John Kearney (August 31, 1924 – August 10, 2014) was an American artist, best known for his sculptures made of
car bumpers. During his career, Kearney was based out of
Chicago
(''City in a Garden''); I Will
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and
Provincetown, Massachusetts
Provincetown is a New England town located at the extreme tip of Cape Cod in Barnstable County, Massachusetts, in the United States. A small coastal resort town with a year-round population of 3,664 as of the 2020 United States Census, Province ...
. Many of his sculptures are displayed outside of public buildings.
Life
Kearney received his artistic education at the
Cranbrook Academy of Art
The Cranbrook Educational Community is an education, research, and public museum complex in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan. This National Historic Landmark was founded in the early 20th century by newspaper mogul George Gough Booth. It consists of C ...
in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan, and the
Universita per Stranieri in
Perugia
Perugia (, , ; lat, Perusia) is the capital city of Umbria in central Italy, crossed by the River Tiber, and of the province of Perugia.
The city is located about north of Rome and southeast of Florence. It covers a high hilltop and pa ...
, Italy. In 1950, he co-founded the
Contemporary Art Workshop in Chicago. Subsequently, he lived and worked in Italy numerous times, most notably in Rome in 1963 and 1964 while on a
Fulbright Award
The Fulbright Program, including the Fulbright–Hays Program, is one of several United States Cultural Exchange Programs with the goal of improving intercultural relations, cultural diplomacy, and intercultural competence between the people of ...
, and in 1985 and 1992 while serving as a visiting artist at the
American Academy in Rome
The American Academy in Rome is a research and arts institution located on the Gianicolo (Janiculum Hill) in Rome.
The academy is a member of the Council of American Overseas Research Centers.
History
In 1893, a group of American architects, ...
.
Kearney learned his welding skills as a World War II
U.S. Navy
The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage o ...
sailor while performing
underwater repair of naval vessels.
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
Canton Museum of Art Canton, Ohio
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
Lincoln Park Zoo, also known as Lincoln Park Zoological Gardens, is a zoo in Lincoln Park, Chicago, Illinois. The zoo was founded in 1868, making it the fourth oldest zoo in North America. It is also one of a few free admission zoos in the Unit ...
(chromium-plated bull elephant) – the zoo did not take proper care of these sculptures, and they were removed due to damage.
*
McCormick Seminary
McCormick Theological Seminary is a private Presbyterian seminary in Chicago, Illinois. It shares a campus with the Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago, bordering the campus of the University of Chicago. A letter of intent was signed on May 5 ...
, Hyde Park, on University Avenue north of 55th Street (a large ram, named "Herald", pun referring to the ''Hyde Park Herald'' newspaper)
* Michigan Avenue
Magnificent Mile
The Magnificent Mile, sometimes referred to as The Mag Mile, is an upscale section of Chicago's Michigan Avenue, running from the Chicago River to Oak Street in the Near North Side. The district is located within downtown, and one block ...
(
moose
The moose (in North America) or elk (in Eurasia) (''Alces alces'') is a member of the New World deer subfamily and is the only species in the genus ''Alces''. It is the largest and heaviest extant species in the deer family. Most adult ma ...
)
*
Museum of Science and Industry (life-size gorilla)
*
Oakton Community College
Oakton College is a public community college with campuses in Des Plaines, Illinois and Skokie, Illinois. It was established in 1969 in Morton Grove, Illinois and moved to its current locations in 1980.
History
Oakton College opened in 1969 in ...
*
Oz Park
Oz Park is a public park in the Lincoln Park neighborhood of North Side, Chicago. It is located at 2021 North Burling Street, at the corner of Lincoln and Webster, just south of the Lincoln, Halsted, and Fullerton intersection.
The park borders L ...
(the
Tin Man (1995),
Cowardly Lion (2001),
Scarecrow
A scarecrow is a decoy or mannequin, often in the shape of a human. Humanoid scarecrows are usually dressed in old clothes and placed in open fields to discourage birds from disturbing and feeding on recently cast seed and growing crops.Lesley ...
(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
Wichita State University (WSU) is a public research university in Wichita, Kansas, United States. It is governed by the Kansas Board of Regents. The university offers more than 60 undergraduate degree programs in more than 200 areas of study in ...
, 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'')
Hudson Welding and Fabricating 326 St. Paul Street, St. Catharines, Ontario, Canada
life sized giraffe known locally as G''erry''
RAM's Charles A. Wustum Museum of Fine Arts, 2519 Northwestern Ave, Racine, Wi, 53403 two giraffes, a pelican (1960), two goats (Goat 1978 and Nanny Goat 1999), and a standing female nude (Venus of Detroit 1975), are installed outdoors on the grounds at Wustum through August 12, 2021.
* Signal Centers (Chattanooga TN) Front of Facility (Horse) - www.signalcenters.org
References
External links
Contemporary Arts WorkshopLocation of Outdoor Sculpture in ChicagoChicago Tribune article on the Goudy School sculptureKimball the Horse, located at the Mitchell Museum, Mt. Vernon, Illinois History_of_"Herald_[sic/nowiki>_the_Ram"_at_McCormick_seminary.html" ;"title="ic">History of "Herald
[sic
/nowiki> the Ram" at McCormick seminary">ic">History of "Herald [sic
/nowiki> the Ram" at McCormick seminary
[sic">Another version of "Herald [sic
/nowiki> the Ram"]
*
Herod, Doug. 2013. The long journey from eyesore to St. Catharines Landmark. St. Catharines Standard, October 4th. 2013.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kearney, John
1924 births
2014 deaths
Cranbrook Academy of Art alumni
Artists from Chicago
Sculptors from Illinois