The newly created Soaring Seahawk sculpture at the University of North Carolina Wilmington will be officially dedicated 11 a.m. Friday, June 12 at Belk Plaza in front of Hoggard Hall on Wagoner Drive. Irwin Belk, the Charlotte philanthropist who commissioned the sculpture as a personal gift to the university, will be in attendance.
With a 20-foot wingspan, the artwork designed by Wilmington artist Dumay Gorham III is believed to be the largest Seahawk, or osprey, sculpture in the world. Hundreds of hours of work over a year's time went into the construction and finishing of the copper sculpture and its base, which weigh 2,000 pounds. It measures10 feet from the base to its highest point and six feet from beak to tail. Thousands of copper feathers have been painstakingly welded to the sculpture to give it a realistic look.
On May 21, 2009, the sculpture was installed at the traffic circle in front of the UNC Wilmington campus, which has been renamed Belk Plaza. No UNCW or state funds were used for the project.
Media will have personal access to the closed Belk Plaza traffic circle by request. Interviews will be available.
Photo gallery following the Seahawk's journey from inception to installation: http://www.uncw.edu/marketingcommunications/gallery/2009seahawk_sculpture/
Media Contact:
Joy Davis, Marketing and Communications, 910.916.8603 or davisjc@uncw.edu
