The Margaret Sue Rust Foundation Donates Major Gift for Sculpture in Honor of Lola L. Bonner

The Margaret Sue Rust Foundation has donated a gift to the Art Center's Sculpture Garden in memory of Lola L. Bonner, a trustee of the foundation and a former president of the Art Center Board. The sculpture has been commissioned by Rockport Center for the Arts to nationally known wildlife sculptor Sandy Scott, marking the first female sculptor to be added to RCA's Sculpture Garden. The dedication is set for Fall 2009, in the 40th anniversary of the Rockport Art Association.

Sandy Scott is one of the leading wildlife sculptors working today. Her large-scale work is part of major public and private collections throughout the United States. Many of these placements were achieved through the assistance of the National Sculptors' Guild which Sandy is a member of. Public Collections include the Museum of the American West in Ruidoso, NM; the Southwest School of Art and Craft in San Antonio, TX; the University of Texas Law School; and the National Wildlife Art Museum; among many others. Private collections include President and Mrs. Gerald Ford; Arnold Shwartzenegger; and Margaret Thatcher. 

Robin Salmon, curator of Brookgreen Gardens, calls Scott one of the most distinguished animaliers of the twentieth century and compares her passion and spirit to that of the noted early 20th century's sculptor Anna Hyatt Huntington. In 1997, Scott's Peace Fountain was acquired by the Brookgreen Gardens in South Carolina, and with its installation, Ms. Scott takes her place among the greats of American sculptors. The 350 acre sculpture garden, founded by Archer and Anna Hyatt Huntington in 1930, exhibits the world's most comprehensive collection of American figurative sculpture and chronicles the history of sculpture as fine art in our country.