In terms of art, he's got it nailed
A late-night idea: It was about 1:30 a.m., during a camping trip with friends nine years ago, that Mazzaferro unintentionally began his quirky hobby. Some female friends who knew he was an artist asked if he would do something creative with their nails. Using their nail polish, he painted the Golden Gate Bridge, suns, moons, apple trees, even a surfer on a wave.
The women loved his work. Others soon came calling. A professional salon eventually got word of Mazzaferro's talents and asked if he would set up a station in their shop. He declined.
"But each time, I became a little more focused on really what was happening here," he said.
For Mazzaferro, 36, working on a surface as small as a nail lets him play with the question, "How far can you really go?" On average, he spends 20 minutes on a single nail. He has spent six hours on 10 fingernails and 10 toenails. Though his preference is to paint elaborate, abstract designs, one of his most detailed landscape scenes encompassed a mountain, a stream, a deer, a sunset and snowcapped mountains — all on one nail.
"It's infinite, the possibilities are infinite," he said. "The longer I have, the more I continue."
Up close: Mazzaferro likes to zoom in on the things most people don't notice. As a photographer, he likes to shoot the crevices on flower petals and the cracks in cement. He photographs these images so up close that you can't really tell what you're looking at.
"It poses a question in people's minds as to what it is. It also shows them a world they've never experienced or never thought about," said Mazzaferro, a native of San Mateo, Calif. "With a nail, someone might not pay much mind to it, but if they get close, they think, 'Oh my god, there's a whole world in there.' "
It's Mazzaferro's goal to take photographs of the nails he paints. He has sought people to volunteer their hands and feet through the online bulletin board craigslist.org. So far, he has worked only on friends and is still looking.
Shy kids, toenails: A fifth-grade teacher in the Auburn School District, Mazzaferro says he pays the same close attention to his students as he does to the most inconspicuous details.
He has set up a microphone in his classroom so that the shy kids with quiet voices can be heard, so that anyone who wants to get up and sing, sings. Mazzaferro has found that the mike boosts confidence in his kids.
Mazzaferro, who struggled in school, says he understands the importance of paying attention to each child.
When it comes to his art, he's got a similar philosophy.
In fact, ask Mazzaferro which he prefers to paint — fingernails or toenails — and he'll say the latter.
"Because people expect the fingernails."
Young Chang: 206-748-5815 or ychang@seattletimes.com