Sculptor | James Mastin

James Mastin is truly a master sculptor. His work here in the Key West Historic Memorial Sculpture Garden speaks highly of his talent. He is also a painter, water colorist, singer, and actor.
For over 15 years James has been creating in clay or wax and castings his pieces into bronze, stainless steel, or polyester resins, and formed copper. His much-touted work ranges from classical figurative and abstracted modern. The hallmark of his creations is meticulous craftsmanship and emotional content. He makes his own molds and creates his own patinas. In recent years, Mr. Mastin has begun to include multiple media into his work incorporating lighting, video displays, and kinetic elements relying upon bost mechanized and gravitational forces. The scale of his work ranges from indoor work only several incles high to public sculpture over 30 feet tall.
Mr. Mastin's many other accomplishments include the Loyalist memorial Sculpture Garden in our Sister City of Green Turtle Cay, Bahamas commissioned by the New Plymouth Historical Society; the Ship Foundation at Pelican Key Casino and Resort, St. Maarten; Hanukiah in Miami, Florida; and St. Francis Xavier commissioned by the Catholic Church.
As a person, James is unassuming and modest. As a sculpture he is a genius. He make his home in Miami, Florida, with his wife and three children.

"My goal as an artist is to communicate my sense of awe and wonder in the contemplation of the infinite human potential for creative expression, the unending attempt to balance the thirst for change against the fear of change." -James Mastin

The Wreckers | James Mastin

The Wreckers, located in the Key West Historic Memorial Sculpture Garden.
 The magnificent sculpture "The Wreckers," at 18 feet long and 25 feet high, captures the spirit of Key West as a bold, boisterous, and bustling sea town out on the frontier of young America. The early wreckers are depicted engaging in their work of saving lives and cargo from a vessel come to ultimate peril on our reef. Wrecking was the island's first economy and the reason for her early existence. In fact, Key West became the richest city per capita in the U.S. during the mid 1800s due to the salvage fees received by the wrecking captains and crews, and ultimately the businessmen, lawyers, clerks, packers, dock hands, and insurance agents ashore. The monument was created at the hands of master award winning sculptor James Mastin of Miami, Florida. This sculpture was made possible in a large part by a grant from the Ocean Key House Suite Resort & Marina and donations from the people of Key West.

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