R. Z. Zoot is in real life me, Tom Hornyak, a local Frederick, Maryland self-trained sculpture artist and in my spare time make little sculptures from limestone. I believe that anybody can make art if they really want to, the desire was there in all of us when we were little kids but somehow got covered over along the way. We need to uncover that artistic calling and the joy of making art before the desire to make art is rendered forever meaningless by AI to everyone but the artist!

Inspiration comes from anywhere- a doodle, nature, a cool mechanical device, architecture, a hood ornament. Art and design are all around us. I take particular interest in sculptures from antiquity of everyday objects, animals, and people that were so common then but foreign to us today, and it gives me an odd delight in knowing that in a thousand years from now one somebody may stumble across one of my limestone pieces in the dirt, in an attic, or who knows where and wonder what it means and who made it.

I think that along with inspiration should also come a story, so I have tried to provide a little background into why I made the piece in the first place. An object with a history is infinitely more interesting.

You can also see some of my work at TAG (The Artist’s Gallery) at 501 North Market Street in Frederick, MD. Please stop in sometime and check out all the beautiful works by some amazing artists!

And I have decided to restart my Downtown Easter Egg Project for 2026! So pay attention as you walk around Downtown Frederick, Maryland, if you see a little sculpture that seems out of place then it just might be… if there’s a tag on the bottom then take it home and enjoy or pass it along! Art isn’t art if it doesn’t have a home (and my basement is NOT home, so don’t get comfy, lil’ sculpture.) but if you do pick one up please let me know, that’s not too much to ask for a free sculpture, is it? So look around…