Grounded Sculpture: Three new outdoor sculptures for inspiration at museum

Courtesy of Georgia Museum of Art
April 19, 2023

“Outdoor sculpture isn’t something that is added to a museum’s collection very often. It can be expensive, it is often difficult to install and outdoor space is limited, especially for works that may be on display for the foreseeable future. Nonetheless, three new outdoor sculptures—by Andrew T. Crawford, Jane Manus and William J. Thompson—now grace the museum grounds.”

WILLIAM J. THOMPSON

“Walk around to the other side of the museum from “On the Verge,” and you’ll find a sculpture by William J. Thompson titled “Archangel” on a pedestal near the museum’s main entrance. Thompson is perhaps best known locally for creating the “Spirit of Athens” sculpture downtown in conjunction with the 1996 Olympic Games. He also made a memorial at Andersonville National Park, commissioned by the Georgia Natural Resources Commission to commemorate lost prisoners of all American wars. Born in Denver, Colorado, Thompson, like Crawford, studied at RISD. After serving in the U.S. Army and receiving his master of fine arts degree from Cranbrook Academy of Arts, he taught at UGA’s art school from 1964 to 1983. The Lamar Dodd School of Art’s sculpture studio is named in his honor.

The museum owns many works by Thompson: prints, drawings, several smaller sculptures. But until now it did not have a large work. Given his importance to Georgia and to UGA, it made sense to acquire one, and his children generously donated this addition to our collection. Thompson died in 1995. He originally made this sculpture in 1967, in aluminum and fiberglass. It was included in the 1969–1970 Smithsonian National Traveling Exhibit. The original sculpture was not in good condition, so Jack Ward, who worked closely with Thompson many years ago, and Joe Thompson (the artist’s son and a sculptor in his own right) recast it in bronze in 2022, enabling us to install it outside. Like many of his works, it reaches toward the sky, mirroring Beverly Pepper’s sculpture “Ascension” nearby.”