Hardesty Arts Center Recently Hosted “Forever Marilyn”
Last Friday, April 4, the Hardesty Arts Center in Downtown Tulsa hosted one of Hollywood’s superstars – or rather her 36,000 pound replica – Marilyn Monroe. The sculpture “Forever Marilyn” by famed artist Seward Johnson arrived on Friday afternoon for a one-night stay as a stop on its cross-country expedition from Palm Springs, California, to Hamilton, New Jersey.
Visitors were thrilled to see the gigantic Marilyn Monroe portraying the iconic scene of the star’s dress billowing up from the movie “The Seven Year Itch”. The piece was on display during the Brady Arts District’s monthly First Friday Art Crawl and the Tulsa Drillers baseball game, both of which drew large crowds of viewers.
The sculpture was made from stainless steel and aluminum and was designed to break down into four pieces in order to be transported. The artwork’s permanent home is in Palm Springs, but has been borrowed from The Sculpture Foundation, Inc. for the past two years to travel around the country.
During the press conference for the event, the organizers expressed their excitement over having Marilyn in Tulsa. The executive director and CEO of the Arts and Humanities Council of Tulsa, Ken Busby, shared his thoughts on the special visit: “We consider the city of Tulsa a regional arts destination, something any road-tripper should experience as they come through Oklahoma…We are thrilled that Marilyn Monroe chose to visit the Hardesty Arts Center and the Brady Arts District on her way to the East Coast.” Busby hinted that an event such as this might happen again, as he has an interest in some of Stewart’s other works as well.
After the press conference, hundreds of people took photographs with the towering statue throughout the night. A special social media hashtag, #isawmarilyn, was created for the tour, enabling sightseers to share their photos of the sculpture and track it on the road. The hashtag links to the website www.isawmarilyn.com, where Instagram and Twitter posts have populated into one feed for easy viewing.
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