The National Sculpture Society will present the 2019 Stanley Bleifeld Memorial Grant to Sergio De Giusti. The Grant is awarded to a sculptor who has demonstrated outstanding ability and who has created a body of work inspired by nature which includes works of sculpture in bas-relief and in the round.  It consists of a $5000 cash award. Sculptors Nina Akamu, Neil Estern and Scott Rogers served as this year’s jurors.

When sculpting, De Giusti says that he draws “from an endless variety of symbols that record and depict the history of mankind” and tries to create “images that evoke fantasies of tomb sculptures, slabs, columns, commemorative stones, architectural fragments and the anthropological rituals from many different cultures.” De Giusti is sought after for his bas-reliefs; they grace a variety of locations including the Library and Archives Building (Lansing, MI), the Church of San Vito (Maniago, Italy) and the Italian Consulate offices (Detroit, MI). De Giusti has also taught art history and studio art classes at Wayne State University (Detroit, MI) and sculpture classes at the College of Art and Design (Detroit, MI) and at the Birmingham Bloomfield Art Center (Birmingham, MI).

This year is the inaugural year for the Stanley Bleifeld Memorial Grant. Stanley Bleifeld (1924-2011) was a Member Emeritus of the National Sculpture Society and served as President from 1991-1994.  The grant was made possible through a donation from his widow, Naomi Bleifeld, and will be awarded annually in perpetuity. The National Sculpture Society will present the grant on Saturday, June 15, 2019 at the Honors and Awards Dinner, which is part of the Sculpture Celebration Conference held June 14-16, 2019 in New York City.