When Julius Pardi developed a new way to manufacture porcelain insulators at General Electric back in 1902, the bosses at the Schenectady plant must have been pleased with themselves for giving the 17-year-old Italian immigrant a job. Pardi's skill at making better insulators, however, only scratched the surface of his creativity. In his 47 years with GE, he continued to impress everyone with the work his hands produced, not only on the factory floor, but also in the art studio.

"I knew he was an artist because we had a few of his pieces around the house when I was growing up," said Larry Pardi, Julius's grandson, a Rotterdam native and Altamont resident. "But I didn't discover the extent of his talents until my own father passed away in 2004. Then I talked to my cousins, and we started gathering up all of his possessions, and he had quite a bit. He was an incredible artist."