SPRINGFIELD, IL, August 09, 2022 /24-7PressRelease/ -- Michael A. Dunbar has been included in Marquis Who's Who. As in all Marquis Who's Who biographical volumes, individuals profiled are selected on the basis of current reference value. Factors such as position, noteworthy accomplishments, visibility, and prominence in a field are all taken into account during the selection process.
With over four decades experience as a significant American sculptor, Michael Dunbar is best known for his large-scale outdoor sculptures, many of which have been exhibited at universities, sculpture parks, corporate headquarters and numerous public plazas. His abstract works of bronze and steel have appeared throughout both the United States and abroad, most notably in China where he was one of 10 international sculptors invited to participate in the Second HUMAN-NATURE 2019 exhibit at the Zhengzhou International Sculpture Exhibition. His large stainless-steel sculpture "Moon Transit," was recognized with a Special Honor Purchase Award for the permanent collection of the sculpture park.
Likewise, he was invited alongside 34 other international sculptors to participate in the Fifth China Wuhu Liu Kaiqu International Sculpture Exhibition in 2016, where his large-scale sculpture, "Iron Mountain," was acknowledged with a Special Honor Award and purchased for permanent display. Mr. Dunbar's fourteen-ton bronze sculpture, Euclid's Cross, located at the Pyramid Hill Sculpture Park in Hamilton, Ohio, stands as one of the largest abstract bronze sculptures in the country.
Working in his studio in Springfield, Illinois, Mr. Dunbar has created hundreds of small bronze sculptures along with over 44 large scale abstract sculptures since 1974, during which time he has participated in more than 100 group and solo exhibitions. Among them, he was highlighted through the University of Notre Dame Sculpture Project in 1995. From 1995 to 2000, Dunbar created and co-produced with Terry Karpowicz the sculpture exhibition, Pier Walk. Held at the historic Navy Pier in Chicago, the Pier Walk exhibitions became the world's largest sculpture exhibition over a five-year period, featuring the work of more than 450 sculptors from around the world. In the process Mr. Dunbar acquired a unique and distinctly international perspective of the field of public art.
Mr. Dunbar produced and was hosted by the municipal government of Rome, Italy, for "Six American Sculptors from Illinois in Rome" in 2000. His sculptures have also appeared at Grounds for Sculpture, a nationally acclaimed outdoor sculpture garden in Hamilton, New Jersey, in 2011. Furthermore, his work was prominently featured in the solo exhibition "Michael Dunbar: Future, Vision, Past," featuring his smaller bronze sculptures at the Findlay Galleries in New York in 2017. The presentation offered a smaller-scale approach to Mr. Dunbar's monumental body of work and focused on his reflections on the aesthetic images in the evolution of scientific instruments over time.
Between 1977 and 2011 Dunbar served as the Art-in-Architecture Coordinator for the State of Illinois Capital Development Board. During his tenure he orchestrated the acquisition of more than $30 million dollars of significant works of art by more than 700 Illinois artists for the permanent collection of state-funded public buildings.
Mr. Dunbar represented the state of Illinois in 1983 as part of a delegation to Paris, where he commissioned French sculptor Jean Dubuffet's monumental sculpture "Monument with Standing Beast," for the plaza outside the James R. Thompson Center in Chicago.
Well regarded for his achievements, Mr. Dunbar's body of work was chronicled in a monograph by Suzanne Deats "Michael Dunbar" that was released in 2006. The book's foreword by the preeminent New York gallery owner, Andre Emmerich, opined that Mr. Dunbar "has produced a body of commanding large-scale sculpture that vies with the best of our time."
Additional accolades to his credit include being the recipient of an International Pollock-Krasner Foundation Award in 2007 and again in 2021. The award honors outstanding artists whose work expresses high creative standards and demonstrates the impact of art on society at large.
Outside of his primary endeavors as an artist, Mr. Dunbar has contributed richly to the historic preservation of his community throughout the course of his career. While still an undergraduate in 1974 he spearheaded "Look Up Springfield," a project which called attention to the original architectural features of many of the historic structures in downtown Springfield.
He also functioned as the chairman of the Springfield Historic Sites Commission in the 90's and served as the founding president of the Elijah Iles House Foundation in 1995. An undertaking which succeeded in its goal of rescuing the oldest house in Springfield, the Elijah Iles House, – an effort which resulted in Mr. Dunbar earning the Mayor's Award for Historic Preservation.
Moreover, since 2001, he has served as a board member of the Dana-Thomas House Foundation, a nonprofit organization devoted to the preservation of the Susan Lawrence Dana home, which was originally designed by Frank Lloyd Wright in 1902.
Prior to embarking upon his journey as an artist, Mr. Dunbar attended Illinois State University (ISU) from which he earned a Bachelor of Arts in 1973. That same year, he was the recipient of a full National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship. Following this accomplishment, Mr. Dunbar went on to receive a Master of Arts at the University of Illinois in 1976 and a Master of Science from ISU in 1980.
In accounting for his success, Mr. Dunbar credits his good fortune of survival as an artist to perseverance, determination and dedication in overcoming the multitude of on-going challenges of a career in the visual arts. Looking toward the future, he plans on continuing his efforts as a professional sculptor and his interest in historic preservation.
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