One of my favorite escapes in New York is to go the basement of The Compleat Sculptor, Inc. at 90 Vandam Street between Hudson Street and Greenwich Street in SoHo. It is only a couple blocks from me but it feels like a world away. The above-ground store has traditional sculpting supplies and modern casting materials for the "Sculptor, Prop Maker, Prototype Maker, Conservator, Police/FBI/Law Enforcer, Model Maker, Restorer, Architect, Body Caster, Display/Window Designer, 3D Mosaicist, Scenic Artist, Fine Art Student, Archaeologist, Special Effects Artist, Mold-Maker..." The basement is a cavernous open space with stone and wood from all over the world. Sometimes I go there to buy sculpting tools or large boxes of air-drying clay. My favorite corner of their cellar is the 99-cent/pound pot-luck bin where you can find abandoned stone fragments such as my favorite piece "Cantaloupe" (pictured left). This is a roll-up-one's-sleeves artist's place that offers classes in stone carving, clay sculpture, portrait drawing and mold making. Click here to see someone at work in one of the studio spaces.