Paul Moore
Sculptor In Residence: Sculpture
Office: Old Faculty Club
405-325-4063
paul.r.moore-1@ou.edu
Paul Moore is a Native Oklahoman who has gained national and international recognition with his sculpture. Moore was born in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma in 1957 and is a member of the Creek (Muscogee) nation.
His studio, in Norman, Oklahoma, is constantly filled with students and assistants working side by side with Mr. Moore learning the art and techniques of sculpting. Paul Moore is a Fellow and Board Member of the National Sculpture Society and is in constant demand for portrait and monumental commissions. The Smithsonian’s National Portrait Gallery, the US Capital Collection and numerous municipal, corporate, private and international institutions, has collected his work.
Paul Moore has sculpted more than 100 commissions; over 50 have been installed in Oklahoma, including the 9’ figure of Edward Gaylord and the life-size figure of Senator Henry Bellmon for the Oklahoma State Fairgrounds in Oklahoma City. Also, in Oklahoma City, he has sculpted a nine foot figure of the greatest catcher in baseball history, Johnny Bench, for the Bricktown Ball Park. Mr. Moore created the three 12’ icons of the “Seed Sower” for the University of Oklahoma. The first casting was placed on the South Oval of the main campus in Norman; the second casting was placed at the Schusterman Health and Science Center on the OU Tulsa campus; and the third casting will be placed at the Health and Science Center in Oklahoma City. He also sculpted the twice life-size bronze figure of the OU President, George Lynn Cross (located on the North Oval, main campus) and the 1 1/4 life-size bronze figure of the 46th Speaker of the House, Carl Albert (located in front of the Memorial Union Building). A second casting is in the collection of the City of McAlester, Oklahoma.
Mr. Moore’s portrait bust of Speaker Albert was installed into the US Capital Collection / US House of Representatives on March 3rd, 2004 in Statuary Hall, United States Capital, Washington, DC. This was the seventh Speaker of the House bust to be accepted into the US Capital’s collection. He became the first Oklahoma sculptor to have his work accepted into this prestigious collection. The same year his monument to the Blackhawk helicopter crews of the 5TH Battalion, 158TH Aviation Regiment, United States Army that lost their lives at the beginning of the Iraq War was installed and unveiled in Giebelstadt, Germany.
This year his portrait of Dr. Thomas Rees, one of the three founding members of the Flying Doctors of East Africa, was unveiled at their main headquarters in Nairobi, Africa.
In 1996, his portrait of the great animator Chuck Jones was accepted in the Smithsonian’s National Portrait Gallery in Washington, D.C., along with works by Andy Warhol, Linda McCartney, Marguerite Zorach, and Stanley Meltzoff.
One of his largest sculptures, “On the Chisholm Trail,” A Monument to the American Cowboy, was installed and unveiled in 1998. This statue measures 34’ long, 11’ high, and 7’ wide. This massive sculpture took an exhausting five years of work from the conception of the maquette to the unveiling of the bronze at McCasland Park in Duncan, Oklahoma.
Mr. Moore left Santa Fe, New Mexico, in 1997, where he resided for 12 years and had his private studio, to be the Artist in Residence at the University of Oklahoma, Norman, Oklahoma. He was hired to revive and develop the Figurative Sculpture Program, which
had been non-existent since 1969. He is the second figurative sculpting instructor in the history of OU.
For the past six years, Paul Moore has been working on the Oklahoma Centennial Land Run Monument. An estimated seven to eight years of work is needed to complete this massive project. This piece of art will span a distance of 365 feet in length by 36 feet in width and over 16 feet in height consisting of 46 life and a half bronze elements. Upon completion, it will be one of the world’s largest bronze sculptures. The City of Oklahoma City, in conjunction with the US Government and the State of Oklahoma commissioned this massive monument commemorating the spirit and determination of the men and women who rode in Oklahoma’s five land runs.
His portrait and figurative sculptures are represented in prominent institutions nationally and internationally, such as the US Capital Collection / the US House of Representatives, Washington, D.C.; National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian, Washington, D.C.; the University of Oklahoma, Norman, Oklahoma; University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, New Mexico; Embassy of the Federal Republic of Germany, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada; 5TH Battalion, 158TH Aviation Regiment, US Army, Giebelstadt, Germany; Flying Doctors of East Africa, Nairobi, Kenya, Africa, SanDiego Zoo, San Diego, California; Warner Brothers Studios, Burbank, California; Phillip Morris Co.; the Archdiocese of San Diego, San Diego, California; Citibank; Black Entertainment Television, Washington, D.C; Ball Corp., Muncie, Indiana; Imperial Sugar Co., Sugarland, Texas and the collection of HRH Shabib Taimar Prince of Oman to name a few.
