Hence, after his return from Italy, there was a change in Oberti's work. Prior to that time, Oberti had focused on beautiful pottery and his interest was in the basic principles of elegant form, mostly bottle shapes, spherical ovoid or oval type shapes and creating them in relationship to the space around them.

But after his pilgrimage, Oberti realized somehow that he wanted to touch a deeper thread with those earlier craftsmen who built the pyramids and carved the temples. That's when Oberti made his first sundial. It consisted of a pedestal and bowl with an artist's brush atop a sphere as the gnomon. He soon realized it was too fragile being made out of clay. It was too brittle and an errant soccer ball or fallen tree branch could easily crack it. Casting bronze parts and joining them to ceramic forms could remedy the design. He acquired and refined skills in bronze casting and metal fabrication. It allowed Oberti to discover something even greater. He was evolving from being a potter into a sculptor. He had created a medium marrying clay and metal.

The sphere soon became his obsession as it embodied the universal idea of wholeness. He developed interpretations of alchemical symbols and insignias of action and transformation that decorated their surfaces forming a body of work titled "Spheres of Influence."

In the late 1990s while attempting to fill out an application to win the Academy of Art prize in Rome involving a year's residency there, Oberti came across an invitation on the Internet to some-thing called the INSAP II Conference, held in Malta. INSAP stands for the Inspiration of Astronomical Phenomena. The first INSAP conference was hosted by the Vatican Observatory at Castillo Gondolfo, the pope's summer quarters. Being a sphere maker and studying astronomy in depth, Oberti thought to himself, "This is very interesting." Reading further he discovered that the purpose of the conference was not to know seientific breakthroughs, but rather how scientific breakthroughs of modern time influences humanity through the artist's eye and through theater, literature, poetry, and the visual arts.

Oberti applied and was invited to participate at INSAP, where he met many astronomers, physicists, art historians and cosmologists. They embraced his work as a fitting and inspired contribution to their conference. It was there he met Dr. Maria Sundin, Astronomer and teach at Gothenburg University and the Chalmers Institute of Technology in Sweden. She asked Oberti if he would contribute slides of his art for a lecture series she was developing for her students. He complied.

Oberti then visited Sundin in Sweden and observed her work in the field of galactic dynamics. She shared with him her incredible computer simulations she made studying how galaxies are formed.

In the corner of her office she ad a set of drawings that were very different from the stacks of categorized star path simulations that cluttered her office. Oberti picked one up and said, "This is beautiful, Maria. What category is this?" She replied, "Oh those are an aberration. They don't fit in. The whole stack is nice, but I can't categorize them because they are so different." And Oberti responded, "Well they're star dancers. Sudin was elated, "Oh it is so wonderful to have artist's view star dancers, yes star dancers!"

Oberti worked with Sundin for two years in collaboration, using images of her scientific work on large ceramic pottery where he would trace the lines in clay using a stylus much like the Sumerians would have done. It was so successful that Oberti was invited to Palermo, Sicily to mount an exhibition for the Osservatorio Di Palermo. In 2000 he opened a wonderful solo exhibition titled Star Dancers showing many of the works he created in collaboration with Sundin. It was his first collaboration blending science and ceramic art. The parallel dance had begun.

Perhaps the greatest tribute to Oberti and his art would come again from Sweden. When Oberti presented new works at the INSAP IV Conference at Magdalen College in Oxford, England, Gosta Gahm of the Stokholm Observatory offered him a wonderful opportunity. Oberti was soon commissioned by the Royal Technical Institute of Sweden to create the planet Venus for what they call the Sweden Solar System. It is the largest scale model of the solar system on earth, encompassing the entire country of Sweden. The sun is represented by the Stockholm Arena, a modern building that is also the largest spherical object in the world, 115 meters (373 feet) in diameter.

Swedish physicists and astronomers pondered the question, "Well, if we call that the sun, what scale would we need to put all the planets within our country?" They came up with a ratio of 20 million to one. After calculating distances, they picked appropriate locations varying from small villages, airports, towns and cities, to historical Stockholm herself. They then commissioned artists for each location to create the planetary objects. Each site is complemented with a visitor's center.

The Andrea Doria Medallion project began with an email from Angela Addario inquiring if I "do bronzes" as they were looking for an artist to create two medallions for the 50th anniversary of the sinking of the Italian luxury liner.

I replied affirmatively and thus began a wonderful correspondence with Angela. She explained to me that her mother Julianne McLean, an internationally acclaimed concert pianist, was one of the survivors. She also introduced me to Pierette Domenica Simpson whose new book "Alive on the Andrea Doria: The Greatest Sea Rescue in History," was soon to be published.

We continued our emails and I was introduced to Jerome Reinert, a survivor who was interested in helping fund the project. I suggested a budget and timeline to which they agreed and thus I began my design work.

I was only 11 years old when the Andrea Doria went down but I remember the tragedy clearly. My father's family is from Alpe di Vobbia, a small village north of Genoa and many of Dad's friends in the food business had friends or family on the Andrea Doria, It was big news around our house. What I remembered was the incredible courage of the crew and passengers who saved others at their own risk. I also recall the lie de France because my mother is French and the cooperation and rescue by the French was a proud moment.

Most prominently, I would create a relief of the Andrea Doria herself steaming outward from the composition in all her glory. The heroism of those who selflessly helped others is what really inspired me. I asked my neighbor if he and his wife would pose for me with the gesture of one hand helping another. They agreed and the of helping hands was created from a sketch of Captain Randy Pinetti, a San Francisco Bay pilot whose family also hails from the Liguria region of Italy and his lovely wife Karen whose heritage is Sicilian.

I then chose a 14th century map of the Genoa region and the mountains to the north as a compositional backdrop. I included the historical Genoa Lighthouse to reaffirm the ship's origin. Along with this, I added a compass-like image, so essential to navigation.

I worked diligently to refine the bas-relief with realism and a sense of tenderness. One becomes the work they create and I often felt like a survivor during the artistic process. During this time I was in communication with Angela Addario who wrote words of encouragement that nurtured my soul during the process. She sent me a wonderful CD of Juianne McLean's piano concerts and I played it almost every day while I was rendering the clay original.

It became clear to me that I would attend the Andrea doria reunion because I had developed a deep and lasting affinity for the project and wanted to meet the people who had trusted me to interpret the tragedy with an artist eye and sensitivity. When the model went to the foundry for casting I secured tickets for myself, my daughter Aimee and my granddaughter Madison to accompany me for the inauguration and reunion event.

It was a proud moment for our family when we unveiled the medallions and presented them to the survivors and dignitaries present. The Honorable Antonio Bandini accepted one on behalf of the Italian Consulate. This medallion will be displayed at Museo del Mare in Genoa, Italy. The second medallion was accepted by trustee and architect Der Scutt on behalf of the South Street Seaport Museum where it will be on display in New York City.