock of the night terror where I thought it belonged, deep down inside. What I failed to realize is that the depths would keep getting deeper to accommodate for the growing horde of monsters I was routinely breeding and feeding with my swiftly accumulating fears.

“Dream Wand”
acrylic on carved wood over cricket cage.

The fight was a mismatch from the very start. These demons were in an entirely different weight class than me. Anyone with a modicum of sense would surely have told me so. But I never told anyone about my plans to confront the blackness, except for the God within me, and I was fairly confident God would always have my back. If not, I thought, ‘How in the hell do I keep making it back to my bed in the morning?’

In the youngest years of my life, the daytime hours were filled with adventure, exploration and wonder. I would spend as many hours as I was allowed to, playing in the tattered woodland areas around town, wading through the rivers and runoffs, digging in the dirt for worms and antique bottles, and crawling through the rainwater drainage pipes beneath both Mill and Main Streets. When mom and dad decided I was old enough to sleep in a tent in our backyard, the adventures often continued well past the witching hour. Slinking through Hope in the darkness was a lot less scary when your friends were there with you, so usually the tent in our backyard was filled with as many friends as the tarpaulin floor could accommodate. As I recall, my older brother and I would argue over who’s turn it was to sleep out in the tent on any given night, but we soon realized that the overflow could always sleep on the ground underneath the stars. At one point we must have had upwards of fifteen wayward boys, and sometimes one wayward girl, marauding through the streets of Hope Village under the dark cloak of night.

Living in Presence

An Abstract Theory of Intentional Time Travel #1

Grand Providentia United

Chapter 1 – Traveling into the past and back home again.

All of our memories about the past, at least the ones that are still available to us, can be recalled audibly and replayed visually within our minds, but only to the extent and accuracy that our minds will allow us to remember them. All of our memories have been colored by our personal perspectives, preferences, and the emotions we were feeling at the time the memory was stored. It seems to me that excessively painful, or exceedingly pleasurable, memories take longer to fade, but they are also more likely to be distorted by the emotions we were feeling when we experienced the actual event. Another person who was present and experienced the same event may have an entirely different recollection of what happened. In my opinion, that is one of the most wonderful things about memories – they are not an objective portrayal of the event, but instead they are mental constructs – reenactments that have been specifically designed to help each of us process our life experiences in the most effective way possible. If we learn to seek insight through the painful memories and then willfully release them, knowing that we have gained all the potential for understanding locked in those memories, we can set ourselves free from the pain of our past and bring ourselves closer to being present in the current moment. On the other hand, we can choose to nurture and hold on to the memories that bring us joy and remind each of us of who we truly are. We can learn to archive and selectively preserve memories that serve us well whether they are painful or pleasurable but grounding ourselves in the present moment is the key to using our memories for intentional time travel.

“An Object in Motion”

This is the first chapter of a three-part series describing An Abstract Theory of Intentional Time Travel. Skeptics, cynics and critics, feel free to speak your minds. These thoughts were brought to you by the collective consciousness of humankind.

Update: I’ve added a second film to my YouTube channel. It’s a promotional film about the “Return to Hope” bronze sculpture that I recently repatined and put up for sale. Here is the link in case you’re interested – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iyS4elkdsyg&t=46s

Living in Presence

An Abstract Theory of Intentional Time Travel #2

Grand Providentia United

Chapter 2 – The time is now ~ ad infinitum.

Traditionally, concepts of time travel seem to be centered around movement of a physical form, namely the human body, from one specific moment to another along a timeline. The timeline imagined may include multiple dimensions, but more often than not, the concept is simplified by its adherence to a widely accepted belief that there is only one timeline, the timeline of our shared human history. The most common imaginings of time machines have included dials and switches that allow the time traveler to select a specific time, either in the past or the future, that they would like to move their physical form to within the time-space continuum. Usually, this movement cannot technically be equated to movement at all, considering the fact that the time traveler is consistently imagined as arriving at another point along the timeline in the exact same location as they were when they initiated the travel sequence. At this moment in time, I invite you to imagine a whole new theory of time travel – one that is as simplistic and realistic as it is complicated and extraordinary. Based on the concept of a continuous now, this new theory of time travel is available to every human being who is willing to explore the connection between our conscious awareness and what happens next on the timeline of our individual and collective life experiences.

There was a time in my childhood when I thought this was a magic river. Every time I visited its banks, I would be filled with giddy anticipation as to what color the water would be this time. As I matured, I realized that the colors were waste dyes from the textile mill upstream. I revisited this river when I was shooting scenes for the film “Return to Hope”. While shooting this photo, I remember feeling both saddened and hopeful simultaneously. It made me sad to see all of the rubbish thrown in the water over the years, but also hopeful, noticing that nature was reclaiming the river itself – restoring the quality of the water and reviving the abundance of life that inhabited these waters before they were polluted by the irresponsible acts of a few misguided individuals.

In this moment of now, a moment that we are all experiencing simultaneously, yet experiencing it in as many different ways as there are human beings on the planet, there is a constant and undeniable movement of energies. We are each perceiving these constantly moving energies from our own limited perspective and through the limited capabilities of our five senses. If we allow ourselves to be adventurous enough to include a sixth sense, that of our conscious awareness, we immediately broaden our perspective, and we effectively open our third eye to the true nature of the energies in motion during each and every moment of now. When we witness these energies in motion, and we recognize that we are indeed traveling with time itself, then each moment of our lives becomes much more meaningful. If we learn how to read the energies we are experiencing as we move from the past into the future within the moment of now, then we can more accurately predict what is going to happen next on our timeline. As the moments pass, while we are retaining a conscious connection with the energies in motion, and we also remain present and aware, it becomes apparent that we are traveling through time involuntarily, and we always have been. With our new understanding of the abstract theory of time travel embraced, it becomes so much easier to relax and enjoy the ride.

This contemporary philosopher, William MacAskill, penned a decidedly positive prediction about what our collective future has in store for us. I truly enjoyed the book because it was helpful in relieving basic fears about our tendency to destroy more than we preserve.

I am sincerely grateful that you’ve taken the time to read this online journal. Thank you for being here in the moment of now!