Pan Am Public Art: Art Across Borders Artist
Lawrence F. Kinney
Project:
Mary G. Ross: Scientist, Engineer, Cherokee-American, steam-bent
white oak, stainless steel, and vinyl lettering, 8 x 11 x 9 feet
Site 3: Elmwood Museum District, on the Buffalo State College campus on Elmwood Avenue.
Mr. Kinney's work pays homage to Mary G. Ross, a Cherokee-American who "made significant and astonishing contributions to the world of aerospace engineering." An image of Mary G. Ross is superimposed on the front of the sculpture, which is composed of white oak bent into a form that is reminiscent of traditional Native American woven baskets. Words made of weather-resistant vinyl lettering that refer to aspects of Ms. Ross’s ethnicity and career, such as "Researcher: Satellite Orbits and Fly By Space Probes," have been placed on the surface in geometric configurations.
Lawrence F. Kinney has worked toward his M.F.A. at the University at Buffalo, where he received a B.F.A. in 1990. Previously he studied at the Mohawk Valley Community College in conjunction with the Munson-Williams-Proctor Institute in Utica, New York. In 1988 he received a Rumsey Scholarship to travel to Spain to study Spanish art and architecture.
Since 1998 he has been the sole proprietor of Sculptures and Form, a firm in Buffalo. In the past he was a guest lecturer at SUNY/Buffalo, and co-owner and curator of the Low Profile Gallery of Fine Arts in Utica. Last year Mr. Kinney produced life-size sculptures of a Native American family for Fantasy Island. He has produced commercial 3-dimensional works for businesses throughout the United States and Puerto Rico. In 1990, and again in 1992, he received awards at the Western New York Exhibitions at the Albright-Knox Art Gallery. His work has been shown in invitational and group exhibitions in Buffalo and Erie, Pennsylvania.