Think of Gilbert Boro’s architecturally gorgeous 3,500 square foot studio in Old Lyme, Connecticut as a kind of Santa’ s workshop for sculptors.

There is everything you need from widgets to chain to wood, metal, steel, aluminum, spray paint, glue, welding torches and on and on to make enormous outdoor works of art.

His models are built in the studio first and studied and measured and he figures out how they will be put together to withstand the outdoor elements.

If you look at the smaller models in this story you will see that he places a man next to the model so you can see just how large some of the works art.

The ball and chain you see here is an item he’s working on and there has been a whole lot of welding going on to make it look as if it is just suspended. When you work with Boro you’re up and down ladders underneath things, all tested to meet the standards of people crawling on it, or hanging from it.

If you go outside of Santa’s (Boro’s) workshop, which is his real backyard complete with a pool, you’ll find a virtual Disney World of art. There are forty pieces of sculpture, most of which are his designs, huge and small which anybody can look at Monday thru Friday, all you have to do is show up. Gil says he loves it when he gets to discuss his work.

He’s been at this art business for decades. He started out as an architect but found that too stifling, so off he went to bigger and more colorful things like what you see in this post.

Boro is world famous for his pieces, he even worked with the late Prince Rainier of Monaco once upon a time over in the Principality.

Boro moved down from the Boston area a few years back and bought the house which is next door to the Lyme Academy College of Fine Arts and then he built his dream studio.

Boro  has an art degree from Duke University, got a master’s in architecture from Columbia University and he told me all the rendering he did eventually lead to his design work in sculpting.

Much of his work is colorful, he gets help in selecting colors as he told me he is color blind. He even let me pick out a new color for a future piece. I chose a sea foam color. He uses motorcycle paint, which in the sun turns many colors, really makes a piece interesting in a public space.

His largest pieces are meant to be crawled on by children and adults, he loves it when people touch his art. Some of his work is 24-feet high and it’s no small task to install. Heavy machinery has to be called in to do this. After three hernia surgeries, he’s now leaving all of that to the experts.

What is so great about Boro is that he loves to teach and has been a mentor to many. He is a fun-loving guy and I recommend highly that you drop in some day. I know I’m going back as soon as I can and take others to his backyard play land.

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