William King, the artist who created the sculpture commonly known as “The Tin Men” – one of the most iconic features of the entire Fredonia campus – passed away March 4 at his home in East Hampton at the age of 90.
For some 40 years, the sculpture – situated atop a gradual incline between Michael C. Rockefeller Arts Center and the woodlot near Ring Road – has attracted students seeking a quiet place for contemplation or reflection. It was christened “Words” upon installation in the summer of 1974.
An obituary in The New York Times described King as “a sculptor in a variety of materials whose human figures traced social attitudes through the last half of the 20th century, often poking sly and poignant fun at human follies and foibles ...” Works by King are housed in the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Museum of Modern Art, both in New York City, and the Smithsonian American Art Museum in Washington, D.C., and he’s had dozens of solo gallery shows in New York and other major cities.
Like many of King’s figurative sculptures, “Words” is distinguished by long, spidery legs and an exaggerated ratio of torso to appendages. Gestures and posture suggest attitude and illustrate the artist’s amusement with the unwieldiness of human physical equipment, the Times obituary noted.
Robert Booth, chair of Fredonia’s Department of Visual Arts and New Media and SUNY Distinguished Teaching Professor, worked for King while enrolled in the M.F.A. program at Syracuse University, and also contemplated working full-time for him in his New York City studio. It was through Roger Mack, then head of the sculpture department at Syracuse, that Booth was connected to King.
Booth and another graduate student were hired to fabricate some of King’s large commissioned artwork. Using large paper patterns sent by King, the pair traced the designs on large sheets of aluminum and then cut out the shapes using saws. “We drilled, bolted and assembled to make sure everything fit and was structurally sound, then we would take it all apart and transport to wherever they were going for installation. Often we would drive them and install them ourselves,” Booth recalled.
“He had a great sense of humor and was always generous with his time,” Booth said. “He was an inspiration to young artists and despite his professional stature he remained humble and approachable.”
King was brought to Fredonia as a Visiting Sculptor in Residence through the University-Wide Committee on the Arts “Artist in Residency Program” that was funded by a special grant from the Edward John Noble Foundation. Crafted of stainless steel pipe and plates, the sculpture was created through $10,000 worth of materials and labor donated by several Chautauqua County businesses, including Allegheny Ludlum Steel Corp. (predecessor of AL Tech Specialty Steel Corp.), of Dunkirk, and Newbrook Machine Co., of Silver Creek, with assistance from the former Lakeshore Association for the Arts.
When not supervising fabricating work being done in Silver Creek, King made many clay pieces in the ceramics studio at Fredonia, said Distinguished Teaching Professor Marvin Bjurlin, who at the time was in the early stage of a 40-year career in ceramics at Fredonia.
“It was really fun to see him manipulate the clay,” Bjurlin recalled. The small clay pieces were made spontaneously, Bjurlin explained, so students saw how the material gives – unlike stainless steel, which an artist has to know where he or she is going before starting.
“A lot of the characters were sort of spiny; they always had long legs – like he did – and they were in some kind of interesting posture,” Bjurlin added. Sculptures were 6 to 16 inches in height and were fired before King’s residency was completed.
Like Booth, Bjurlin remembers King’s wonderful sense of humor. “He related nicely with the undergraduate students,” he added. “King had a really good time in the ceramics studio and the net results showed that.”
So successful was King’s residency at Fredonia that it became a catalyst for a matching fund program through which the National Endowment for the Arts donated another $10,000 for Fredonia to purchase works by contemporary artists. King also created metal sculptures at two other SUNY campuses as part of residency programs.
King initially studied engineering, but enrolled at Cooper Union, a prestigious school of art, architecture and engineering, and began selling his early sculptures before he graduated in 1948. King worked in clay, wood, bronze, vinyl, aluminum and burlap.
Karen West, senior director of Development at the Fredonia College Foundation, spoke with King in 2008, when King was under consideration for an award and an inventory of his sculptures was being compiled. West proudly reported that the campus valued his Fredonia sculpture, and noted that it is often featured in publications.
“I regaled him with stories of how students dress it for Commencement and scarves for winter,” West recalled. “He loved that!”
