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Features: July 29, 2002
Famed Sculptor George Rickey Dies
Internationally acclaimed sculptor George
Rickey died at his home in Minnesota July 17. He was 95.
Rickey was one of the pioneers, along with Alexander Calder,
of the kinetic, or moving, genre in sculpture. His work
Six Random Lines Excentric — a gift from Rensselaer
Trustee and entrepreneur Nancy Mueller — stands on
campus in the Hassan Quad.
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Thomas Griffin
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A Hudson Valley resident who maintained
a studio in East Chatham, N.Y., Rickey had an extensive
teaching career. He was a former Rensselaer adjunct professor
of art in the School of Architecture and holds an honorary
doctorate of fine arts from Rensselaer. He also taught at
Kalamazoo College, Michigan, University of Washington, Seattle,
Tulane University, New Orleans, and Dartmouth College, New
Hampshire, among others.
Rickey received numerous awards and honors
for his work, including a Guggenheim Fellowship in 1960
and 1961, a Fine Arts Award from the American Institute
of Architects in 1972, the New York State Governor's Arts
Award in 1986, and a Lifetime Achievement in Contemporary
Sculpture Award from the International Sculpture Center
in Washington in 1999. He was elected to the American Academy
of Arts and Letters in 1974.
"His presence, as a teacher, was extraordinary,"
said David Haviland '64, vice president of institute advancement.
Haviland, formerly dean of architecture, was also one of
Rickey's students. "Walking into the drawing and painting
studio, he lit up the place, charging the atmosphere, making
it pregnant with possibilities. As a critic, he had an extraordinary
ability to engage his students, and to redefine the intellectual
space in which we were working."
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