KINGWOOD — When Russel Calvert was 14 years old, he took a home study course in art. He turned that course into a career.
He worked as a sculptor for Sheidow Bronze for 40 years. When he retired, he decided to start his own business.
Calvert and his wife, Patty, are the owners of Prestige Art in Kingwood.
“I didn’t have any trouble staying busy during nice weather,” he said. “There wasn’t much to do during bad weather, so I decided to do this.
”Patty is his biggest critic. When he finishes a picture, she looks it over for detail. She also does all the paperwork associated with the business.
“She looks at my work and tells me if I’ve missed anything,” he said. “You would be surprised how much help that is.”
All of Calvert’s art is custom and hand-drawn. It ranges from business cards and specialty cards, to bronze and aluminum plaques and seals.
He said he gets requests for cards in black and white, and color.
“A big part of when you’re working with color is getting your colors coordinated,” Calvert said.
He said his favorite subjects are eagles and trains.
Subjects of his work include the Green Run Trestle, the Bull Run Bridge, the Tunnelton train station, the Preston County Courthouse and the Buckwheat Festival.
Some of his work is an endeavor to preserve county history.
He said he was driving around one day and thought it was a shame so many of the old high schools were being torn down.
“I searched and found pictures of the schools and reproduced them,” he said. “I have individual drawings of them and another picture with all 10 of them on one page.”
He said the Preston High basketball team is putting his picture of all
10 schools on T-shirts.
“I gave them permission to put the picture on the T-shirts they are selling,” Calvert said. “They are selling them to raise money for their team.”
He is also reproducing all of the new schools.
Local art is not all he does. Some of Calvert’s work hangs in government buildings across the U.S.
“The largest piece I’ve done was in the 70s. It was a seven-foot Great Seal of the United States for the Department of Bankruptcy Court in Washington [D.C.]. I’ve done different sizes of the Great Seal for a lot of other government buildings,” Calvert said. “I’ve also done all of the military seals.”
He said work done for the government has to be exact.
“It took me seven weeks to complete the seven-foot Great Seal,” Calvert said.
Prestige Art LLC can be reached by phone at 304-698-5099 or 304-777-8406, by email at pcalvert92@gmail. com or at Facebook.com/ prestigeartwv. Photos online are changed monthly.
