Kelly Grant would like to thank the Academy. And Buffalo.
When students tune in to the Academy Awards on Sunday, they may not see another kiss between Britney Spears and Madonna and may not see another "wardrobe malfunction," but they will definitely see many beloved, shiny, gold men.
UB graduate Kelly Grant is one of the people helping to bring those iconic Oscar statues to life this year.
Grant worked as a sculptor with the Department of Art for a year after her graduation in 2002. She worked on the Rumsey Restoration Project, a program to restore a series of bas-relief panels originally created by sculptor Charles Rumsey.
One day after she completed the restoration, she trekked to California, ready to try her luck in Los Angeles.
A few months later, a company called Showcraft announced they would be building the seven to 22-foot-tall Oscar stage props at a former dairy farm now serving as a metal fabrication and carpentry shop as well as Grant's studio.
Grant said she was in the right place at the right time.
"They took a look at my portfolio and decided to hire me," Grant said.
Though the awards statues can be seen in almost every photograph of any Oscar ceremony, new ones are made annually.
"There's a new art director every year, and I guess they want their own stamp," said Grant. "So every year they resculpt new ones."
The statues start out as a steel frame, which is then covered in foam blocks. The foam is carved away to reveal the signature Oscar shape. It is then covered in plaster, sanded and primed, painted silver and finally gold-leafed.
The work is exciting for Grant, who said she feels the "absolute, utter need to create - the utter need to be making stuff."
"You just get to make cool stuff that other people design," Grant said. "It's just the fun part of trying to figure out how to make something. It's just continual problem solving. I can't think of a better job."
Or a messier one.
"I mean, don't get me wrong. It's absolutely filthy," she said. "Everyone is always covered in either white or black dust, depending on what kind of material they're sanding. Everyone always looks like some type of powdered donut."
While some complain about the smog in Los Angeles, Grant said the studio she works in is worse by far.
"The studio smells of steel dust and plaster dust," she said. "Welding fumes and gases, and burning - whatever happens to be burning."
Even with all that, she said it is a great place to work.
"There's always music blaring, and tons of awesome artsy people running around," she said. "I can't think of a better work environment."
But this kind of work is not easy to find, she said.
"It's not steady work by any means," she said. "You work 12 to 15 hour days, seven days a week until the work is done, and then you go looking for more work."
Not everyone is as successful as Grant, especially in Los Angeles, and Grant said she had her own fears moving to the city of angels.
"I was horrified I was going to drown in such a big city, but it's been very good to me," she said. "I have no complaints about this town."
Grant attributes her success to the time she spent at UB preparing for this kind of work.
"UB trained me in every way possible. I wouldn't know anything about metal fabrication without them," she said. "It's an awesome department and an incredible facility. I was given the freedom and the facility to learn stuff that most people don't have the opportunity to learn in college."
Grant said her training has given her an edge in finding solid work in Hollywood. She is steadily employed in the art department of The Discovery Channel's extreme home makeover show "Monster House."
On the show, families have their homes drastically renovated. Her first week there, she worked as a builder on camera for the "Family Vacation House" show, where they built trailers and recreational vehicles inside one family's home.
Now though, she works behind the scenes.
"When you see the house on the show, it looks finished, but there is so much stuff that still needs to be done," she said. "We finish up what isn't done."
Between "Monster House," the Oscars and various changing side projects, Grant said she does not have time for anything else. But welding and metal fabrication was her passion before it became her profession, so she does not mind in the least. In fact, she wouldn't trade it for anything.
"If you don't mind getting dirty, it's the absolute best way to get dirty," she said.
