John Walter Kearney
Grandfather's Horse, 1973
Stainless steel and chrome
Gift of Artist and Wichita State University Purchase with Student Government Association funds
The artist stumbled onto this medium by accident. He scavenged a group of car bumpers from a salvage yard, and when he dropped them on the ground at his studio, he noticed they had formed the shape of a ballerina. After making the dancer into reality, he realized he had found his medium. Kearney was uniquely suited for making welded sculpture, having served in the Navy during World War II, performing underwater repair of naval vessels. Kearney particularly enjoyed the irony of using car parts to forge a horse, as the automobile ended the reign of the horse as a mode of transportation.Although Kearney was raised in Nebraska and lived in Chicago, Grandfather’s Horse has a Kansas connection. It literally depicts the artist’s grandfather’s horse, in a loving tribute to the man—one of the founders of Coffeyville, Kansas.