GUIDE TO OUTDOOR SCULPTURE

Visitors are encouraged to walk on the grass, bring a picnic lunch and explore the grounds.

THEODORE WADDELL

This artwork marked the first collaboration with AMoA and Amarillo National Bank to place outdoor sculpture from AMoA’s collection in public spaces. Montana artist and rancher Theodore Waddell arrived in New York in the early 1960’s, only a short decade after abstract expressionists like Jackson Pollock, Robert Motherwell and Clifford Still dominated the art world. Gleaning elements from this art movement, he returned home to his native state to create works that walk the line of abstraction and representation. Waddell’s artwork challenges commonly held perceptions of “Western” American Art.

BEN WOITENA

Woitena received his BFA from the University of Texas at Austin and his MFA from the University of Southern California, Los Angeles. He has lived and worked in Houston since 1971, where he began a twenty-seven year teaching career at the Glassell School of Art of The Museum of Fine Arts Houston. Over his long career as a sculptor, he has created a large body of work which ranges from all, intimate pedestal pieces to monumental outdoor works. His charge outdoor sculptures are part of many Texas art museums and his work has been exhibited extensively around the country.

JOHN BROUGH MILLER

Miller earned his Bachelor of Science from Central Michigan University and his Master of Fine Arts from the Cranbrook Academy of Art. In addition, he earned his certification in industrial welding from the Industrial Welding Trade School in Dallas, Texas. Miller moved to Texas in 1964 and spent nearly 30 years as a Professor of Ceramics and Sculpture at Texas Woman's University (1964-1992), where he was the Chairman of Visual Arts and a member of the Graduate School Faculty. In 1992, he was named Professor Emeritus.

DAVID RODGERS

Rodgers is an Indiana native who went to Indiana University to pursue a career as an astronomer before deciding to study art. In graduate school, he focused his energy on becoming a sculptor. In 1968, Rodgers earned his Masters of Fine Arts degree from Indiana University and moved to New Mexico to teach. In 1971, he returned to Indiana to teach stone-carving workshops. Throughout his career, he designed, created, installed and otherwise assisted in the making of site specific artworks while teaching at several universities in the United States.

DAVID DEMING

Deming was born in Cleveland, Ohio and studied art at the Cleveland Institute of Art where he earned his Bachelors of Fine Art degree. He then studied at the Cranbrook Academy of Art and received his Masters of Fine Art degree in 1970. After two years of teaching at the University of Texas at El Paso, he began a twenty-six year long career of teaching arts administration at the University of Texas at Austin. Deming returned to Ohio in 1998 to serve as the President of the Cleveland Institute of Art.

In the late 1980's, Deming was among a group of sculptors asked to create a maquette, or a small scale model, of a sculpture specifically designed to be placed outside of the museum. Night Hawk was chosen and the piece was fabricated at the artist's Dripping Springs studio using steel provided by Lake Steel of Amarillo

TOMMY HICKS

TOMMY HICKS

Schism II, 1985
Steel, welded and powder coated
Gift of the artist in memory of Betty Bivins Childers

Hicks, an Amarillo native, sounded the Shidoni Sculpture Gallery and Foundry in Tesuque, New Mexico. Over the years, the foundry has cast thousands of sculptures for artists throughout the country. In addition to the foundry and sculpture garden, the Shidoni Gallery represents more than 150 artists. "Shidoni" is a Navajo word used as a greeting to a friend.