TRUE ARTIST

Lear, a true artist with an interesting background, said, “My job is to transform physical matter into the spiritual.”

A Louisville native, he attended three different high schools in four years, and although he graduated from UofL with a BA in Fine Arts in 1971, it took him 10 years, working odd jobs in between. He later earned an MFA from Carnegie-Mellon in Pittsburgh. He was the studio assistant to the late Sam Gilliam, an internationally-renowned artist whose work was recently featured at the Speed Museum (https://www.speedmuseum. org/exhibitions/sam-gilliam-1933-2022/). Lear’s father owned and ran the W.T. Lear Fence Company, which he said taught him general building skills and a “Great Depression” work ethic.

His home studio on Barrett Avenue was reportedly an extension of his personality. “It almost qualifies as a sculpture itself,” according to the Courier Journal in 1979. It included welding equipment, metal-cutting devices, hoists, and other tools. According to local blacksmith and friend, sculptor Craig Kaviar, the studio was built around a tree that had grown indoors, which had gained the attention of building inspectors and nosy neighbors.

“Everybody is friendly here except perhaps for one lady who keeps sending the zoning board,” Lear said. “They’ve been here half a dozen times.”

Installation

Big Red was installed on one of the coldest days in December 1989, with last-minute complications with the crane, moving trailer, permits, and securing a police escort. The trailer had a flat tire on the expressway, and one of the cranes broke. Even after Big Red was secure at its resting place on campus, Lear found himself helping a friend fix another flat tire later that same day.

Lear’s creation quickly gained admirers within the College of Business. “When I came around the corner of the music building heading to the business school and saw it, I almost ran off the road,” said Morton. Goldstein added: “I find the sculpture delightful. It shows the School of Business is a progressive, exciting school on the cutting edge, and…that we have a sense of humor.”

Legacy

Big Red has become a permanent fixture on the northern side of Belknap campus, and to this day, it surprises and inspires. Hopefully, this would give its creator some satisfaction.

“More than anything, I hope people stop and take a look at it,” Lear said at the time. “After they walk by it again sometime in the evening or even 10 years from now, I hope they see something new that surprises them.”

ANNE MARIE ZWERG-VILLEGAS