Quick Facts
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Biography
Kristen Visbal (born December 3, 1962) is an American sculptor living and working in Lewes, Delaware. She specializes in lost-wax casting in bronze.
Biography
Visbal was born inMontevideo, Uruguay, the daughter of American Ralph Albert and Elizabeth Krystyniak Visbal; the father was in foreign service there at the time of her birth. She attended the University of Arizona in Tucson 1980-1982 and University of Maryland 1983-1984. She's a Bachelor of Arts summa cum laude at Salisbury State University of 1995. She was an apprentice of lost wax fine art casting at Johnson Atelier Foundry, Mercerville, New Jersey, 1995—1998, and is the owner andmanager of Visbal Fine Bronze Sculpture in Lewes, Delaware since 1998.
Her most well-known work of public art is Fearless Girl (2017), a 50-inch (1,300 mm) bronze figure installed temporarily on the Bowling Green in Manhattan's Financial District, stirring much international attention and controversy, as it challenges the Charging Bull sculpture of 1989.Visbal has said "The piece is pungent with Girl Power!" Kristen Visbal has since been sued for taking $28,102 from the US Coast Guard Alumni Association to make an Alexander Hamilton statue but allegedly failing to produce the work by the contracted deadline.
Fearless Girl replicas lawsuit
On February 14,2019, State Street Global Advisors filed a lawsuit against Kristen Visbal, claiming that she has made and sold replicas of the Fearless Girl statue in violation of her contract with the company. The suit claims the artist made at least three unauthorized Fearless Girl reproductions that could damage the company's global campaign in support of female leadership and gender diversity.
Other selected works of public art
- Goddess of the Sea, a mermaid with two dolphins framed in water, Myrtle Beach, South Carolina
- The Cradle of Coaches (2009-2011 and 2014), a series of ten 120% lifesize statues of celebrated football coaches(Thomas Van Voorhis, Carmen Cozza, Weeb Ewbank, Paul Dietzel, Red Blaik, Paul Brown, Bo Schembechler, Ara Parseghian, John Pont, John Harbaugh) at Miami University's Cradle of Coaches Plaza in Oxford, Ohio.
- In Search of Atlantis (2009), a girl swimming with a green sea turtle, Atlantic Beach, Florida
- The American Cape (2004), a 12 feet 4 inches (3.76 m) statue of Alexander Hamilton in Hamilton, Ohio; Hamilton's full-length cape represents the 13-star American flag of the time.
- Sea Express (2003), a man riding on a bottlenose dolphin, Jacksonville Beach, Florida
- Passing the Torch (2002), a statue of Olympic athlete Bob Hayes (1942-2002), Jacksonville, Florida; Hayes wears his 1964 Olympics clothing and carries the Olympic torch.
- Girl Chasing Butterflies (1998), Merrill Lynch HQ in Plainsboro, New Jersey, and (2005) revised version in Hershey Gardens, Pennsylvania