Yale Bulletin and Calendar

November 12, 2004|Volume 33, Number 11

Pictured is one of Dr. Wayne O. Southwick's sculptures which are currently on display in an exhibition at the Koerner Center for Emeritus Faculty.

Noted surgeon displays his
artistic side in sculpture exhibit

The Henry Koerner Center for Emeritus Faculty is hosting an exhibition of sculptures by Dr. Wayne O. Southwick, a retired orthopaedic surgeon from Yale who now devotes his time to creating art.

Some 40 sculptures by Southwick are on view at the center, which is located on the second floor of 149 Elm St. Exhibition hours are Monday-Friday, 9 a.m.-noon and 2-5 p.m. The public is invited.

Southwick taught at Yale from 1958 until his retirement in 1993, serving much of his long tenure as chief of orthopaedic surgery. After his retirement, Southwick's friends, colleagues, former students and patients endowed the University's first chair in orthopaedic surgery in his name.

Southwick began creating sculptures at age 56. In a chapter of "Doctors Afield," a collection of stories by physicians with side pursuits, the orthopaedic surgeon writes about his art. He says that the landscape of his boyhood home of Friend, Nebraska, contributed to his interest in things three-dimensional, and ultimately, to his fascination with both the inner parts of the human body, such as bone and tissue, and with sculpture (the vast majority of his own works are of people in motion). Writes Southwick:

"The landscape comprised a relentlessly flat prairie, a big sky, and an ocean of wheat, corn, soybeans, and grass dotted with an occasional barn, windmill, silo, or grain elevator and, of course, cattle and horses. Aspects of this scene, such as the billowing white clouds that at dawn and dusk turned purple and orange, seemed largely two-dimensional. The spaciousness and flatness made human artifacts stand out as three-dimensional interruptions that could be felt as well as seen."

In 1977, Southwick studied with sculptor Adlai Hardin, who encouraged him to take up further study at the Lyme Academy of Fine Arts. He later studied with the internationally known Italian sculptor Bruno Lucchesi, and in 1992 created his first publicly displayed work; "An American Dream," a life-sized bronze sculpture commissioned for the Yale Sports Medicine Center's atrium. Sports figures are often a theme of his work; other sculptures include a girl sliding into third base and a male and female basketball player.

Southwick has exhibited often at the Yale Physician Building's Art Place gallery, where he has earned the distinction of being called "sculptor in residence."

The physician has received numerous honors for his medical contributions and leadership, including a 2003 Diversity Award from the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons.

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