My prior Art posts can be found HERE.
How do we move away from being a civilization that produces art that causes comments like, “my five year old could make this,” back to being one that creates beauty and inspires deep questions? We must reject modernity and embrace tradition. To embrace tradition, we must first learn about it.
Let’s study art history together.
The Seed Sower (Norman, Oklahoma)
| Location | Norman, Oklahoma |
|---|---|
| Coordinates | N 35° 12.234 W 097° 26.745 14S E 641481 N 3896761  |
| Designer | Paul R. Moore |
| Type | Sculpture |
| Material | Bronze |
| Height | 12 ft. (3.676 m) – 5 ft. base |
| Completion date | 2000 |
This statue is based on the University of Oklahoma’s official seal.
I’ve always thought that he looks a bit jaunty, though. I mean, that’s a pretty odd stance for just a casual walk through a field, right? Well, perhaps that’s intentional. I’m not quite old enough to say. The face on the seal’s seed sower is intended to resemble the first University of Oklahoma President, David Ross Boyd.
The statue is also overtly based on this man’s face. I wonder if he had any notion that after becoming one with the Seal, he’d eventually become a giant statue on the campus – but still dressed as the seal. I hope so.
You might wonder… why a sower? The university provides an answer. (via ou.edu)
The Seed Sower… a reminder of the importance of sowing the seeds of knowledge, to bear fruit in the future. The face of the Seed Sower on our university seal was rendered to resemble the first president of the university, David Ross Boyd, who took half of his first year’s salary and personally bought, planted and even watered the very first trees on the then-barren OU campus.
The sculptor – Paul R. Moore – of this work is a native of Oklahoma, has been an artist-in-residence at the university, and is among the most famous and celebrated living sculptors. He has managed this while doing actual sculpting (as opposed to a lot of the abstract “modern” slop that gets celebrated nationally.)
Paul Moore is a native Oklahoman who has gained national and international recognition with his sculpture. He was born in Oklahoma City in 1957 and is a citizen of the (Creek) Muscogee Nation, Sweet Potato Clan. Paul Moore is a Fellow and Board Member of the National Sculpture Society and a Member of the Cowboy Artists of America. He is in constant demand for portrait and monumental commissions. He is also the Artist in Residence and Professor of Figurative Sculpture at the University of Oklahoma, Norman, OK.
Moore has sculpted more than 130 commissions for numerous municipal, corporate, private and international collections. His work is in the US Capital Collection and the Smithsonian’s National Portrait Gallery in Washington, D.C. and in 2008 his portrait of Dr. Thomas Rees, one of the three founding members of the Flying Doctors of East Africa, was unveiled at their main headquarters in Nairobi, Kenya, Africa. The same year his sculpture Coming of Age was placed in the Brookgreen Gardens permanent collection at Pawleys Island, SC.
His numerous awards include Gold Medal for Sculpture / Maurice B. Hexter Prize, the Silver Medal of Honor/John Cavanaugh Memorial Award, the Margaret Hexter Prize and Leonard J. Meiselman Memorial Award from the National Sculpture Society in New York, NY. He also has received the Silver Medal for Sculpture at the 45th, 46th and 47th Annual Cowboy Artists of America Show held at the National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum in Oklahoma City, OK. In 2007, he was given one of the University of Oklahoma’s top honors, the Otis Sullivant Award for his outstanding contribution to the arts in Oklahoma and at OU. In addition to this prestigious award, he has received two Regents Awards for Outstanding Professional and University Service, five Awards for Outstanding Contribution from the University’s School of Art and Art History and an Award for Excellence in Service. In 2011 he was recognized by the State of Oklahoma¹s House of Representatives for his contributions to the arts. Also in 2011, he was honored to sculpt a life-size bust of Oklahoma’s Governor Brad Henry for the Hall of the Governors at the Oklahoma State Capital, Oklahoma City, OK. In 2012 his bust of President John F. Kennedy was placed in the collection of The John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum, Columbia Point, Boston, Mass.
I’ll share a couple of additional pictures of the statue to give a sense of scale and surroundings.
