downtown Wichita sculpture
by artist John Kearney
Trained in bronze casting, Kearney found welded steel appealing, falling back on welding skills learned in the U.S. Navy during WWII performing underwater repair of naval vessels.
The artist frequented salvage yards, and on one occasion he returned with an armful of automobile bumpers. Throwing them to the ground, he noticed that the bumpers had fallen into a shape that vaguely resembled a female dancer. Kearney constructed his first bumper sculpture, developing a style for which he is still known.
Kearney finds the notion of constructing a horse from bumpers particularly ironic, since the car put horse out of business as a mode of human transportation.
~more bio and story on another nearby Kearney sculpture Grandfather's Horse - HERE
~photo 8 April 2012 while on the Wichita Bronze tour
