Steven Weitzman’s career began in 1971 when he received numerous art and design awards for his graphic designs and illustrations. His work quickly expanded to include fine art and large-scale interactive public art installations, focusing primarily on sculpture throughout the 1980s. In 1985, Weitzman garnered international recognition for creating a sculpture on the grounds of the United Nations in New York City, dedicated to the UN’s 40th anniversary.
In 1989, the Smithsonian Institution’s nonprofit partner, Friends of the National Zoo, commissioned Weitzman to create a hand-carved sculpture from a 30-foot-tall oak tree for the entrance to the National Zoo in Washington, D.C. Created to honor the zoo’s volunteers, the piece took two years to complete and was observed by an estimated four million visitors as Weitzman worked on-site .
In 1988, Weitzman invented FŌTERA®, a structural concrete and resinous terrazzo medium developed through a unique casting process that allows for full-color imagery without requiring metal edging between color fields. Since its creation, FŌTERA® has been used in both interior and exterior architectural environments to integrate durable aesthetics into functional infrastructure. is that, unlike traditional terrazzo, it does not require the use of metal edging between color fields.
Weitzman Studios, Inc. (WSI) was founded in 1995 to manage Weitzman’s large-scale public art commissions and to showcase the breadth of his multi-disciplinary work. Since its inception, WSI has produced dozens of commemorative and figurative sculptures, murals, and interactive urban installations.
In 2013, Weitzman’s bronze sculpture of Frederick Douglass was permanently installed in the United States Capitol. Commissioned by the DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities, the sculpture’s installation was formally approved by both houses of Congress and the President of the United States.
Weitzman was also commissioned by the DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities to create a heroic-scale bronze sculpture commemorating the life and legacy of Washington, D.C.’s beloved “Mayor for Life,” Marion S. Barry Jr. Permanently installed outside the John A. Wilson Building on Pennsylvania Avenue, it is one of only three full-body bronze statues of African Americans in the District of Columbia. Barry is also the first locally elected official to be honored with a statue.
Most recently, Weitzman was selected to create a monumental bronze statue of Barbara Rose Johns for installation in Statuary Hall of the United States Capitol, representing the Commonwealth of Virginia. At just sixteen years old, Johns led a historic act of nonviolent civil disobedience that helped spark the American Civil Rights Movement.
In addition to his artistic practice, Weitzman serves as President and CEO of Creative Design Resolutions, Inc. (CDR), the nation’s leading firm for aesthetic design in transportation infrastructure. CDR specializes in integrating contextual design into bridges, highways, and urban development. The firm has received more national and state awards for bridge and corridor design than any other transportation aesthetics company in the country. CDR has worked with nearly half of all United States’ departments of transportation, as well as local governments and communities, to develop site-specific treatments that reflect regional history, culture, and architectural context.