Something out of Nothing!


There is something about Southern Indiana and the banks of the Ohio River that attracts and keeps residents of an artistic nature. The area is blessed with an abundance of creative minds who have visited from all over the country, fallen in love with its sheer beauty and have made this a permanent home.
One such man is Tony Catanzaro of Vevay, Indiana. Tony found his way here through his position as an engineer working for a Chicago company contracted to build the Kentucky Utilities plant across the river east of Carrollton, in the late 1970’s. He and his wife, Peggy, found a home in Vevay, and began a family. Except for a one-year stint on a job in New York City, they have been here ever since, with Tony finding career opportunities nearby in Louisville and Cincinnati.
Born in Brooklyn, Tony was the kid who was always building things, taking them apart, and putting them back together. His true love was sculpture, but he found (as you might suspect) that it is hard to make a living as a young sculptor in Brooklyn, so after a four year hitch in the Army, he turned to engineering school as an outlet for his urge to create and build something.
Now retired from the engineering trade, Tony has found an outlet for his love of sculpture here in Vevay, on the river. Indeed, the Ohio River is his source of materials. “You’d be surprised what I find down there,” says Tony. His home and yard, and in fact, the entire town reflect his ability to turn those found items into articles of wonder: a young boy flying a bunch of balloons; a newsboy hawking papers; a life-sized horse; a young girl reaching to the heavens; so many, many flights of his vivid imagination. Recent high water has brought a treasure trove of steel, aluminum and wood fragments downriver, which Mr. C. drags home in his trusty rusty pickup. Interesting items are scattered in his tree shaded yard as he makes plans to turn them into ‘art.’
A casual drive through town will reveal surprising evidence of his creative hand, because townspeople are thrilled to display any of his work. We recommend that you take some time to look around at these remarkable structures. The kid who loved to build now turns ‘nothing into something.’