Vlosich, a 1997 graduate of Lakewood High School in Lakewood, Ohio, has garnered an international reputation for the exquisitely detailed portrait collages he makes of his favorite athletes and other public figures.

 Vlosich and his work have been featured in Sports Illustrated, Sports Illustrated for Kids, People, numerous newspapers (including the Bergen County Record), a syndicated UPI story and on the television programs Live! with Regis and Kathie Lee, American Journal, NBA Inside Stuff, In the Zone, and news programs on CNN, ABC World News Tonight, CNN, the Family Channel and the BBC. He was on Nickelodeon's game show for kids, Figure It Out, and he was the subject of a feature in the Summer 1998 issue of Boys' Life,and the April 1999 issue of  Nickelodeon Magazine.

By now, Vlosich has told the story of "how it all began" countless times, but he willingly recaps it again.  On a long family car trip to Washington, D. C. when he was nine, he brought along an Etch a Sketch to while away the time.  His accuracy of rendering the U. S. Capitol amazed his parents, who pulled into a gas station to take a picture to preserve the moment.  His work has only grown since then, and now, when he finishes a piece, he opens the back and carefully removes the excess powder to capture the image permanently.

Sports and art are a natural combination to Vlosich.  They are the two things he loves the best, and cheerfully admits that "that's all I really did in high school."  His earliest Etch a Sketch portraits were done as tributes to the athletes he most admired.  He would send the portrait to the athlete in hopes of having it autographed.  Often it led to a meeting, like this one with Cal Ripken Jr. when Vlosich  was about 12. Ohio Art, the manufacturer of the Etch a Sketch, supplies Vlosich with the tools of his trade gratis, but they have no other formal relationship. Vlosich's father, George Vlosich, Jr. notes, "To them, everybody's equal on an Etch a Sketch." 

Vlosich admits that he still has a hard time doing women using just the vertical and horizontal knobs. "If you use too many lines, it ages them, " he said. Nonetheless, he did a portrait of Kathie Lee Gifford  after appearing on Live!, and has done Theresa Witherspoon of the WNBA and Summer Sanders, Olympic swimmer and host of Nickelodeon's Figure It Out.

Figure It Out is like a kid's version of the old What's My Line, with the tables turned. An adult celebrity must guess the achievement of the young panelist. Vlosich recalls his appearance as being quite an adventure. "We went down to Florida for the taping. They tape four shows a day, and I was scheduled to be on the earliest, with a 7:00 am call. Well, they had audio difficulties, and the taping just kept getting pushed back. Finally, after lunch, they had to switch me with these two girls who had a 5:00 performance scheduled at Disneyworld, so I got to be on with Joe Namath, who couldn't guess what I did. He got slimed." recalls Vlosich. " I've done an Etch a Sketch portrait of him (Namath), but I didn't know I was going to be on with him, so I didn't bring it." Vlosich sent it to Namath after the taping, noting that the football legend was "extremely nice."

Another adventure awaited Vlosich after he taped Live! with Regis and Kathie Lee. A producer from the BBC, whose office was across the street in New York, caught the show and ran over to catch Vlosich in the lobby after it was done. An interview ensued, expanding Vlosich's fame to international status, and giving him an excuse to move beyond sports in his subject matter. He recently completed an Etch a Sketch portrait of the Beatles.

Now pursuing a degree at the Cleveland Institute of Art,  he's following a classical visual arts curriculum, filling a portfolio with works in media other than Etch a Sketch, on subjects other than sports, but he still has enough time to have created a business, "Etched in Time" (1-216-251-1077).   Through "Etched in Time" Vlosich can sell  limited-edition lithographs of some of the most popular Etch a Sketch works he has done, such as the portrait of the 1995 American League Champion Cleveland Indians and legendary baseball great, the late  Mickey Mantle.  The line of lithographs rose out of the enormous demand for his Etch a Sketch art.  "When people see one, they want one," said Vlosich.  "The limited edition prints are more affordable for people."  Vlosich registered "Etched in Time" with the Lakewood Chamber of Commerce in November 1996, during the fall of his senior year in high school, thereby becoming the youngest member of the Chamber.  His entrepreneurial spirit has been used as an example by the Cuyahoga Valley Career Center's School to Career program, whose logo he also designed on the Etch a Sketch. In addition to the lithographs, Vlosich will accept commissions for Etch a Sketch subjects.
 
 

His senior year was a busy one for Vlosich.  In addition to starting a business, he was putting together his application portfolio for the Cleveland Institute of Art, playing on the varsity basketball team, keeping up with his schoolwork, and oh, yes, designing a series of nine baseball cards for Topps, the collectible trading cards manufacturer.  "Between December and March (1996-97), I was up until 2 am every night.  I'd get out of school, go to basketball practice, go home, eat, do my homework and then work on the Topps series until I fell asleep.  I had two and a half months to do all those portraits for the cards," remembered Vlosich.  One of his cards will be inserted in every 36 packs of 1998 Topps Baseball Series 1.  The subjects include Ken Griffey, Jr., Cal Ripken, Mike Piazza, Barry Bonds, Albert Belle, Greg Maddux, Hideo Nomo, Frank Thomas and Mo Vaughn. Pictured here are the obverse and reverse of the Topps Griffey card. Vlosich's picture and information appear on the reverse of each card in the series.  How long will it last? It's clear from talking to Vlosich that right now he's having the time of his life. "We get a lot of vacations out of it," he notes, commenting on the media attention. His dad, George Vlosich Jr. , brings a camera along everywhere they go, and took the photos with David Robinson and Cal Ripken that appear on this website. "It's an unbelievable collection," his dad said with a smile.  "I'll keep doing it as long as it's fun, " said Vlosich. "The Lord has truly blessed me."  In January of 2000, George was featured on Ripley's Believe It Or Not, featuring an Etch-a-Sketch signed by Sandy and Roberto Alomar, who from his early days have become friends.  We are both rookies at the same time. George has appeared on PBS (WVIZ) with the Cavs celebrating their 30 year All-Star Team, which was signed by the players. In July George met Vice President Al Gore at the Jet Port and again in November, in a meeting that was arranged with the help of Congressman Kucinich.  And finally, after years of trying, George met with the President, who signed his work. George says that no one in the world can say they have an Etch-a-Sketch signed by possibly two presidents. In February of 2001 George appeared on 20/20 with Barbara Walters. His last piece of art was of Allen Iverson for a TV show in Philadelphia. George will be speaking at the Kennedy Space Center on June 16. You can visit George's home page at www.gvetchedintime.com George is available to do shows, he sells prints and his originals which are one-of-a-kind.  You can reach "Etched in Time" at 1-216-251-1077, or by e-mail at gvfour@aol.com.

Visit the George Vlosich III Etch-a-Sketch art gallery.

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