"There was something about these illusions that captured my imagination," Slutsky said. "I want that same vivid sense of illusion to be central in my artwork. I hope my work will stimulate and provoke a positive emotional response in the viewer's mind just like the magicians did when I was a child." "I grew up in Pittsburgh and I always say I studied Carnegie-Mellon University," Slutsky joked. "I literally would sit on the grass and study the architecture of the buildings from outside the campus. Of course, I never went inside one of those buildings, but I sure studied them." At a young age, Slutsky unearthed clay and made sculptures. In high school, he won numerous awards in jewelry designing and art at Taylor Allderdice High School. He and Kathy, his wife of 55 years, moved to South Florida 31 years ago, where he started focusing more on his art. For the past 34 years, Slutsky has been a full-time working artist. Stanford Slutsky.