BROOKLYN, NY -- ABC StoneandThe New York Academy of Art (NYAA) recently hosted a reception to celebrate Merit Scholarship Award winner, marble sculptor Joseph Brickey, and to unveil the sculpture created during his residency.

Brickey was unanimously chosen for the Merit Scholarship Award, which included a month of residency in Carrara, Italy, studying with master sculptor Stephen Shaheen. Brickey was awarded this opportunity by New York Academy of Art(NYAA) and a panel of judges that included top architect and designers such as Tony Ingrao, Jennifer Post, J. Brian Sawyer, Jon Berson, Michael Simon, Billie Tsien, and Tod Williams.

After graduating with a BFA from Brigham Young University in Provo, UT, in 1998, Brickey spent over a decade independently studying -- from the East Coast to the West Coast and also furthering his development as an artist while living in Europe and Scandinavia. Having been an award-winning figurative painter for many years, he decided to pursue a study of sculpture and moved his family to New York, NY.

Since completing his MFA at the New York Academy of Art, sculpture has become central to his expression and purpose as an artist. "In the annals of art history, I wish to earn a place among that class of artists who transcend their time, who share not an age but an aesthetic, from the great masters of Antiquity to those of the Renaissance and beyond. In short, I wish to be counted among the Classicists. Not simply for matching their style, nor even their excellence, but for sharing their motivations, the ideology that begat classicism," Brickey said in his artist statement. Brickey currently resides in Utah with his wife, Joanne, and five children.

Architects, designers and artists sipped prosecco while perusing works by Brinkley along with other distinguished stone sculptors including Jonathan Prince, a recent addition to the ABC family of sculptors. The unveiling ceremony included brief comments from Peter Drake, Dean of NYAA, Julie Ferguson, Chair of the Oriano Galloni Foundation, Stephen Shaheen, who spoke on behalf of ABC and his experience as the instructor in Carrara, and concluded with a moving speech by Brickey. The unveiling of "Torso Virgile," Brinkley’s three-foot-tall masterpiece carved out of Carrara Marble, followed the speeches.

All works will be on view at ABC Stone’s Brooklyn Showroom until mid-December. To make an appointment to see any of these works please contact Julia Sugarman at Julia@abcworldwidestone.com.