Wiktor Szostalo (born 22 August 1952) is a

Polish Polish may refer to: * Anything from or related to Poland, a country in Europe * Polish language * Poles, people from Poland or of Polish descent * Polish chicken *Polish brothers (Mark Polish and Michael Polish, born 1970), American twin screenwr ...

sculptor with studios in both Poland and the United States. He works in a variety of media, most notably welded stainless steel, wood, and bronze.

Early life

Born 22 August 1952 in

Pasvalys Pasvalys () is a town in Panevėžys County, Lithuania, located near the bank of the Svalia River. History In 1557, the Treaty of Pasvalys was signed in the town, which provoked Ivan IV of Russia to start the Livonian War. Pasvalys has mineral ...

Lithuanian SSR The Lithuanian Soviet Socialist Republic (Lithuanian SSR; lt, Lietuvos Tarybų Socialistinė Respublika; russian: Литовская Советская Социалистическая Республика, Litovskaya Sovetskaya Sotsialistiche ...

, ( Lithuania), in 1958 he moved with his parents and younger brother Józef to

Kołobrzeg Kołobrzeg ( ; csb, Kòlbrzég; german: Kolberg, ), ; csb, Kòlbrzég , is a port city in the West Pomeranian Voivodeship in north-western Poland with about 47,000 inhabitants (). Kołobrzeg is located on the Parsęta River on the south coast o ...

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, , is a country in Central Europe. Poland is divided into Voivodeships of Poland, sixteen voivodeships and is the fifth most populous member state of the European Union (EU), with over 38 mill ...

. From 1972-1978 he studied at the

Academy of Fine Arts in Cracow The Jan Matejko Academy of Fine Arts in Kraków ( pl, Akademia Sztuk Pięknych im. Jana Matejki w Krakowie, usually abbreviated to ''ASP''), is a public institution of higher education located in the centre of Kraków, Poland. It is the oldest Pol ...

, graduating with an MFA in painting and sculpture. Szostalo was one of the founders of the

Solidarity ''Solidarity'' is an awareness of shared interests, objectives, standards, and sympathies creating a psychological sense of unity of groups or classes. It is based on class collaboration.''Merriam Webster'', http://www.merriam-webster.com/dicti ...

movement in Kolobrzeg and in March 1981 was elected the first Chairman of the Regional Board of "Solidarity" in

Koszalin Koszalin (pronounced ; csb, Kòszalëno; formerly german: Köslin, ) is a city in northwestern Poland, in Western Pomerania. It is located south of the Baltic Sea coast, and intersected by the river Dzierżęcinka. Koszalin is also a county-stat ...

, which he represented in the 38-person National Committee headed by

Lech Wałęsa Lech Wałęsa (; ; born 29 September 1943) is a Polish statesman, dissident, and Nobel Peace Prize laureate, who served as the President of Poland between 1990 and 1995. After winning the 1990 election, Wałęsa became the first democrat ...

. He was jailed for five months after the communist regime's crackdown on "Solidarity" in December 1981. He left Poland in 1982 for the US, where he was granted political asylum. In 1990, he became a US citizen. He currently lives and works in both

St. Louis, MO St. Louis () is the second-largest city in Missouri, United States. It sits near the confluence of the Mississippi and the Missouri Rivers. In 2020, the city proper had a population of 301,578, while the bi-state metropolitan area, whic ...

and

Public commissions

Szostalo is widely recognized for his large scale public sculpture commissions. Departing from the more traditional method of bronze casting, these pieces are executed directly in welded stainless steel. They often incorporate additional elements such as cast crystal glass or carved wood. Many of these works were commissioned by Catholic churches including the "''Angel of Harmony''" at the

Cathedral Basilica of St. Louis The Cathedral Basilica of Saint Louis, also known as the Saint Louis Cathedral, is a cathedral of the Roman Catholic Church located in the Central West End neighborhood of St. Louis, Missouri. Completed in 1914, it is the mother church of the Arch ...

, the "''Crucifix''" at St.

Elizabeth Ann Seton Elizabeth Ann Bayley Seton (August 28, 1774 – January 4, 1821) was a Catholic religious sister in the United States and an educator, known as a founder of the country's parochial school system. After her death, she became the first person bo ...

Church in

Carmel Carmel may refer to: * Carmel (biblical settlement), an ancient Israelite town in Judea * Mount Carmel, a coastal mountain range in Israel overlooking the Mediterranean Sea * Carmelites, a Roman Catholic mendicant religious order Carmel may also ...

Indiana Indiana () is a U.S. state in the Midwestern United States. It is the 38th-largest by area and the 17th-most populous of the 50 States. Its capital and largest city is Indianapolis. Indiana was admitted to the United States as the 19th ...

and the "''Pieta''" at Christ Our King Church in Charleston, South Carolina, Charleston, SC

Other notable pieces include the "''Millennium Memorial''" commissioned by the city business council of

, Poland, "''At Long Last I got to Like Myself the Way I Am''", commissioned by the Novol Corporation,

Poznań Poznań () is a city on the River Warta in west-central Poland, within the Greater Poland region. The city is an important cultural and business centre, and one of Poland's most populous regions with many regional customs such as Saint Joh ...

, PL, and "''Team Spirit''", selected by the

NCAA The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico. It also organizes the athletic programs of colleges and ...

for their headquarters in Indianapolis, IN.

Other work

The Tree Hugger Project, begun in 2005, is an ongoing work of environmental art conceived along with the artist Agnieszka Gradzik. With the help of participants on site, who gather branches, twigs, vines and flowers, the artists fashion together these natural materials into groups of figures literally "hugging" trees. The artist's stated intention is to "''...remind us that we humans are still very much a part of our natural surroundings''"."Tree Huggers", '' FiberArts'', October 2006 Installations of the project are sponsored by local environmental or arts related organizations and have occurred in cities across Europe, in England, and in the United States. The most recent installation was sponsored by Klub Gaja in Wilkowice, Poland to celebrate International Tree Day and included an installation in

Park Ujazdowski A park is an area of natural, semi-natural or planted space set aside for human enjoyment and recreation or for the protection of wildlife or natural habitats. Urban parks are green spaces set aside for recreation inside towns and cities. ...

at Poland's Center for Contemporary Ar

http://www.klubgaja.pl/swieto_drzewa/] Past installations have taken place at

Washington University in St. Louis Washington University in St. Louis (WashU or WUSTL) is a private research university with its main campus in St. Louis County, and Clayton, Missouri. Founded in 1853, the university is named after George Washington. Washington University i ...

Forest Park (St. Louis, Missouri), Forest Park in

St. Louis St. Louis () is the second-largest city in Missouri, United States. It sits near the confluence of the Mississippi and the Missouri Rivers. In 2020, the city proper had a population of 301,578, while the bi-state metropolitan area, which e ...

at th
Arts Festival
in

Hebden Bridge Hebden Bridge is a market town in the Upper Calder Valley in West Yorkshire, England. It is west of Halifax and 14 miles (21 km) north-east of Rochdale, at the confluence of the River Calder and the Hebden Water. The town is the largest ...

in England, and in Stadtpark in

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...

. In March 2007 the Tree Hugger Project was named first in a national on-line arts competition organized by the New York City-based organization

Art For Progress Art is a diverse range of human activity, and resulting product, that involves creative or imaginative talent expressive of technical proficiency, beauty, emotional power, or conceptual ideas. There is no generally agreed definition of what ...

and has been invited to the 2007 Burning Man festival, which also awarded the Project a grant for the installatio

New installations are currently planned for

Europos Parkas Europos Parkas (the "Park of Europe") is a 50-hectare open-air museum located 17 km from Vilnius, Lithuania. The museum gives an artistic significance to the geographic centre of the European continent (as determined by the French National ...

in Lithuania and the

Tehran Museum of Contemporary Art Tehran Museum of Contemporary Art, ( Persian: موزه هنرهای معاصر تهران), also known as TMoCA, is among the largest art museums in Tehran and Iran. It has collections of more than 3,000 items that include 19th and 20th centur ...

in Isfahan,

Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkm ...

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According to the artist's website a large installation is scheduled for 2008/9 in

India India, officially the Republic of India ( Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the ...

, with the participation of several environmental groups from around the world, to commemorate the

Chipko The Chipko movement ( hi, chipko andolan, italic=yes, lit= reehugging movement) is a forest conservation movement in India. The movement originated in 1973 at the Himalayan region of Uttarakhand (then part of Uttar Pradesh) and went on to beco ...

Wome

A documentary film of the Chipko Women Tribute is also planned.

References

External links

Wiktor Szostalo's official website

The Religious Art of Wiktor Szostalo'

Sculpture.org listing for Wiktor Szostalo

The TreeHugger Project
{{DEFAULTSORT:Szostalo Wiktor 1952 births Living people People from Pasvalys Polish sculptors Polish male sculptors Soviet emigrants to Poland Polish emigrants to the United States Polish installation artists 20th-century sculptors