Maestro sculptor Ed Monti
Edward Peter Monti
Photo courtesy of Greg Derr/The Patriot Ledger staff
QUINCY, MA -- Sculptor Edward Peter Monti of Quincy, MA, passed away on July 17, 2016 after a brief illness. He was born on November 4, 1926 in Quincy, MA, son of the late Angelo and Orsola Monti of Clivio, Italy. His father, Angelo Monti, whose own father was a stone worker, came to this country in 1910 and nine years later started the company Monti Stone Sculpture Co where it stands today.
Monti was an Army veteran of World War II. He graduated from Quincy High School in 1945 and attended the Barre School of Memorial Design in Barre, VT.Hewas an accomplished granite sculptor who pioneered a revolutionary thermal sculpting technique in the 1960s, which involved using flame lances, or torches, to cut through huge blocks of granite in quarries. "Using flame is as close to nature as you can get," he said. World renown sculptor Andy Goldsworthy turned to Monti to create his Garden of Stones for the Museum of Jewish Heritage in New York City.
Sculpting was his lifelong passion. For over a half century, Monti worked collaboratively with quarries up and down the North Atlantic. He leaves behind a prolific portfolio from a lifetime of creating public and private fountains and sculptures throughout the greater New England area, including some of his most notable public creations: the large granite fountain at Merrymount Park in Quincy and the Boston University fountain on Commonwealth Avenue. His grandson Ryan Ackerman, who has worked with his grandfather from an early age, now continues the sculpture legacy into the future.
"Ed was an original and an inspiration for all of us who work granite," said Darrell Petit of the Stony Creek Quarry in Connecticut. "We will always feel his indomitable spirit."
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