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Stanley Greer's first exposure to art was at age 12 when he met southern Ohio master stone carver Ernest "Popeye" Reed at a steam engine show. He watched in awe as Reed gave a carving demonstration, and asked if he could give it a try. That was the beginning of Greer's apprenticeship to the now late Popeye Reed. Over the next 6 years, before entering the Navy in 1980, Stan spent many a weekend and much of his summer vacations carving under Popeye's guidance. After the Navy, Greer's carving was interrupted by a stint in the penitentiary… but he worked on sketches and ideas for carvings all during his incarceration.
Stan was released in 2002 and has been carving non-stop ever since, still favoring the local sandstone and limestone that was favored by his mentor. Some of Greer's work clearly pays tribute to Reed but Stan has his own style. His fluid, almost contemporary lines reveal a technical mastery that often surpasses the organic "folky" work of reed.
Stan now says that all of his experiences, good and bad, contribute to his desire to "master the stone, understand it, and bring out its beauty in a new form."
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