A reader suggested that the Town Crier invite readers to submit photos of the work of Dore Capitani, the artist whose Mountain Art Garden in Mountain Center served as the gateway to Idyllwild’s art scene.
Capitani’s wife Trish Tuley tells us she is planning a memorial for him in spring, and reminds us that Capitani proudly called himself “the village signmaker.” The photos submitted by readers, and those shared by Tuley, document Capitani’s practical and aesthetic skills as a welder, sculptor and signmaker.
His work brims with a love of shape, color and texture, a virtuosity with metal, and a warmth and sense of humor that invited the viewer to contemplation, wonder, and joy.
Capitani entered the pages of the Town Crier when he published his business name, State Line Welding, in 2002.
He came to his calling through industrial engineering, 25 years of experience in Wisconsin and Illinois. At the age of seven he told his mother “I am going to be an iron or steel worker,” according to a 2006 profile.
His “rust belt career” ended when automakers moved their factories to Canada and Mexico, and he moved into making custom mailboxes for “the people who had the gazillion-dollar estates around Lake Geneva and Chicago.” A 2003 profile noted he could do “all sorts of welding” and “fix any kind of machine.”
Soon after his arrival he was on board of the Art Alliance of Idyllwild, and a member of Tree Monument Committee.
In 2006, he was quoted as saying “Look, I’m the happiest man in the world. This is the best place I’ve ever been, and I’d like to make it even more beautiful.”
