Greg Usberti & Kate Graves at the Trenton Atelier clean out.

I am a tourist.

A satellite revolving around great creators and doers; people that dream and then translate that dream into reality. I have held the guide map, and looked past the safety rail, and admired from a distance.

I have looked into the art world, and helped organize, fundraise, administer, and manage. I have served as a volunteer, as a board member, as an errand boy, and as a coordinator. It has been a look but don’t touch relationship, for some time, and that time is over.

At Art All Night 2012 the founder and leader of the AbOmInOg Intl., Matt Reiley, invited me to join his art collective.

I admit, I am not sure why. I have no technical know-how. No artistic ability (that I know of.) No incredible strength or wear-with-all. I am not carved out of stone like them. Not rough and ready. I don’t slough off cuts and scrapes, or have their fortitude.

But I will try. I will gear up, and get ready. This is my journey. I will surely get dirty, maybe get some cuts and scrapes along the way, and even learn a thing or two about sculpting and iron pouring. The days of being a tourist are done. From this moment forward, I am a member of the AbOmInOg, and what my mentors ask me to do, I will do my best to get done. I have never shied away from hard work, I just never had anyone ask me to do physically hard work, until now.

Regardless of what happens, like most things in my life, it will be a mess, and it will be my pleasure to tell you the tale of it.

-Greg Usberti