Artist Rounds Gives New Meaning to Creative License

One could scan over John Rounds’ garage and constantly see something new. Directly in front of his make-shift workshop is a collage of descended trees in different seasons, to the left are framed wine boxes, and a cut-out of New Jersey made with license plates takes center stage, reflecting light off its sharp corners.

All these pieces in his workshop, and more, will be featured at two upcoming events: Lawrence Township Community Fun Day on Saturday, October 5, and Lawrenceville Main Street’s Fall Arts Festival on Saturday, October 19.

Rounds is a retired carpenter who dabbles in unique craft art. He got the idea for his first piece in 2013 after having his knee scoped and being put on the carpentry disabled registry. While staring at some old license plates that he never turned into NJ Motor Vehicle Commission, he wondered if he could make a map of the Garden State with all of its counties.

“The next day the sun came up and it’s shown off all those windows, and it reflected over here, and you can see how it catches the aluminum ... And it just exploded with light. And I went, Oh gee, that was a good idea,” Rounds said.

It took around 80 to 90 hours to make his first piece, including designing, cutting, and assembling the plates. To shape the metal, he uses aviation snips with right and left cuts to get the counties’ precise curves and edges.

Most of the license plates are collected from flea markets and garage sales at around $2 apiece, but he also looks on eBay. In addition to large license plate maps, Rounds makes smaller maps, refrigerator magnets, and printouts of the art. People have commissioned him to do other states and New Jersey counties as well, including Texas, Vermont, Kentucky, and multiple Mercer County signs.

A selection of Rounds' raw materials — old license plates.

Most of his signs feature the iconic colors of New Jersey’s past three license plates, from vintage black and cream to discontinued cream and blue to current goldfinch yellow. He said you can’t use just any license plate. It needs to have the right letters, spacing, and coloring to create one coherent artwork.

“It’s all about color coordination and it’s all about the different letters that represent the counties,” Rounds said.

It is no wonder that he has about 700 to 900 plates. None of which, he prefaced, are stolen.

The lifetime Mercer resident has always had a thing for maps. He majored in history at Quinnipiac College and has a vast map and flag collection, including a Betsy Ross flag hanging on the side of his garage.

“I really think that maps are artwork in and of themselves,” Rounds said.

Rounds works out of a make-shift studio in his Lawrenceville garage.

Artistry runs in the family, with three of his four brothers in artistic pursuits, mostly encompassing music and one visual designer.

His artistic inclination came in handy when Rounds not only won first place in the 2018 Mercer County Senior Art Show for his category but took home “Best-In-Show” for the non-professionals division.

Upping the stakes, he entered the NJ State Senior Citizen Art Show, which gets more than 300 entries. Rounds’ artwork “New Jersey – County Map No. 4” won first place in the craft category, making him an award-winning artist. Both of these contests were the first time he had ever entered a show.

Mercer County residents can recognize another one of Rounds’ artworks that exhibits the famed Mercer Oak throughout every season. After a blizzard in 1996, Rounds took a picture of the Mercer Oak, then went back the following April to get the tree in spring bloom. It took another year to complete the set with summer and fall making the entire display a two-year project.

Rounds may be the only person to have photographed the Mercer Oak in all four seasons, since three years after completing the set, the tree fell. This piece of his is shown all over Mercer County, from the county administration building to the Princeton Municipal Government Building to the Thomas Clark House.

“I’m very proud of New Jersey and Mercer County,” Rounds said.

Looking forward, Rounds hopes to market printouts of the state metal signs more towards bars and restaurants that want vintage decor. Printouts are more affordable and reasonable to sell, he noted.

He said that while the big, aluminum maps are a hugely fun, creative process, not too many customers buy them because they can be expensive. A few of his smaller license plate signs cost in the $800 to $900 range, which he said is a lot of work for not a lot of money. The biggest signs can even cost upwards of a couple thousand dollars because of the time, resources, and care that goes into one piece, but a printout could put you back just $150.

Rounds needs the time for other responsibilities besides maps.

Along with his brothers, he helps care for his mother, who just turned 100. Rounds also welcomed a new member to the family a few years back who needs ample love, attention, and doggy daycare: a three-year-old Australian Shepherd. Even though balancing artistry with life is a lot of work, Rounds said it feels great to attend shows and create all forms of art.

“I have been asked many times, so what is that? That’s not sculpture, but it’s not flat art. And I kind of like to think of it as sort of bas-relief … It’s got depth. It’s got some sharp edges, but it is what it is,” Rounds said.

See more of Rounds’ artwork on his company website, Mercer Art, LLC: mercerartnj.com/home.

Lawrence Township Community Fun Day, Central Park, 100 Dave Nevius Way, Lawrence. Saturday, October 5, noon to 4 p.m. Rain date October 6.

Fall Arts Fest, Lawrenceville Main Street. Saturday, October 19, noon to 4 p.m. Rain date October 20. www.lawrencevillemainstreet.com.