Lucille Ball Statue - H 2015
Post JournalA Lucille Ball statue unveiled in 2009 and dubbed “scary” is finally being replaced with a new sculpture of the comedy icon, set to be revealed this weekend.
Artist Carolyn Palmer created the new statue for Ball’s hometown of Celoron, N.Y.
The sculpture will be unveiled at the Lucille Ball Memorial Park at noon Saturday, in honor of what would have been Ball’s 105th birthday.
Palmer won a national competition to create the sculpture, after the original was criticized as “frightening.” Even the artist of the original statue, Dave Poulin, admitted to The Hollywood Reporter it was “by far” his “most unsettling sculpture.”
Palmer spent nine months creating her bronze sculpture of Ball. She researched the project by watching episodes of I Love Lucy, hiring models to pose in ‘50s-style dresses and buying a red wig as inspiration.
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“I not only wanted to portray the playful, animated and spontaneous Lucy, but also the glamorous Hollywood icon,” said Palmer. She sculpted Lucy with 2.5-inch high heels and 2.5-inch curled hair. “I just hope that all the Lucy fans are pleased and that Lucille Ball herself would have enjoyed this image of her.”
Palmer is based in New York and has worked on sculptures of Pope Francis, Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt, Orville and Wilbur Wright and Thomas Jefferson. Her marble sculpture of Pope Francis was blessed by the pope during his visit to the U.S. in 2015.
Poulin had offered to refurbish the statue at his own expense but Celoron’s mayor said he wanted a new artist to take on the task of creating a new statue.
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