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May 30, 2008

Bronze Warhawk lands at 网曝门; president of National Sculptors' Guild supervises installation

A bronze Warhawk statue, created by a renowned artist, reaches its new home at the University of Louisiana at Monroe today. The installation of the sculpture begins at approximately 8 a.m. and lasts for several hours.

The 2,000-pound Warhawk was transported on a flatbed truck from Lander, Wyo., where it was created by Sandy Scott, one of the country's premier animal sculptors.

A concrete base, 9-feet tall, will be set and bolted to a concrete slab in the circle drive, next to the 网曝门 Library. Next, a large crane will move the Warhawk, with its 17-foot wingspan, from the truck to the base. Lighting and irrigation systems for the surrounding landscape will be installed Friday and completed by next week.

网曝门 First Lady Deborah Cofer and Executive Assistant to the President Dr. Richard Hood thought of the idea for the statue shortly after 网曝门 adopted its new mascot in June of 2006.

The bronze sculpture will be an important part of 网曝门's culture, said 网曝门 President James Cofer.

"Our new bronze Warhawk is an impressive addition to the campus. This physical representation of the mighty Warhawk spirit so prevalent at this university is sure to generate a contagious pride among students, faculty, staff, and visitors alike. The statue, symbolically watching over the campus, serves as a reminder to us of our highest priority, ensuring the personal well-being and success of all who place their trust in us."

John Kinkade, of Colorado, is the director of the National Sculptors' Guild. He will supervise today's installation. Kinkade has participated in at least 300 public installations and probably that many private ones as well.

An official ribbon-cutting will take place later this summer. The statue was funded through private dollars.

According to www.sandyscott.com:

Sculptor and printmaker Sandy Scott feels very strongly for, and about, her subject. She has quickly climbed to the top of her field using observation, incorporating a sense of motion and mood and attentively fine-tuning her skills. A widely admired printmaker of sporting scene etchings in the 1970s, Scott turned to sculpting in the early 1980s, focusing primarily on birds. Nearly two decades later, she has matured technically and artistically moving adeptly between subjects wild and domestic, including keen-eyed eagles, sinuous trout, elegant dogs, robust pigs, powerful horses, exotic macaws and arrogant roosters.

Today Scott is recognized as one of the country's premier animal sculptors, interweaving, as Robin Salmon, curator of sculpture at Brookgreen Gardens, writes, "the continuing thread of the animalier in American art." The book, "Spirit of the Wild Things," published on the occasion of the Gilcrease Museum Rendezvous '98, documents Scott's career and artistic development. Sandy's work has been collected throughout the world by major art collections. Her unique background has enabled her to capture the spirit of her subjects with a heartfelt vitality and technical skill.

"With a father who is an outdoorsman, my love of the outdoors was cultivated at an early age," explains Sandy. "I've always loved to fish and I've backpacked and camped in some of this country's most beautiful places." This life-style has left lasting impressions on Sandy, and it is this feeling of love for nature that radiates from her work.

Although at times she works in the field, Sandy prefers the calm of the studio for her creative work. "But it is not feasible to stage a herd of elk or a gaggle of geese in my studio," she says, "so I rely on my field trips for inspiration. Much of my field work is done with a camera, and I have thousands of frames of 35mm film which provide a very valuable source of reference. I strive to retain in my work the feeling and emotion experienced while observing, sketching, and photographing in the field."

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