Former City College Instructor Handles Oscar Quality Control

Former Santa Barbara City College instructor Nevin Littlehale oversaw the Oscar statuettes quality control.

Littlehale left his Santa Barbara post as a bronze casting instructor for a job at Polich Tallix Fine Art Foundry in Rock Tavern, New York last year.

The academy recently hired the foundry to give the Oscar a makeover in bronze instead of pewter.

“The company is a world renowned foundry that has a reputation the academy heard about and decided to give us a call to see what we could do,” said Littlehale.

The foundry used a 3D printer to combine scans of the original Oscar and last year’s Oscar. The new mold is cast in bronze and then electroplated with 24-karat gold.

As the head of quality control, Littlehale signed off on each Oscar by putting his stamp on the bottom.