About Us | Home
Matthew G. Welter is owner and founder of Timeless Sculptures, located in Carson City, Nevada. With over 40 years experience as a master sculptor he has created several hundred commissioned works and has trained scores of artists.
Timeless Sculptures
Heirlooms Made To Order and Apprentice Program

5100 S. Carson Street
Carson City, Nv 89701
(775) 841-8775
matt@timelesssculptures.com
Assistants participate to learn a creative approach to the business of art



Focus can be fun!


Two Ways to Participate

Timeless Sculptures’ “Apprenticeship Program” and its counterpart ”Assistance Program” have evolved over some 40 years of operation and that evolution continues. The two programs function together, in tandem.


The Assistance Program

Assistants interact with Timeless Sculptures’ staff and owner on terms determined per-case, with both parties exchanging skills, resources and expertise. Many assistants participate only for the creative experience, but an assistantship may evolve into a working association, wherein the assistant develops his or her own unique enterprise using already acquired skills. Timeless Sculptures’ resources, contacts, market-presence and even product may be exchanged for mutually-determined considerations.
Apprentices learn to make their living as sculptors



Passion is the sound of freedom calling…

Timeless Sculptures offers aspiring artists a way to further develop creative, technical and manual skills while pursuing every artist’s dream – creative freedom. As entrepreneurs, we experience another type of freedom; that which comes with control of one’s own destiny.

Participants of both programs submit their own schedule weekly, for the following week. If you are a local interested in participating, you can call (775) 230-1718 to ask questions or set up an appointment to talk about your needs and capabilities. Long distance inquiries are addressed below.

Novice apprentices usually begin with constructed sculptures like furniture

 

The Apprenticeship Program

Interacting as an assistant may be quite rewarding in and of itself, but it can also become compensation and orientation for the more structured Apprenticeship Program. This program offers to qualified students the facilities, materials and training to master a living as a sculptor, in some cases simultaneous to serving one’s apprenticeship.

Apprentices build their skills and resources, often on a part-time basis at first, reserving time to work at another, outside job, as they “taper” into full-time self-employment. Upon entering the program, some have sufficient skills to cover their expenses by performing services for the company.
"Timeless Sculptures is a part of something greater then, while still including our own self-interests…"

 
Simple forms help novices gain mastery over the tools

We are born with talent, the skills we gather

Advanced apprentices maintain masterworks to learn more then skills...

By a series of pre negotiated accomplishments and services rendered, novices may rise to Journeyman status, where Mr. Welter can award sculpture commissions, which pay a percentage.






 
Persistence is the only thing necessary for success…
click here for slide show


Teaching is its own reward

Percentages may also be earned on the close of such orders. In some cases a Journeyman may be entrusted with administrating some area of the company’s activity and a percentage of the company’s gross can be collected to help sustain his or her training. At an appropriate time, accomplished journeymen are encouraged to establish independent facilities -- at a respectable distance from the parent company – where they may continue filling commissions for Timeless Sculptures.
Journeymen who excel may be assigned to instruct novices
After proving their acquired skills by operating their own businesses and performing a given project with due diligence, a Journeymen may one day be invited to participate as a board member on Timeless Sculptures’ board of directors. Board members can interact with the corporation in various ways, possibly earning shares of the company and collecting dividends. Such is the free-market, or entrepreneurial nature of this “cluster” of programs. This is a system which encourages pride of ownership, and therefore vigilance, both for Timeless Sculptures and for the participant’s individual ”spin-off” enterprises.


From modeling in wax through making the molds to beholding the casting, the thrill of discovery is inspiration for the next achievement - click here for slide show


There are various ways for a participant to interact in this system, depending on many factors. For this reason, apprenticeships are structured individually for each student, based on each apprentice’s merits and needs, once coupled with those of Timeless Sculptures. Pulling from various forms of service and compensation, an appropriate procedure can be individualized in this achievement-based system.
Our dreams are nourished with our own perspiration

The Bad News

Associates may be asked to do anything from emptying the trash, to conducting a particular marketing strategy, to carving a glorious monument! No one should be above doing a “menial” job and punctuality, accountability and performance are the unifying standards in this guild-styled association. Apprentices in this system are subordinates to their teacher and both parties maintain professional roles and responsibilities. Insubordination of any type is not tolerated.

 

Pulling together, everyone moves ahead!
As in the guilds of old, an effective apprenticeship program is arduous by design, with ample attrition -- so casual interest is not sufficient for success. This is a discipline which requires a burning passion, lest would-be artists soon fall to dismay. An apprenticeship can be harder then any job, but quite possibly one of the most rewarding challenges you’ll ever have. Exactly because of the structure outlined, this is a productive environment, working against a backdrop of discovery, which yields a happy studio.


How to Inquire Long-Distance

Apprenticeship applicants from out of the area may contact Mr. Welter by e-mail or by U.S. mail. Briefly outline your current situation, creative experience, accomplishments and goals. Talk about your past and current passion(s). Include pictures of some of your work that you are most proud of and one of yourself with the work. Also include your contact information and best time(s) to call, so that Mr. Welter can contact you personally for a preliminary interview. This will help both parties to assess whether or not it is worthwhile to proceed. If we decide to go further, Informative material may be offered or requested, as appropriate. You’ll also be given an application to fill-out and return.

At some point you may be invited to pay a brief or extended visit to Carson City, Nevada to participate as an assistant only. Temporary lodging facilities can be made available to out-of-town visitors and Timeless Sculptures may be able to intervene with passport assistance. At the end of your visit we can evaluate whether and how to proceed further with a continuing apprenticeship.

Good luck with your creative passions! A life in the arts is a noble and worthy calling.


Accomplishment is the ultimate high…

~ Click here to see a how a sculpture evolves! ~

Quick Links:

Home / AboutUs / Biography / Training Programs / Freedom Park
Monumental Works / Available Works / Thumbnail Index / Links

Contemporary Works:
Figurative Expressions / Transitional / Works in Progress

Humans & Other Beings:
Anatomy / Family & Children / Fantasy / Nautical / At Work / Portraits / Spiritual / Cowboys & Indians
Characters / Women

The Natural World:
Aquatic / Creepy Crawlers / Feline / Domestic Animals / Smaller Animals / Nature Scenes / Larger Animals
Winged Creatures / Diverse / Furniture