About the Artist

Tony Deleano was born and raised in the east, and at an early age demonstrated an interest and a great talent in the field of art. After completing his education and a tour of duty in the Air Force in Europe, he continued to pursue his interest in the arts. In the Fall of 1970 Tony moved to Phoenix, Arizona to continue his love of art, and shortly thereafter became deeply interested in the cliff dwellings located in Arizona and the surrounding states. In time he was able to view and access the harder to reach cliff dwelling sites, such as the ones found in Mesa Verde National Park, Colorado. These sites are believed to have been created around 1200 AD and were the so called "signature sites" of the park. It was these sites that appealed to Tony the most because of their design and construction. It was at Mesa Verde where Tony visited the "Square Tower House". He took several hundred photos of this site and a year later presented a diorama of the site to the National Park Service. The diorama is now on display at the Mesa Verde National Park Museum in Cortez, Colorado. Tony went on to create more dioramas for other National Parks and because of this he was commissioned to refurbish the Archaeology Museum for the Gila County Historical Society in Payson, Arizona. Tony has exhibited his wall hangings and his centerpieces in galleries in Sedona and Scottsdale, Arizona.

His form of sculpture has never been seen or duplicated before and when one views his many photographs of his work, one is led to believe that these are indeed full size buildings and not works of art. Tony also does commission work for special clients and designers for their clients as well. All works are completed as a one of a kind sculpture and each piece will always be different in one degree or another. Molds are never used and the woods used for the ladders and Vegas are all aged juniper trees. Tony selects only the most aged and weather parts of those branches for his finished pieces.