Joe Wheelwright ’70 died of cancer on September 28th in his Dorchester Massachusetts. Joe is known for his sculptures of large heads carved from immense stones. He also made large human figure from pine trees that had grown into two trunks; he inverted them to display a human form. After a brief stint in Vietnam in the early 70’s working for peace. “One night, on the boat coming home, I asked myself, ‘What now?’ I answered, ‘I’ll do what I’m good at!’ ” He moved to Vermont to create art. He later went to the Rhode Island School of Design and earned his MFA.
“Persistently ambitious, Mr. Wheelwright once wanted to create a replacement for New Hampshire’s Old Man of the Mountain, which collapsed in 2003. Then two years ago, he was trying to persuade the Peruvian government to let him carve a giant head into the Andes mountains, which he envisioned as the planet’s biggest work of art. ‘The world is ready for an eighth wonder of the world,’ he told the Boston Globe at the time.”
For more on this interesting Yale sculptor:
Boston Globe Appreciation, 10/3/16
Round Faced Stone
Sleeping Moon
Lovingstones
Carlisle Memorial
New England Bio Labs