The two Eagles, for example.
One is American Bald Eagle
and the other is
the Polish White Eagle.
Together in concert,
the mutual support.
I started in the ironwork
watching my dad
when I was a boy.
People always ask,
how does that get
made like that?
Because everybody knows
steel is very
stout and stubborn,
which it is.
So we have to
tame it in the fire.
You know, if
we needed something
fixed or made, we just do
it.
And
I guess it's pretty unique.
But at the time,
it seemed like
everybody did this.
When I was like 12 years
old, I would fall asleep
reading blacksmithing books.
I was a high school student
and I went
to a model search.
Sort of.
The rest is history.
I was traveling the world
for six years, living
in New York City,
working in Paris, Milan, all
the fashion
hubs of the world.
You know, pretty soon
you can't model anymore.
It's
a very competitive field.
Went through UWSP
the local college
here in Stevens Point
studied sculpture.
So I've always loved art
and it just brought me
back to the shop working
and in the family business.
How many times do you think
you've burnt yourself?
Yeah, hundreds of times.
You know, you see hot
iron is glowing red
or orange or yellow. Right.
But yet iron could be eight,
900 degrees
and it's still black.
So you could grab a hot bar
and not know and
really burn yourself.
But once
you're sort of aware
of the surroundings,
it doesn't really happen.
Yeah, not too much.
Yeah,
except when there's
a film crew around. Yeah.
And kind of
when that happens.
On one occasion,
my back caught on fire.
It never occurred to me
to stop, drop and roll
like they taught in school.
Yeah, my.
My instinct was my
brother will help me.
So I went and
I turned to him,
and I just knew he would.
He would put it out.
The whole back was burning.
I love working
with my brothers.
Yeah.
When things are going well,
I love working
with my brothers.
There's the dynamic
family dynamic.
Just like any family. Right.
So there's
there's days that, you know,
we're all bickering and
but most of the time
we get along really well.
And yeah,
it's definitely a challenge,
but we, we, we care
about each other.
We work with each other.
Vincent's definitely
the layout
expert in the shop.
Right.
And I can tell you this,
like at like
seven years old,
Vincent was building things
that I couldn't even
start to build today.
Kind of
challenging sometimes,
but it's exciting
and fun to
be able to use some math
that the teachers told
you you'll never use this
and actually apply it.
I.
I started in the ironwork
watching my dad
when I was a boy,
my father.
He apprenticed in Poland.
He went to trade school
when the Nazis invaded
Poland,
start of World War Two.
He was rounded
up, as were many,
and forced to work
under that regime.
And his
skill as a blacksmith
brought him through the war
safely.
He became he was accepted
in the Chicago
Transit Authority.
The L trains and the busses
wanted to move out
of Chicago,
came to Wisconsin.
He gravitated
to Portage County.
I really noticed the Polish
heritage in Portage County,
which it's 50, 60%
of the population of Portage
County is of Polish descent.
And I met my wife,
who was third
generation Polish,
carrying on the
Polish traditions
more than I did.
I really liked it
that it seemed like home.
My dear wife
Ann and I have been
married 42 years
and she keeps me young.
He spoke very highly of you.
Yeah. Yeah.
He's making up for,
you know, 47 years.
He grew on me real quick.
She grew on me quicker.
That's.
Yeah.
Our mother
is really the glue
that holds
everything together.
She a lot of her
work is behind the scenes
and not glamorous, but
she holds it all together
in the office, in the house
and the kitchen.
And.
And keeps us
sane, sometimes in civil.
My father was Polish.
My mother came from
Ukrainian.
She was
had some Slavic blood.
So I got different
same foods,
but different names from.
From her side of the family.
You can do something
with very little
and make it really awesome.
You know, bread is what?
Flour and water and salt.
So having a grandfather
that basically came
came to this country
like so many immigrants
and had to struggle
to find their way in life.
But
I guess it really affected
our whole family. And,
you know,
from a very young age,
we were all taught,
you know, like be
more like your grandfather.
I mean,
I think we have a strong tie
to Polish heritage here.
You can see it.
People are proud of
their last names.
You'll go downtown
Stevens Point.
You'll see
all the Polish names
on the buildings
that were created,
built 100 years ago.
It's still very strong here.
With my
public sculptures, I,
I really gravitated
to trying to enhance
our Polish heritage.
The two Eagles, for example,
the one is American
Bald Eagle, and the other is
the Polish White Eagle.
Together in concert,
the mutual support.
It's a very good possibility
that the sons will
carry it on.
And that's a that's
heartwarming to me.
I think it's it's important
to hang on to good
and noble
crafts and traditions.
Blacksmithing is
very central
and important in history.
It really gave
us this America.
When you when you master
the work, it's fun.
It's it's exciting
because you feel like
you've conquered it.
And it's a it's
a victorious feeling
because iron is very
stout and stubborn.
It's a resolute friend,
you know?
It hits you back
if you don't do it right.
So when you win it
and you can get it
to do this,
you're elevating iron
to its lofty position.