Tony Tye, Post-Gazette photos Joe Vivirito has patented the process in which he links precast clusters of plaster grapes and leaves with twisted copper wire that is then painted.

By Kevin Kirkland
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette On the outside, it's a fairly ordinary brick ranch in Robinson. But inside, it's a surprisingly large sunny piece of the Mediterranean, with Greek columns framing a flowery view through a faux stone wall, and gilded grapevines climbing the kitchen walls.

Patty Burford and her mother, Jean, wanted something unique in their home. But only Joe Vivirito knew exactly what they needed.

"We were reaching for a Greek motif, but we couldn't picture it," said Patty Burford. "That was a glass-block window," she said, pointing to the colorful flowered mural in the dining room. "This was my father's garage."

	Joe Vivirito added a Mediterranean look with his plasterwork in the Coraopolis home of Jean Burford and daughter Patty Burford. Click photo for larger image.

In 2002, mother and daughter added a great room and kitchen addition onto the house built in the 1950s. The old garage became a dining room big enough for a 10-foot-long table, 10 chairs and the columned focal point along the longest wall.

Mr. Vivirito, 34, a construction worker turned plaster artisan from Middlesex, Butler County, said he "thought about that one for a long time" before sketching the columns, arch and central panel. He cast the columns, capitals and bases back in his studio, but carved the individual blocks on the wall after the plaster dried. To provide a metal accent, Mr. Vivirito chose iron railing from Hampton Concrete in Middlesex and found the flower mural at Sherwin-Williams.

The columned wall, which cost about $2,500, was actually Mr. Vivirito's second project for the Burfords. He created the elaborate three-dimensional grapevine for the kitchen first.

The vine, made by a process Mr. Vivirito has patented, links precast clusters of plaster grapes and leaves with artfully twisted copper wire that is then painted.

"I use different gauges of wire for different effects," he said. "It looks like it's delicate, but it's very strong."

Since the plasterwork design is created on site to fit the space, no two are exactly alike, and each one bears Mr. Vivirito's name, fashioned from looping, twisted wire.

The grapevine is his signature work, a craft that he tried out first on his dining room table and later on the walls of his parents' and sister's homes, both in Middlesex. He shakes his head as he describes a career path as convoluted as any of his plaster vines.

Born and raised in Middlesex, he enjoyed art classes at Mars Area schools but never considered it anything more than a hobby. At California University of Pennsylvania, he took several elective classes in sculpture but got his bachelor's degree in marketing. Realizing soon after graduation that he wasn't cut out for sales or marketing, he took a job as a construction laborer for R.A. Glancy & Sons, a commercial builder. After five years, he had worked his way up to carpenter but was already experimenting with plaster at home.

In 1996, he came up with an idea for what he called "wall sculptures." He carved the grapes and leaves from clay to make molds, then cast them in plaster. His first project was his parents' powder room. He told his mother to let him work for a couple days and not to peek until it was done. If she didn't like it, he would take it down, he said. She liked it -- a lot. Next he did his sister's kitchen.

Finally, he decided to go public and demonstrate his craft at the 1998 Pittsburgh Home & Garden Show. The response there persuaded him to quit his construction job and become a full-time plaster artisan.

"I said this is it. This is what I want to do. I made the right move."

Those first few jobs got him others by word of mouth. Then a photo of his work appeared in a national kitchen magazine. Soon, he was getting calls from New York, Massachusetts, South Carolina, Florida and California. He took his vines on the road, fashioning designs on the walls of kitchens, bathrooms and wine cellars. He appeared on QVC last fall, selling a do-it-yourself version of his classic grapevine for $80. Now $90 on his Web site, it makes a vine about 8 feet long. Mr. Vivirito charges $110 a foot to custom-design grapevine on site, $20-$50 more a foot to paint it.

He also has made ivy and rose vines and an oak tree with acorns. For a 25-foot-long tree branch in a North Hills home, he fashioned a dozen different species of birds that cling to the wire branches. Mr. Vivirito recently finished tendrils of English ivy on the walls of the Burfords' master bathroom.

"We're his biggest fans," said Patty Burford, who first saw Mr. Vivirito's work at a friend's home in Murrysville.

"We've run out of room for vines, but we're thinking about having him do a column between the great room and the kitchen."

Plaster artisan Joseph Vivirito can be reached at 724-898-2304 or his Web site, www.bellamura.com.