Nice Kinnick Relief article

Monday, January 1, 2007
Work on Kinnick relief moving along
Sculpture set to be unveiled in September
By Mike McWilliamsIowa City Press-Citizen

Longtime University of Iowa professor and Hawkeye football fan H.D. Hoover said that if you think the Nile Kinnick statue outside Kinnick Stadium is impressive, you're in for a treat.
Hoover and his wife, Myrene, caught a sneak peek of the Nile Kinnick relief sculpture in late October at sculptor Larry Nowlan's studio in Vermont.
"It's mind boggling," said Hoover, a retired professor in the UI College of Education who lives in Iowa City. "It's actually much more impressive than the Kinnick statue, and I think that's incredible. I think people will be stunned by it really. I've never seen anything like it."
Nowlan started to sculpt a statue and relief of the famed Iowa football legend in January 2005. The 12-foot bronze statue, depicting Kinnick as a student and athlete, was unveiled in September on the Krause Family Plaza outside the Kinnick Stadium south entrance.
Nowlan said work on the relief is moving along with its unveiling at Kinnick Stadium still set for September. When completed, the relief will measure about 20 feet wide and 10 feet tall. Because of its size, the relief is divided into four sections, which will be welded together later, Nowlan said.
"We're making the mold as we speak and once the mold is done, it goes to the foundry for casting," Nowlan said.
The relief is based on photographs taken during an Iowa vs. Notre Dame game in 1939 showing Kinnick just before he crossed the goal line for a touchdown. Iowa beat the undefeated Fighting Irish that day 7-6.
Nowlan said there is not sculpture like it at any stadium in the United States.
"For a sculptor, it's been a dream situation," he said. "For a big sports fan, I couldn't ask for anything more, frankly."
UI alumnus Christopher Whittington also had a chance to see the Kinnick relief earlier this year. Whittington, who is the chief registrar at the non-profit Trust for Museum Exhibitions in Washington, D.C., called the relief "very impressive."
"The scale of this piece will stack up against big important sculptures," Whittington said. "I'm sure that some artists might argue with that fact because it's about football, but the scale and how he's doing it is pretty amazing.
"Even the hardest core football fan, who doesn't care about art, is going to stop and look at this and think it's pretty cool," Whittington said. "That's a real achievement for Larry Nowlan to bring an art object to an audience that wouldn't normally see art."
Kevin Spratt, a UI alumnus and former faculty and staff member, has seen the relief a few times, including once with the Hoovers. Spratt moved in 2004 to Lebanon, N.H., and works as a statistician at Dartmouth College's medical school.
Spratt said he was especially impressed with the detail Nowlan put into the relief.
"If you look close, you can see the stitching on the jersey. It's just phenomenal detail," Spratt said. "The amount of work he went through to make this work is amazing."