Major Artist Lends Work

To Kent Memorial Library

KENT — Internationally known sculptor David Hayes has lent a major piece of art to Kent Memorial Library.

The painted metal sculpture, titled “Rouge et Noir,” stands seven feet high and will be displayed this winter on the library terrace on Main Street.

“We are deeply honored to have received this wonderful art from one of America’s great masters,” said Kent Library Association President Ken Cooper. “The location in front of the historical federalist building will be ideal as it communicates our commitment to both preservation of the past and participation in the present. It is a very strong symbol of what we are as an institution.”

The piece was offered to the library through the efforts of Billy Morrison, owner of The Morrison Gallery in Kent.

“Kent has a strong history in support of important art. The fact that an artist of the stature of David Hayes has agreed to loan one of his pieces for public display on Main Street demonstrates his commitment to the cultural life of Kent and the role the library plays in it,” noted Mr Morrison.

David Hayes was born in Hartford, and received a BA degree from the University of Notre Dame in 1953 and an MFA degree from Indiana University in 1955 where he studied with David Smith. He has received a post-doctoral Fulbright award and a Guggenheim Fellowship. He is a recipient of the Logan Prize for Sculpture and an award from the National Institute of Arts and Letters.

He has had over 300 exhibitions and is included in over 100 institutional collections including that of the Museum of Modern Art and the Guggenheim Museum in New York, and Musée des Arts Décoratifs, Paris. In 2007 was conferred an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters degree by Albertus Magnus College.

He resides in Coventry.

Kent Memorial Library is at 32 North Main Street and is open Monday through Saturday. Call 860-927-3761 for additional information.