John Kearney (artist)

John Kearney (August 31, 1924 – August 10, 2014^[1]) was a Chicago- and Provincetown-based American artist famous for making figurative sculptures, often of animals, using multiple, found metal objects, specifically bumpers from automobiles.

Life

Moose, Chicago, Illinois, USA

Kearney received his artistic education at the Cranbrook Academy of Art in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan, and the Universita per Stranieri in Perugia, Italy. In 1950, he co-founded the Contemporary Art Workshop in Chicago. Subsequently, he has lived and worked in Italy many times, most notably in Rome in 1963 and 1964 while on a Fulbright Award and again in 1985 and 1992 while serving as a visiting artist at the American Academy in Rome.

Kearney learned his welding skills as a World War II U.S. Navy sailor while performing underwater repair of naval vessels.^[2]

Awards

• Fulbright Award to Rome in 1963–64
• Italian Government Grant in 1963–64
• Visiting Artists at America Academy in Rome, 1985 and 1992

Collections that own Kearney's work

• Aon (Standard Oil Building) in Chicago
• Detroit Children's Museum
• Illinois State Capitol Visitors Center, Springfield, Illinois
• Springfield Art Association, Springfield, Illinois
• Mitchell Museum, Mt. Vernon, Illinois
• Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago
• Ulrich Museum, Wichita, Kansas
• Rockford Art Museum, Rockford, Illinois

Solo exhibitions

• New York City at A.C.A. Gallery, 1964 to 1979
• Berta Walker Gallery, Provincetown, Massachusetts, 1992 to 1997

Outdoor sculpture

In Chicago area

• Academy of Science (T. rex)
• Aon (formerly the Amoco Building and the Standard Oil Building) (three deer)
• Chicago Park District (two life size Horses)
• Clark and Deming intersection (two goats)
• Roscoe and Elaine Place intersection (two giraffes)(removed)
• Cornelia and Elaine Place intersection ("Nanny Goat") (removed)
• Field Museum, South Entrance (two bronzes)
• Field Museum, penguin and deer inside an exhibit.
• Francis Parker School
• Goudy School (double life-size cougar - the School Mascot)
• Lincoln Park Zoo (chromium plated bull elephant)- sadly, the zoo didn't take proper care of these sculptures and they were removed due to damage.
• McCormick Seminary, Hyde Park, on University Avenue north of 55th Street (a large ram, named "Herald", pun referring to the Hyde Park Herald newspaper)^[3]
• Michigan Avenue Magnificent Mile (moose)
• Museum of Science and Industry (life-size gorilla)
• Oakton Community College
• Oz Park (the Tin Man (1995), Cowardly Lion (2001), Scarecrow (2005), and Dorothy and Toto (2007) from The Wizard of Oz)
• Sedgwick, 1800 block (two horses)
• Uptown Hull House (gorilla)
• Andersonville Residence (life-size Kodiak bear)

Elsewhere

• Dallas Museum of Natural History, Dallas, Texas, and Ripley's Believe It or Not! Museum, Grand Prairie, Texas (Chromosaurs: Tyrannosaurus rex, Stegosaurus, and Triceratops)
• Boys and Girls Club of Fayetteville, Arkansas (life-size giraffe and gorilla)
• Mitchell Museum, Mt. Vernon, Illinois (one horse)
• Ulrich Museum, Wichita State University, Kansas (Grandfather's Horse)
• Delano Park, Delano, Wichita, Kansas on the Chisholm Trail (one of Two Steers)
• Maize South High School, Maize Kansas (one of Two Steers)

References

1. "John Kearney Obituary". http://www.cremation-society.com/. Cremation Society of Illinois. Retrieved 7 November 2014. External link in |website= (help)
2. Descriptive plaque on Moose (W-02-03)
3. http://175anniversary.mccormick.edu/history/ware/chapter04/

External links

• Contemporary Arts Workshop
• Location of Outdoor Sculpture in Chicago
• Longer review at Berta Walker Gallery
• List of outdoor sculptures on Anatomically Correct
• Chicago Tribune article on the Goudy School sculpture
• Kimball the Horse, located at the Mitchell Museum, Mt. Vernon, Illinois
• History of "Herald [sic] the Ram" at McCormick seminary
• Another version of "Herald [sic] the Ram"
• Kearney's Chromosaurs Sculptures on YouTube