By BOB KEYES, Portland Press Herald Writer    
Copyright © 2002 Blethen Maine Newspapers Inc.

   FREEPORT - J. Jules Vitali has seen the smirks and heard detractors talking behind his back. He figures about half the people to whom he introduces his art dismiss him as a delusional.

   Here's why Vitali, a retired graphic designer, is attempting to make his place in the art world by carving Styrofoam cups and turning them into mini sculptures. He calls his work styrogami.

   The kicker is, it's working.

   Thanks to his inclusion in the current "Transformations" exhibition at the Lewiston-Auburn campus of the University of Southern Maine, Vitali's art has evolved from trivial to triumphant. In the past month, the 56-year-old South Freeport man has been featured in The Boston Globe and The New York Post and interviewed by the BBC and radio stations as far away as Toronto and Dallas.

   The reason for the attention is simple. His sculptures are quirky enough to attract attention and creative enough to warrant artistic consideration.

   Vitali, who hopes to make styrogami his full-time work, began his 8-ounce experiments more than two decades ago as a way to combat corporate boredom. "I worked for a big company, and you know how it is. They send you to meetings and give you a cup of coffee for your efforts," he says.

   He carved his first cup to help pass the time. He liked the result and kept doing it. When he moved to Maine from Massachusetts six years ago, he brought with him bags and bags of mini-sculptures, somewhere in the neighborhood of 500 of them. His garage in South Freeport now is packed with about 1,200 sculptures, and the number is growing. He carves two to three new ones a week. Some he leaves white. To others he applies acrylic paint. A few he's had bronzed. He sells them for between $250 and $700 each.

   Although his creations have been part of exhibitions in the past - perhaps most significantly at the Center for Maine Contemporary Art in Rockport - he's had a hard time convincing many people he's serious about what he does. "You call a gallery and say, 'I sculpt Styrofoam cups,' and they don't know what to say. They have no idea what to do with you," he laughs.

   "I'd say 50 percent of the people just write it off. They say, 'Jules, it's a Styrofoam cup.' But the people who know what they're looking at are enthralled. Those people understand that I've taken a Styrofoam cup that is normally trash and turned it into something beautiful. I had a kid come up to me the other day and say, 'Is this worth it, man?' And I said, 'You're obviously in the 50 percent that doesn't get it.' "

   Robyn Holman gets it. She curated the "Transformations" show at USM, which also includes Maine artists Katharine Cobey, Joe Hemes and Wally Warren. The idea of the show is to profile artists who draw inspiration from unlikely sources.

   As she conceived the show, Holman thought of Vitali, whose work she found refreshing when she became familiar with it two years ago at Rockport. "He was clearly inspired by something I had not seen before, and he takes it to extreme levels. Styrofoam is something we see everyday, and here's someone who carves these cups and makes them totally different," she says. "Jules doesn't have an arts background, as do the others. But he has that spirit. He is willing to take it as far as he can take it, and he has a huge imagination that focused on this 8-ounce cup."

   That theme guides the "Transformations." All the artists incorporate common objects into compelling pieces. For Vitali and Warren, trash and discarded materials are their muse. Cobey takes plastic bags and yellow "caution" tape and weaves them into elegant-looking gowns, head ware and other items. Hemes turns garden hoses into stylish lamps.

   "That's what this show is all about, how artists are inspired," Holman says. "A lot of artists are inspired by landscapes or human figures. There's a whole range. I like the idea of getting four diverse people whose work is very different but who are all inspired by things they see everyday."

   For the "Transformations" exhibition, Holman took about 100 distinct sculptures from Vitali and arranged them on a pyramid-shaped platform. She wanted only his pure, unpainted sculptures, because she though they better conveyed the theme of the exhibition. "They are clearly Styrofoam. They are what they are. When they are painted, they are changed to something else," she says.

   While Vitali readily admits his work is whimsical, he's serious about a pro-environmental message that he also preaches. He knows full well that he's not saving the planet by keeping his 1,200-and-counting Styrofoam cups out of the landfill, but he figures he's at least sending a message.

   "Let me say right up front that I am not a tree-hugger. But I'm not not-a-tree-hugger, either. I just think the planet has too many people on it already, and pretty soon our drinking water is going to go bad. We're in a lot of trouble. My styrogami is just something to admire as we walk to the gallows. And that's when I'll get the other 50 percent to pay attention."

Staff Writer Bob Keyes can be contacted at 791-6457 or at: bkeyes@pressherald.com