Click Here for Print Version
PATRICK MORELLI, a graduate of Duke and Syracuse Universities, is a sculptor, painter, digital artist, photographer, and site-specific architectural designer. His work is distinguished by visual beauty, emotional depth, intelligence of design, technical excellence, and a universal human and fine arts significance. His virtuosity has been demonstrated in his ability to create realistic as well as abstract/modernist sculpture, architectural designs, and paintings of the highest quality, imagination, and originality.
The sculptor’s ten-foot, bronze father-and-infant,“Behold” Monument to Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was unveiled by Mrs. Coretta Scott King overlooking the tomb of Dr. King at the King National Historic Site in Atlanta, Georgia where it is seen by over 700,000 American and foreign visitors, annually, and worldwide in major publications and televised programs including The New York Times, Fortune Magazine, Smithsonian Magazine, and Good Morning, America. A second casting of the ten-foot, “Behold” monument, purchased by the New Jersey State Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Commemorative Commission, is on public exhibition at Essex County College in Newark, New Jersey.
“Behold” has been recognized, internationally, as one of America’s most inspirational and historically-significant public monuments:“I believe,” Mrs. King wrote, “that the ‘BEHOLD’ statue is an appropriate recognition of the common struggle of all Black people in our nation to achieve the full status and blessing of first class citizenship and freedom from decades and generations of oppression.”
Morelli’s bronze busts demonstrate beauty, emotional depth, and a profound sensitivity to the character and personality of his subjects who include the late United States Congressman, Bill Chappell, Jr. at Canaveral National Seashore National Park in New Smyrna Beach, Florida; Ms. Lee Morrone, businesswoman and philanthropist, Manhattan; football legend, Jim Brown, in the Syracuse University Football Hall of Fame; and a life-size sculpture in memory of a four-and-a-half year old boy, Ambrose King, commissioned by his parents for installation in a memorial/environmental park in Moss Beach, California.
The sculptor’s work is in the permanent collections of the Smithsonian Institution’s American Art Museum in Washington, D.C.; the Tennessee State Museum; and the Pepsi Cola Corporate Collection, among others, as well as in the private collections of Ms. Anne Ford, the Honorable Rudolph Giuliani, Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito, Jr., and the estate of Mr. Alex Haley.
Awards include the National Sculpture Society’s Barrett-Colea Foundry Prize, a Dewitt Wallace Reader’s Digest Grant, and the National Arts Club’s Exhibiting Member’s Bruce Stevenson Memorial Portrait Painting Award.
He was honored with a 2005 proclamation by the Governor and Secretary of State of New Jersey for his “Behold” monuments to Dr. King in Atlanta and in New Jersey and for their artistry and influence in inspiring a generation of children and adults. Morelli often collaborates with architects, art and civic committee members, corporate representatives, and private collectors to create an original, site-specific bronze sculpture or relief for public sites as well as paintings, or designs in mosaic or ceramic tile—including originally-designed cartoon characters.
In 2002 the artist completed the architectural designs, bronze sculptures, and park setting design for the “Eagle Rock September 11th Memorial” sited at Eagle Rock Reservation County Park in West Orange, New Jersey overlooking the former site of the Twin Towers. The Memorial was dedicated on October 20, 2002 by the New Jersey State Governor, United States Senators and Congressmen, and over two hundred families who lost loved ones. The memorial commemorates on a 160-foot, granite Wall of Remembrance the names, ages, and hometowns or foreign countries of the over 2900 heroes and casualties of the September 11th terrorist attacks on the Twin Towers, the Pentagon, and the four airline flights. It earned the 29th annual 2004 “Excellence in Design Award” from the New Jersey Recreation and Parks Association for the artist’s architectural design of the Memorial wall and the creation of seven bronze sculptures. The Memorial is seen, annually, by over 100,000 American and foreign visitors and is, presently, under review by the National Park Service and the United States Congress for designation as a National Historic Site.
RECENT COMMISSIONS:
Life-size, bronze bust of Ibn Khaldun, 14th Century Muslim scholar and historian. Dedication: May 23, 2009. Columbia University, New York City. Acquired by the Arab American National Museum in Dearborn, Michigan for its permanent collection. The Arab American National Museum, an affiliate museum of the Smithsonian Institution, is the first museum in the world devoted to Arab American history and culture.
Eagle Rock Flight Crews Memorial--Memorial to heroism of crew and flight attendants in four United States airliners which were hijacked by terrorists on September 11th, 2001. Eagle Rock Reservation County Park, West Orange, New Jersey, overlooking the former site of the Twin Towers. Dedication: September 11, 2009.
_____________________________________________________________________
The artist’s portfolio of artwork, designs, and publications can be viewed on his website “www.MorelliART.com.” To discuss commissions for civic, corporate, private, or major public art projects or to schedule speaking engagements and PowerPoint presentations, seminars, workshops, art/education programs, and visiting artist opportunities for universities and schools contact the artist:
Patrick Morelli,
MorelliART Sculpture, Architectural Design
& Contemporary Art Exhibitions
1 Chatham Circle, Loudonville, New York 12211
Email: MorelliART@aol.com
Telephone: (518) 782-4671
Website portfolio: www.MorelliART.com
¤
Return to home page
¤Return to "Table of Contents"