Sean Crosby
From PDPA
Born in 1965, in Brooklyn, New York, Sean Crosby began to explore his artistic talents as a youth, experimenting with pencil drawings and small-scale acrylic paintings. He quickly developed a keen sense of observation, recognizing that geometry, value and the use of horizontal and vertical lines were the key to accurate drawings and paintings. Over the summer breaks during his high school years, Sean took weekend classes on commercial illustration at Parsons School of Design and the School of Visual Arts in New York City, to further develop his skills as an artist. Sean also took a watercolor class, and was mesmerized by the incredible results he could achieve by layering glazed colors over a white background. He later realized this technique would play a key role in his future paintings.
After leaving high school, Sean and joined the International Brotherhood of Painter’s and Allied Trades Union in New York City. He began working as a house painter and wallpaper hanger in both residential and commercial properties. During the 3rd year of his apprenticeship, Sean observed an old-timer named Howie Zucker decorating a metal fire door using faux graining techniques. Sean was intrigued by the work Howie rendered and knew then that he wanted to shift his focus toward decorative painting. As Sean did not see the New York City housing projects as a hotbed of opportunity for decorative painting, he started up a side business, offering faux finishes to residential clients during his off-hours.
Around 1995, Sean’s side business was successful and growing, so he decided it was time to leave his job with the housing authority to pursue his true passion as a professional decorator. Sean took some classes on decorative painting and began intensely studying books by accomplished decorators such as Yannick Guegan and Pierre Finkelstein to try and figure out how they rendered such incredible finishes. In 1996, Sean instructed his first mural class, incorporating the tried and proven theories he had used since his childhood (geometry, value and horizontal and vertical lines), as he felt it was the best way to teach beginners. Based on the success of the class, more class dates were scheduled and Sean began to teach classes on graining, marbling, trompe l’oeil, and began to create new panels for future mural workshops.
Sean has become a highly sought after instructor, and was invited to teach Faux Fresco at Vigini Studios in Texas, graining & marbling at Faux Effects Studios in Florida, and several other decorative courses at schools throughout the United States. In 2003, Sean was invited to teach mural at the IPEDEC, which was an incredible honor, as no other American had been extended an invitation to teach mural at the IPEDEC’s “long class” before. He has since been invited back to the IPEDEC in 2004 and 2005. In 2006, Sean was invited to teach mural and portraiture at Nadai-Verdon studios in Penne D’Agenais, France. In addition, Sean has been invited to lecture and demonstrate at numerous decorative painting trade shows and expositions.
Together with internationally renowned decorators Pascal Amblard, Pierre Finkelstein and Nicola Vigini, Sean co-hosts an annual 15-day decorative painting workshop in Italy each summer, focused on mural painting, trompe l’oeil, grottesca, graining and marbling. The class is attended by American and other international decorative painting students.
Some recent projects include a series of religious-themed faux frescoes for St. Joseph’s Catholic Church in Macon, Georgia as well as reproductions Italian renaissance frescoes and murals (originally rendered by such masters as Massacio, Masolino, Michelangelo, Titian, Veronese and Romano) for exclusive private clientele in the Northeastern United States.
External links
Other PDPA board members
Pierre Finkelstein • Nicola Vigini • Pascal Amblard • Andre Martinez • Mark Cole • Sean Crosby • Dean Sickler • Gary Lord • Janie Ellis • Ilia Anossov • Aaron Cohen • Lucretia Moroni • Cathy Connor • Barth White • George Zaffle
