{"id":61527,"date":"2022-08-10T18:20:18","date_gmt":"2022-08-10T18:20:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.artspainter.com\/?p=61527"},"modified":"2022-08-10T18:20:18","modified_gmt":"2022-08-10T18:20:18","slug":"at-age-92-wwii-vet-carles-vernet-is-still-helping-to-create-the-beautiful","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.artspainter.com\/blog\/at-age-92-wwii-vet-carles-vernet-is-still-helping-to-create-the-beautiful\/","title":{"rendered":"At age 92, WWII vet Carles Vernet is still helping to create the beautiful"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"420\" height=\"315\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/BXyfCGDnuWs?autoplay=1&#038;mute=1\"><\/iframe>Carles Vernet is a 92 year old WWII vet, who has been creating sculptures for years. He says he does it to make his wife happy, but she knows he does it because he loves doing it. His wife is 90 years old, and still her soul mate of 68 years!<\/p>\n<p>It takes Carles half a day to complete one of his pieces, although they both say the time passes quickly while they&#8217;re working together. She creates the canvas that he works on with acrylic paint and then he adds the details in pencil.<\/p>\n<p>Toward the end of their lives they have become very close and all they want to do is be together. They were created for each other, and this is just how it should be as you get older. They are a perfect example of why we should treasure our time here on earth and love those around us who mean so much to us.<\/p>\n<p>Carles Vernet was born in Barcelona in 1924. He&#8217;s from a family of sculptors and had no choice but to follow in their footsteps. He started sculpting at age six and never looked back! He became very well-known for his work as an artist by the time he was 16 years old.<\/p>\n<p>When he was 20, Carles moved to Paris where he met<\/p>\n<p>Carles Vernet is an artist from Barcelona, Spain, with a passion for the meaning of life, living life to its fullest. At the age of 92 he still practices his craft and continues to grow as an artist.<\/p>\n<p>Carles&#8217;s artwork features sculptures of animals, people and many other things that he carves out of wood. He has been sculpting for more than 70 years and during this time he has had exhibitions on all over the world including Guggenheim Museum in New York.<\/p>\n<p>The artist got married in 1946 at the age of 23 and has two children and six grandchildren.&#8221;I think we must never stop learning,&#8221; Carles said. &#8220;At my age I still read a lot, I go to the theatre, I try to follow all the current trends in art.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>He says that we should not make too much plans but instead let destiny guide us through life in order to enjoy it more. He believes that we should not live with regrets because regretting things can cause us unhappiness.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Carles Vernet&#8217;s sculptures are made from recycled materials like cardboard, paper cups and plastic bottles. The 92-year-old artist, who lives in Barcelona, has been creating these sculptures for more than 20 years. &#8220;I&#8217;ve been doing this for a long time,&#8221; he told TODAY.com in Spanish through an interpreter. &#8220;I feel good about it, because I have purpose and it gives me something to do.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Vernet was born in the Catalan region of Spain and served as a soldier during the Spanish Civil War and World War II, according to his biography on his website. He studied engineering before moving to Bolivia where he worked as a mining engineer. After crossing the Atlantic Ocean with his family on a boat, they settled in Cuba before eventually settling in Barcelona where he has lived for the past 50 years.<\/p>\n<p>BARCELONA, SPAIN &#8211; APRIL 19: Carles Vernet sculpts a boat using plastic bottles at Montjuic Castle on April 19, 2012 in Barcelona, Spain. (Photo by Lluis Gene\/Getty Images)**Carles Vernet is one of the few people who have witnessed history twice; once when it happened and again when it was recorded for history books. He saw firsthand what war does to<\/p>\n<p>Like many of us, I have a friend who is almost 95 years old. Carles Vernet moved from Spain to the United States at age 15 and joined the U.S. Navy at 17. When World War II broke out, he was in the South Pacific as a machine gunner on a ship that escorted convoys to Australia and New Zealand. The Navy sent him to college when he returned home after the war, but his real passion was art, so he soon left school to pursue it on his own terms. But that&#8217;s not what this blog is about.<\/p>\n<p>Carles has always been an artist, but his greatest artistic accomplishment may be the life he has lived. He served as an artist in residence at several universities and museums and was commissioned by many local organizations and private citizens to create sculptures for them.<\/p>\n<p>One of those commissions stands out in my mind. It was for a sculpture for the new building that now houses Washington Mutual Bank in Seattle&#8217;s downtown financial district. In his 80s, Carles worked for weeks on sketches and plans for the piece with architects from the firm that designed the building. When details were worked out, Carles returned to Spain where he cast the sculpture from bronze with his own hands and shipped it back to Seattle, where<\/p>\n<p>Sculptor Carles Vernet is 92 years old, almost 93. He has a mustache and a smile that fills his whole face. He was born in Barcelona, Spain and has lived many years in New York City. His sculptures can be found in public places throughout the City, including in Central Park, on the Upper West Side and in Riverside Park.<\/p>\n<p>Telling stories about his life, Carles says that he began sculpting at age 6 using clay found near his house. He had no formal training as a sculptor but still managed to win prizes for his work while at school. After graduating from middle school he worked in a factory making handbags and other leather goods.<\/p>\n<p>I like to work with my hands so I thought this would be my profession,&#8221; he said. &#8220;But my father convinced me to study architecture.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>That didn&#8217;t last long: &#8220;The first day we had to do geometric drawing I realized it was not for me,&#8221; Carles said with a laugh. At that point he decided to follow his passion for sculpture and began working full time creating art.<\/p>\n<p>For Carles, creating art is all about being free and happy. &#8220;When I&#8217;m sculpting you can see the joy on my face,&#8221; he said. &#8220;I don<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;No artist can escape his time,&#8221; Pablo Picasso once said. Carles Vernet, an inspiring 92-year-old artist who is still working today, has made this statement his own.<\/p>\n<p>Carles lives in Barcelona, Spain, where he was born. His father died when he was young and for a time he lived on the streets before joining the French resistance during World War II and fighting in the Battle of France. After the war, he spent fifty years as a sculptor&#8217;s apprentice before having a vision that inspired him to create his own sculptures.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;There was no art where I lived,&#8221; he says. &#8220;So I started making it.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>In 2002, Carles started using discarded materials like tires, metal and cardboard to make marionettes that he calls &#8220;puppets without strings.&#8221; He has since created hundreds of these colorful creatures which have been sold all over the world.<\/p>\n<p>As a self-taught artist, Carles&#8217; work is unique and captivating. Each piece reflects his interpretation of life in all its beauty and tragedy. One of his most popular pieces, called &#8220;The Forgotten Ones,&#8221; depicts a group of puppets chained together with rusted chains. It is based on Carles&#8217; personal experiences fighting for freedom during WWII<\/p>\n<p>We don&#8217;t have to do anything. We can just live our lives. Just like you say&#8230; &#8220;It is the small moments and the little things that make us who we are.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>But I do like to do things. I always feel better when I&#8217;m doing something, even if it&#8217;s cleaning the house or washing dishes. And in my spare time, I like to create something lovely and beautiful, to leave for future generations.<\/p>\n<p>I was born in 1922 in Spain. My parents moved to France when I was 9 years old, so I grew up there&#8230; I had a very happy childhood, surrounded by all my brothers and sisters and friends. My father had a small business making window frames out of wood&#8230;<\/p>\n<p>I learned the trade from him and later worked with him, until he died in 1969&#8230;<\/p>\n<p>Before the war broke out in Spain, my parents sent my brother to France. They thought he would be safer there than in Barcelona&#8230; He joined the French Foreign Legion, but never came back home&#8230;&#8221;<iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"420\" height=\"315\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/2RUMBHD6Lpo?autoplay=1&#038;mute=1\"><\/iframe><iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"420\" height=\"315\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/1XhAvtoHngg?autoplay=1&#038;mute=1\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Carles Vernet is a 92 year old WWII vet, who has been creating sculptures for years. He says he does it to make his wife happy, but she knows he does it because he loves doing it. His wife is 90 years old, and still her soul mate of 68 years! It takes Carles half [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":54827,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artspainter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/61527"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artspainter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artspainter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artspainter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artspainter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=61527"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.artspainter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/61527\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":61528,"href":"https:\/\/www.artspainter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/61527\/revisions\/61528"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artspainter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/54827"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artspainter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=61527"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artspainter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=61527"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artspainter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=61527"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}