Artist Johnathan Roberson-Beery Sculpts His Part for a Nuke-Free World

By Lori Vanny Ke

Last week, the Federation of American Scientists presented its Reykjavik Award to Rose Gottemoeller, Acting Under Secretary for Arms Control and International Security, and Dr. Sidney Drell, Assistant Secretary for Arms Control, for their work towards a nuclear-free world.

The award itself is impressive, a good-sized bronze piece sculpted in the form of a mountain, meant to help promote and achieve a world without nuclear weapons.

Then there's the artist who created it: Laguna Beach's own Johnathan Roberson-Beery.

Roberson-Beery collaborated with FAS Senior Advisor Les Dewitt in the making of the award. Dewitt was inspired by a quote from former Senator Sam Nunn: “We must chart a course to higher ground where the mountaintop becomes more visible.” He wanted to create an award that would show how eliminating nuclear weapons from the world was like climbing a mountain, which takes stages.

“He didn’t have much of an idea of how a sculpture capturing this metaphor would look or what format it would take. He knew he liked the color and size of the Heisman trophy, but that’s where he left off and expected me to breathe life into the concept,” Roberson-Beery says.

Roberson-Beery began by drawing a mountain similar to the Paramount logo, but quickly realized that the drawing looked too lumpy and uninspired. With the idea of difficulty and challenge in mind, he chose to create the mountain as a craggy and rocky monolith of stone. He imagined ancient layers of granite peeling away from each other, where cold icy sheets of stone would jut up into the clouds above.

"I wanted it to have movement, direction and facets,” he says.

What started out as an artist searching to create a sculptural award for a client soon became much more to Roberson-Beery. Rather than just constructing a plain mountain sculpture, the artist created a symbolic award that recognized the achievements of individuals working towards the goal of nuclear disarmament.

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Roberson-Beery’s passion for art started when he was very young.

He received inspiration from his parents, who both had an interest in art. Although his father was an engineer, he also created oil paintings. His mother would take him to museums and galleries.

Throughout high school, Roberson-Beery found his talents in drawing and illustration, which later led to his fascination with sculpture in college.

"I took a bronze casting class, and I knew that I had found a medium I loved,” he says.

From 1986 through 1991, Beery studied sculpture at Cal State Long Beach. At the time, the head of the sculpture department was Steve Werlick, who encouraged his students and helped them learn the process at the foundry.

“During that era, the department was focused on figurative artwork," Roberson-Beery remembers. "I learned to love it, and still to this day I find myself in the company of sculptors who attended the school then, many of them still successfully doing figurative artwork."

From 1994 through 1998, Roberson-Beery became a sculptor for Greneker in Los Angeles, participating in projects such as a maiden figure for the Caesars Palace Forum Shops to sports relief panels for Disney Cruise Line’s ESPN sports bar. Between 1998 and 2000, he sculpted projects as a contractor for places such as Trevino Studios in La Habra to 16 Penny Studios in North Hollywood.

Later projects included two public park projects in the Bay Area. He and his wife Lisa combined bronze and ceramic sculpture, custom-designed glass tile mosaics, and community painted ceramic tile to produce two creative park environments.

In Laguna Beach, Roberson-Beery worked on a project for Dr. Gary Arthur, the owner of , which included two custom fountains, a mangaris wood bench, and granite and mosaic work. Dr. Arthur’s logo was interpreted in bronze in several areas.

One of his specializations is in figurative and abstract sculpture and bas-relief hangings.

“I like surface, texture, volume and how objects interact with light and shadow,” Roberson-Beery says. “I enjoy how figurative works become a focus of attention, and how abstract elements can create visual interest, rhythms and harmony in spaces.”

As for bas-relief, he is attracted to the combination of the illusion of space that a drawing or painting creates, as well as the volumetric interpretation of form. And he likes how they can be hung.

Roberson-Beery had the opportunity to create a portrait bust commission for the mayor of Kishiwada, Japan. The Mayor Nishida bust was a work that had a special connection to the artist.

“When a client is absolutely taken by the work you’ve created for them, when the work reaches a deep place in the person they were created for, when it’s been possible to make a connection and fully transmit the creative vision with the client and understand what they are looking for, there’s a celebration to be had for all involved,” he says.

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With his Reykjavik Award piece, Roberson-Beery again transformed his vision into reality.

“This award is totally unique," Dewitt says. "As a result of Johnathan's work, we see nuclear weapons and the proliferation of nuclear materials as a very complex, off-the-radar type of issue. The award itself was supposed to be a physical award that was self-memorable, and that’s what Johnathan did."

At the luncheon for the award presentation, Roberson-Beery observed a crowd full of incredible brain trust of physicists, nuclear engineers, educators, writers, and journalists. The artist believes that we do need to destroy all nuclear arms, and that an informed public is essential to create the political will for the United States to take these necessary steps.

“I was humbled by the experience and grateful to have had the opportunity to use my artistic talents for such an important initiative,” Roberson-Beery says. "These weapons don’t work to deter anyone or anything—they just sit waiting to cause the most harm possible.”