Manitowoc’s Rahr-West Art Museum has announced a major acquisition.
Executive Director Greg Vadney tells Seehafer News that they’re thrilled to announce that Makili, a bronze equine sculpture, created by artist Deborah Butterfield, is a gift to the Rahr-West from the Art Museum’s Charitable Foundation.
Vadney tells Seehafer News, “It’s the most significant purchase since the Georgia O’Keeffe painting by Mrs. Ruth West.”
And, in fact, it was made possible through generous funding from the Ruth St. John and John Dunham West Foundation.
The sculpture appears to be formed from driftwood in the shape of a full-sized horse, but in reality, it is forged in bronze using a method developed by Butterfield.
Makili was created nearly 30 years ago for collectors Joel and Sherry Mallin, owners of a world-renowned private sculpture collection in New York’s Buckhorn Sculpture Park.
Vadney told us it’ll be placed on permanent display on the east lawn of the museum in front of the Vilas-Rahr Mansion in late summer.
