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    For Matt Schiermeier, art has always been something that fascinated him. From his humble beginnings in the small town of New Melle, MO, he was encouraged to create, so he always did. This eventually led him to a career as a hairstylist where he could use his skills to transform lackluster hair-dos into masterpieces, but after 15 years something changed; he was looking for a new creative direction. As he explains, “I found out that a fellow hairstylist’s father was a stone carver, and this really piqued my interest. She encouraged me to reach out to him, and I did.

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    SLHL: Please share an experience that was a major influence on your career decision.
    Abraham: I was a junior in college, visiting the National Gallery in D.C. I was in the great sculpture hall, standing in front of two works by 19th-century French artist Jean Baptiste Carpeaux. I was captivated by the way he had turned stone into flesh. That was the moment when I knew I wanted to spend my life trying to make artwork like that.

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    “It was Jean Baptiste Carpeaux who pushed me over the edge,” says Abraham Mohler, about his decision long ago to become a sculptor. Mohler attended Arizona State University where he was a walk-on on the baseball team. While there, he took an art history class. When studying Carpeaux, a mid-nineteenth century French sculptor, along with Michelangelo, Bernini and other notable sculptors, he began to love sculptures, especially those made of stone.