Paley sculpture enhances MAG entrance

isitors have always been able to sit under the beech tree to the right of the Memorial Art Gallery's main entrance. But now they can do it in style.

Albert Paley's Millennium Bench is installed. Workers place Deborah Butterfield's Wailana.

This summer, an old stone bench was replaced with a 10-foot-long stainless-steel sculpture titled Millennium Bench by internationally known metal sculptor Albert Paley, a gift of longtime MAG friend Nancy Turner. Paley, who is based in Rochester, received an honorary doctorate from the University in 1989.

"With Nancy Turner's generous gift and Albert Paley's artistic genius, the main entrance to the gallery becomes one of the most significant areas for outdoor sculpture in our city," said MAG Director Grant Holcomb.

Paley's sculpture provides a vantage point for another new work: a larger-than-life cast bronze horse by Montana artist Deborah Butterfield. Titled Wailana, the horse was purchased with funds from the Clara and Edwin Strasenburgh Fund.

The works, which weigh close to a ton each, were installed as part of a daylong project. The piers securing the Paley sculpture go down 10 feet, and the Butterfield work, with its top-heavy construction, is anchored in a new concrete foundation.

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