The Iron Horse Sunrise 4 Young Corn Silos Farm Art
by Reid Callaway
Title
The Iron Horse Sunrise 4 Young Corn Silos Farm Art
Artist
Reid Callaway
Medium
Photograph - Photography
Description
The Iron Horse Sunrise 4....by Reid Callaway
Young Corn Silos Farm Art
This Iron Horse image has been both sold and published....
The Iron Horse stands guard over the young cornfield. Standing proudly in a Greene County field some 18 miles south of Athens on Georgia Hwy 15. The 2-ton iron sculpture has been making headlines since the day it reared its head in front of Reed Hall on the University of Georgia campus more than 40 years ago. The famed piece has been fought over, ridden and ridiculed, has had mentions in Time magazine, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution and Atlanta magazine, not to mention the slew of Athens writers who've tackled the subject. A film was even made about the notorious horse in 1982 by William VanDerKloot.
An entirely post-World War II development, metal sculpture was making one of its first appearances in the country on the UGA campus. On the very evening that the sculpture of the Iron Horse was placed in front of Reed Hall, a number of disgruntled students set to work with their own creative ideas for the piece. The horse was scribbled on with paint, hay was shoved into its mouth while manure was scattered on the ground behind it, and finally a mattress was placed under it and set on fire.
The artist said to The Atlanta Journal on May 28, 1954, ''I was struck with the idea of ancient Athens where people lived with sculpture all around them, and even if they didn't like it, they left it alone. I wanted Athens, Ga., to have a piece of sculpture to look at. And I think the least I could have expected, even if they didn't like it, was a little Southern courtesy.''
Time magazine picked up the story of the horse on June 7, 1954, and quotes Pattison as well: ''It's degrading to have that happen to anyone's idea. ...The university took quite a courageous step in ... having me come down here and work in the first place. ... Now I think their action in taking the horse down and hiding it is cowardly. ... I feel terrible.''
Never again to grace the campus, the Iron Horse was, as Pattison said, taken into hiding. Then in 1958, J.A. Williams, dean of students and director of development, wrote a letter to Dodd, telling him that L.C. Curtis of the university's horticulture department wanted to take the horse and put it on his land where people could drive by and see it. Throughout the years there has been talk about bringing the horse back. Jack Curtis, son of L.C., told the Athens Observer he disagreed with moving the horse back to campus.
''The administration of the university abdicated their response and abandoned the horse,'' Curtis wrote the newspaper. Jack Curtis says part of the reason he feels the horse is in its proper place is aesthetic. ''The expanse of the curve it's on provides people driving by a nice long look at it,'' he says. ''I've been up there quite a bit and watched people in cars -- seen their faces, you know. And few people drive by without taking a good look at it,'' he adds with a hint of pride. ''It's made an awful lot of people who wouldn't ordinarily be exposed to sculpture exposed to it. ''People also used to go out there and tip it over all the time,'' Curtis says. ''That was before we put it in concrete in the mid or late '60s. Seemed like every Monday we'd have to go over and push it back up.'' It seems there's no truth to the rumor that the horse has its backside facing Athens because of its sour experience on campus. ''The truck got stuck, so that's how it stayed,'' Curtis says with a laugh. It's obvious that over the years, Curtis has become quite attached to the horse. And, he says, ''We always judge the corn crops on whether or not we can see the horse.'' He adds, ''It needs to be out where it is, where people can see it.''
And so the horse stands, subject of a wealth of stories brought on by the initial negative reaction to its presence on campus. A legend in its own time, the Iron Horse shares its history in Athens with its home in Greene County.
Google the Iron Horse and read all about this sculpture that stands in this field and how it got here.
Uploaded
June 24th, 2013
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Viewed 1,339 Times - Last Visitor from Bellevue, WA on 04/23/2024 at 5:43 PM
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Comments (41)
Reid Callaway
Thank you Luther Fine Art for featuring my artwork in our group....Camera Art! 4/17/2022
Luther Fine Art
Congratulations! Your fantastic photographic art has been chosen as a Camera Art Group feature! You are invited to archive your work in the feature archive discussion. There are many other discussions in the group where you can promote your art even further more.
Reid Callaway
Thank you Jenny Revitz Soper for featuring my artwork in our group.... No Place Like Home! 3/7/2022
Reid Callaway
Thank you Frozen In Time for featuring my artwork in our group.... Your Very Best Photography! 2/16/2022
Reid Callaway
Thanks you Lyric Lucas for featuring my artwork in our group... Out Of The Ordinary! 2/16/2022
Reid Callaway
Thank you Kathi Isserman for featuring my artwork in our group... Showcasing The South! 2/14/2022
Reid Callaway
Thank you Frozen In Time for featuring my artwork in our group.... Your Very Best Photography! 2/14/2022
Kathi Isserman
CONGRATULATIONS your EXCEPTIONAL image has been FEATURED on the HOME PAGE of SHOWCASING THE SOUTH GROUP. Please add this to the discussion 2022 “FEATURED IMAGE ARCHIVE THREAD.” L Thank you for participating in the group.
Reid Callaway
Thank you Doug Norkum for featuring my artwork in our group.... Canon Full Frame Cameras! 2/12/2022
Reid Callaway
Thank you Doug Norkum for featuring my artwork in our group.... H D R Photography! 2/12/2022
Shoal Hollingsworth
This is wonderful, I have nominated this for a Special Feature in the Camera Art group L/F
Reid Callaway
Thank you Angela Barnes for making this image one of your personal Favorites! 3/2/2018