Renaissance man of art: Guy Tedesco’s Vatican connection a highlight of illustrious career

By RUSS BROWN Photos Provided 

From a very early age, there wasn’t much doubt about what direction Louisville native Guy Tedesco’s professional life would take. 

At six years old, while watching the movie “The Agony and The Ecstasy” in which Charlton Heston portrayed the artist Michelangelo, who painted the Sistine Chapel from 1508-1512, Tedesco posed a question to his mother. He looked up at mom and asked, “Can I be a famous artist one day?” She replied, “You can do anything you want if you want to badly enough.” 

That was the first clue as to his future vocation. A more telling one came two years later during one of his devoted Catholic family’s frequent visits to Sacred Heart Church in Jeffersonville, Ind. 

“I would go up and pray with her and every week she complained because the hands were broken off the statue of Mary,” Tedesco recalled. “There were just wires sticking out where there should be fingers. She finally went to the priest and told him she had a son who could fix it. So I go pedaling up on my bicycle one day with a bucket of plaster. They had to take the statue down because I couldn’t reach it. So I say that was kind of my first sculptural work.” 

However, little did Tedesco suspect that his affinity for art would one day decades later lead him to the Vatican and one of the highlights of his varied, highly successful career. More about that later, but first some background on the 63-year-old sculptor, artist and designer, who has an unusual wealth of experience in a broad range of artistic fields. Using all kinds of materials and styles, he is truly a renaissance man of art. 

For the past 30 years, Tedesco has focused on monumental sculpture installations, working a variety of media and processes -- primarily bronze, glass and resins. But he has also been productive in many other facets of the art world and is a trusted source of information and guidance for other artists. 

“My work is created to inspire others to their own thought,” Tedesco says. “And if that occurs, then I consider my work successful.” 

After earning a degree in Apparel Technology and Fashion Design from Purdue University -- “at the time it was 96 women and me in my major”-- Tedesco spent seven years in New York’s fashion industry working for private clients and many of the city’s top apparel designers. He also was involved in designing the first Planet Hollywood restaurant in New York City. Later he designed masks for the Rio Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas. 

“I felt like a fish out of water when I went to New York,” he said. “I was staying with a friend in New Jersey and I took the train into the City, and when I came out of the subway I felt like I was on Mars. But I truly grew to love New York City.” 

Tedesco has painted murals for the New York Children’s museum and worked as the chief sculptor on a $30 million project for the Saudi Arabian Government, under the supervision of Prince Bandar. 

His background also includes creating wearable art, theatrical costumes and set designs, including over 200 costumes for the New Albany (Ind.) High Theater Department’s presentation of “Beauty and the Beast.” 

Tedesco moved back to Jeffersonville in his early 30s. “I hated the fashion industry, so I finally said, ‘Aw, screw it.’” 

He currently works out of a large metal building that is crammed with projects past and present in a New Albany neighborhood. It’s a fascinating, veritable museum of art, containing examples of his creations in an array of disciplines. 

For private clients in 2021, Tedesco installed a hammered copper repousse relief mural depicting a herd or running horses measuring 24.5 feet wide and 8 feet tall. His most recently completed large-scale sculpture is a 25-foot tall, 8,000-pound bronze and glass for a memorial garden as its setting. It was created to represent religious community, individuality and unity for Harvey Browne Presbyterian Church. 

He has also completed other projects for that church, as well as multiple works at Sacred Heart, including a 15-foot crucifixion/resurrection multi-figure sculpture. His work can also be found in the chapels at Norton Pavillion and Norton Audubon. In Southern Indiana, his projects have included a Thomas Jefferson sculpture in Jeff’s Warder Park, a 10-foot tall bronze figure weighing approximately 2,000 pounds; and a life-sized, reclining bronze of St. Francis of Assisi at Mount St. Francis in Greenville, Ind. 

Next is a special project for Columbus, Ind. that will be 20 feet tall and take about two years to complete. Unlike many sculpture artists, Tedesco doesn’t sketch the sculpture before beginning. 

“I say if it’s going to be a sculpture when it grows up, it’s got to be a sculpture when it’s born,” he says. “I have a vision in my head, so I just pick up the clay or whatever and start working.” 

Now for that classic, impressive Vatican experience. . . 

Cardinal Joseph Ritter, who served as Archbishop of Indianapolis, Archbishop of St. Louis from 1946-1961 and then as Cardinal until his death in 1967, was born in New Albany. His home at 13th and Oak Streets was restored by the Cardinal Ritter Birthplace Foundation, Inc. It currently serves as a community resource center and museum, and Tedesco has designed a large monument made of bronze and glass with five life-sized figures that will be installed outside the home when money is raised for it. 

Tedesco learned that the father of Raniero Salvaggi, who is speaker of Pope Leo’s cabinet and his principal advisor on political matters after serving in the same role for Pope Francis, was an important member of Cardinal Ritter’s team. Tedesco began corresponding with Salvaggi, via email and sent him photos of a bust of Ritter that he had completed.

“Raniero was very nice and he was real excited to hear about things with the Ritter House,” Tedesco said. 

“He was like, ‘that’s a beautiful bust.’ He remembered meeting Cardinal Ritter as a young boy and there were communications between the priest and Salvaggi’s dad where he asked, ‘How’s young Rainero doing?’ So there is a very direct connection. Raniero is descended from Italian Nobility and his family has served the Vatican, Popes and Cardinals for generations.” 

Tedesco has a large family in Italy and when he told Salvaggi he was planning a visit, Salvaggi invited him to the Vatican. 

“He said, “I welcome you to Rome with open arms.’ He had no idea I was bringing him the bust. When we unveiled it he wept for probably ten minutes.” 

Tedesco also took a maquette, which is a small study model of a larger sculpture. And there was already a bust of St. Francis that he had donated to the Vatican and which resides in a private office. So now he has three pieces in the largest museum on earth because the Vatican holds 30 percent of all the art treasures in the world. 

I asked Tedesco if he could name his favorite piece of all the thousands he has created during his career. 

“People ask me what’s my favorite food?” he said. “It depends on my mood. I have different favorites for different reasons. I often say that creativity is a form of insanity. I’ve had many an artist be offended by that, but then come back and say , ‘Yeah, you’re right.’ 

“Every project reaches a certain level of success and nothing leaves until I am happy. And that has been frustrating to a lot of people, but I tell them beforehand, you’re paying for my vision, you’re paying for my craftsmanship and I am a much harder critic than you will ever be. The heart doesn’t know how to tell time. I say, ‘you are paying me for this expertise and this level of dedication to craftsmanship, and I will not let you down.”