Wiktor Szostalo
Encyclopedia
Poles
thumb|right|180px|The state flag of [[Poland]] as used by Polish government and diplomatic authoritiesThe Polish people, or Poles , are a nation indigenous to Poland. They are united by the Polish language, which belongs to the historical Lechitic subgroup of West Slavic languages of Central Europe...
sculptor who currently resides in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
. He works in a variety of media, most notably welded stainless steel
Stainless steel
In metallurgy, stainless steel, also known as inox steel or inox from French "inoxydable", is defined as a steel alloy with a minimum of 10.5 or 11% chromium content by mass....
, wood
Wood
Wood is a hard, fibrous tissue found in many trees. It has been used for hundreds of thousands of years for both fuel and as a construction material. It is an organic material, a natural composite of cellulose fibers embedded in a matrix of lignin which resists compression...
, and bronze
Bronze
Bronze is a metal alloy consisting primarily of copper, usually with tin as the main additive. It is hard and brittle, and it was particularly significant in antiquity, so much so that the Bronze Age was named after the metal...
.
Early life
Born 22 August 1952 in PasvalysPasvalys
Pasvalys is a city in Panevėžys County, Lithuania, located near the bank of the Svalia River. Its sister city is Götene in Sweden. In 1557, the Treaty of Pozvol was signed in the town, which provoked Ivan IV of Russia to start the Livonian War.-References:...
, Lithuanian SSR
Lithuanian SSR
The Lithuanian Soviet Socialist Republic , also known as the Lithuanian SSR, was one of the republics that made up the former Soviet Union...
, (Lithuania
Lithuania
Lithuania , officially the Republic of Lithuania is a country in Northern Europe, the biggest of the three Baltic states. It is situated along the southeastern shore of the Baltic Sea, whereby to the west lie Sweden and Denmark...
), in 1958 he moved with his parents to Kołobrzeg, Poland
Poland
Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...
.
From 1972-1978 he studied at the Academy of Fine Arts in Cracow, graduating with an MFA in painting and sculpture.
Szostalo was one of the founders of the Solidarity movement in Kolobrzeg and in March 1981 was elected the first Chairman of the Regional Board of "Solidarity" in Koszalin
Koszalin
Koszalin ; is the largest city of Middle Pomerania in north-western Poland. It is located 12 km south of the Baltic Sea coast. Koszalin is also a county-status city and capital of Koszalin County of West Pomeranian Voivodeship since 1999...
, which he represented in the 38-person National Committee headed by Lech Wałęsa
Lech Wałęsa
Lech Wałęsa is a Polish politician, trade-union organizer, and human-rights activist. A charismatic leader, he co-founded Solidarity , the Soviet bloc's first independent trade union, won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1983, and served as President of Poland between 1990 and 95.Wałęsa was an electrician...
. 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 St. Louis
St. Louis, Missouri
St. Louis is an independent city on the eastern border of Missouri, United States. With a population of 319,294, it was the 58th-largest U.S. city at the 2010 U.S. Census. The Greater St...
, MO
Missouri
Missouri is a US state located in the Midwestern United States, bordered by Iowa, Illinois, Kentucky, Tennessee, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Kansas and Nebraska. With a 2010 population of 5,988,927, Missouri is the 18th most populous state in the nation and the fifth most populous in the Midwest. It...
.
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
Cathedral Basilica of St. Louis
The Cathedral Basilica of Saint Louis, also known as the Saint Louis Cathedral or the New Cathedral, was completed in 1914 in St. Louis, Missouri, as the archdiocesan replacement for the Cathedral of St. Louis, King of France...
, the "Crucifix" at St. Elizabeth Ann Seton
Elizabeth Ann Seton
Saint Elizabeth Ann Bayley Seton was the first native-born citizen of the United States to be canonized by the Roman Catholic Church . She established Catholic communities in Emmitsburg, Maryland....
Church in Carmel
Carmel, Indiana
Carmel is a city in Hamilton County, Indiana, United States located immediately north of Indianapolis, Indiana. The population was 79,191 at the 2010 census, and is one of the most affluent communities in the Midwest....
, Indiana
Indiana
Indiana is a US state, admitted to the United States as the 19th on December 11, 1816. It is located in the Midwestern United States and Great Lakes Region. With 6,483,802 residents, the state is ranked 15th in population and 16th in population density. Indiana is ranked 38th in land area and is...
. http://www.seas-carmel.org/about.asp, and the "Pieta" at Christ Our King Church in Charleston
Charleston, South Carolina
Charleston is the second largest city in the U.S. state of South Carolina. It was made the county seat of Charleston County in 1901 when Charleston County was founded. The city's original name was Charles Towne in 1670, and it moved to its present location from a location on the west bank of the...
, SC
South Carolina
South Carolina is a state in the Deep South of the United States that borders Georgia to the south, North Carolina to the north, and the Atlantic Ocean to the east. Originally part of the Province of Carolina, the Province of South Carolina was one of the 13 colonies that declared independence...
. http://www.catholic-doc.org/miscellany/2001/0405pieta.HTM
Other notable pieces include the "Millennium Memorial" commissioned by the city business council of Kołobrzeg, Poland, "At Long Last I got to Like Myself the Way I Am", Commissioned by the Novol Corporation, Poznan
Poznan
Poznań is a city on the Warta river in west-central Poland, with a population of 556,022 in June 2009. It is among the oldest cities in Poland, and was one of the most important centres in the early Polish state, whose first rulers were buried at Poznań's cathedral. It is sometimes claimed to be...
,PL, and "Team Spirit", selected by the NCAA for their headquarters in Indianapolis
Indianapolis
Indianapolis is the capital of the U.S. state of Indiana, and the county seat of Marion County, Indiana. As of the 2010 United States Census, the city's population is 839,489. It is by far Indiana's largest city and, as of the 2010 U.S...
, IN
Indiana
Indiana is a US state, admitted to the United States as the 19th on December 11, 1816. It is located in the Midwestern United States and Great Lakes Region. With 6,483,802 residents, the state is ranked 15th in population and 16th in population density. Indiana is ranked 38th in land area and is...
.
Other work
Installations of the project are sponsored by local environmental or arts related organizations and have occurred in cities across Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
, in England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
, and in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
.
The most recent installation was sponsored by Klub Gaja in Wilkowice, Poland to celebrate International Tree Day and included an installation in Park Ujazdowski
Park Ujazdowski
Ujazdów Park is one of the most picturesque parks of Warsaw, Poland. It borders Aleje Ujazdowskie , with its many embassies and Sejm building.- History :...
at Poland's Center for Contemporary Art.http://www.gazetaecho.pl/cgi-bin/echo/events/events.pl/2006.10.10-2006.10.10http://www.klubgaja.pl/swieto_drzewa/
Past installations have taken place at Washington University,http://mocoloco.com/art/archives/002020.php Forest Park in St. Louis,http://stlouis.missouri.org/citygov/newsgram/volumes/volume28/tulip-festival.htm, at the Arts Festival in Hebden Bridge
Hebden Bridge
Hebden Bridge is a market town within the Metropolitan Borough of Calderdale, in West Yorkshire, England. It forms part of the Upper Calder Valley and lies 8 miles west of Halifax and 14 miles north east of Rochdale, at the confluence of the River Calder and the River Hebden .A 2004 profile of...
in England, and in Stadtpark in Vienna
Vienna
Vienna is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Austria and one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austria's primary city, with a population of about 1.723 million , and is by far the largest city in Austria, as well as its cultural, economic, and political centre...
, Austria
Austria
Austria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the...
.
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, http://www.artforprogress.org/contest.php and has been invited to the 2007 Burning Man
Burning Man
Burning Man is a week-long annual event held in the Black Rock Desert in northern Nevada, in the United States. The event starts on the Monday before the American Labor Day holiday, and ends on the holiday itself. It takes its name from the ritual burning of a large wooden effigy on Saturday evening...
festival, which also awarded the Project a grant for the installation.http://www.burningman.com/installations/07_mangrove.html#tree_hugger
New installations are currently planned for Europos Parkas
Europos Parkas
Europos Parkas 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 and presents Lithuanian and international modern art.-Collection:The museum exhibits more than 90 works from 27...
in Lithuania
Lithuania
Lithuania , officially the Republic of Lithuania is a country in Northern Europe, the biggest of the three Baltic states. It is situated along the southeastern shore of the Baltic Sea, whereby to the west lie Sweden and Denmark...
and the Tehran Museum of Contemporary Art
Tehran Museum of Contemporary Art
Tehran's Museum of Contemporary Art is an art museum in Tehran, Iran.Inaugurated in 1977, and built adjacent to Tehran's Laleh Park, the museum was designed by Iranian architect Kamran Diba, who employed elements from traditional Persian architecture. The building can be listed as a contemporary...
in Isfahan, Iran
Iran
Iran , officially the Islamic Republic of Iran , is a country in Southern and Western Asia. The name "Iran" has been in use natively since the Sassanian era and came into use internationally in 1935, before which the country was known to the Western world as Persia...
.http://www.stlmagathome.com/media/At-Home/July-August-2006/Homefront/
According to the artist's website a large installation is scheduled for 2008/9 in India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
, with the participation of several environmental groups from around the world, to commemorate the Chipko Women.http://www.treehuggerproject.com/th-press.pdf A documentary film of the Chipko Women Tribute is also planned.