George Greenamyer (born 1939,

Cleveland Cleveland ( ), officially the City of Cleveland, is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County. Located in the northeastern part of the state, it is situated along the southern shore of Lake Erie, across the U.S. ...

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, US) is an American sculptor. He received a BFA in 1963 from the

Philadelphia College of Art Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Since 1 ...

and an MFA in 1969 from the

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. He was a professor at the

Massachusetts College of Art Massachusetts College of Art and Design, branded as MassArt, is a public college of visual and applied art in Boston, Massachusetts. Founded in 1873, it is one of the nation’s oldest art schools, the only publicly funded independent art school ...

for more than thirty years. His 1983 work includes making use of two turbines from the Philo Power Plant and Twin Branch Power Plant as sculptures. The two turbines were mounted onto granite piers were placed in a plaza at the

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in Columbus, Ohio. From 1988 to 1991, Greenamyer staged an annual event at

Laumeier Sculpture Park Laumeier Sculpture Park is a 105-acre open-air museum and sculpture park located in Sunset Hills, Missouri, near St. Louis and is maintained in partnership with St. Louis County Parks and Recreation Department. It houses over 60 outdoor sculptu ...

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called "Fire and Ice", in which he fashioned a massive

ice sculpture Ice sculpture is a form of sculpture that uses ice as the raw material. Sculptures from ice can be abstract or realistic and can be functional or purely decorative. Ice sculptures are generally associated with special or extravagant events becaus ...

that was then set ablaze over a bonfire. The event suffered several weather-related problems, however. In its first two years, unexpectedly cold weather kept the sculptures from melting properly for the crowd; in 1990 and 1991, unexpectedly warm weather caused the sculptures to melt before the actual event. Laumeier Sculpture Park later commissioned a piece from Greenamyer in memory of its Marketing Director, Debra Lakin: ''Heritage Schooner for Debra Lakin, September 30, 1998''. His sculpture ''

Milwaukee Milwaukee ( ), officially the City of Milwaukee, is both the most populous and most densely populated city in the U.S. state of Wisconsin and the county seat of Milwaukee County. With a population of 577,222 at the 2020 census, Milwaukee ...

'' was installed outside the

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in 1989. It depicts agricultural and urban scenes from Milwaukee's history. In 1991,

University of Oregon The University of Oregon (UO, U of O or Oregon) is a public research university in Eugene, Oregon. Founded in 1876, the institution is well known for its strong ties to the sports apparel and marketing firm Nike, Inc, and its co-founder, billion ...

athletic director Bill Byrne ordered a worker to cut down and remove a newly installed Greenamyer sculpture with a blowtorch. Byrne stated that he had found it "not in character with the rest of the front of the building". Greenamyer himself came to the scene, threatening to chain himself to the $54,000 sculpture to prevent its destruction. After mediation by UO president

Myles Brand Myles Neil Brand (May 17, 1942 – September 16, 2009) was a philosopher and university administrator who served as the 14th president of the University of Oregon, the 16th president of Indiana University, and the fourth president of the Natio ...

, it was agreed that the damage already done to the sculpture would be repaired, and it would be reinstalled at another location on campus.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Greenamyer, George 1939 births American male sculptors Living people Massachusetts College of Art and Design faculty University of Kansas alumni University of the Arts (Philadelphia) alumni 20th-century American sculptors 20th-century American male artists 21st-century American sculptors 21st-century American male artists Sculptors from Ohio Artists from Cleveland