Albert Vrana Bio Sketch & Resume 1981~~~ ~ ' ~~
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ALBERT VRANA Biographical Sketch & Resume 1981
"Vrana is unceasing in his investigation of space-mass relations. He
is interested in new materials ... he has even pioneered the use of new
ones in the Southeast ... but for him their intrinsic qualities are
never an end, but a means. Each of his ,small sculptures is a discovery
of some aspect of the relation of space and mass and together they are
preludes to his monumental sculpture ... his major achievement: the
fusion of sculpture and architecture inia manner rarely accomplished
since the Baroque era.
Kenneth Donahue, Director
Los Angeles County Museum of Art
Vrana never considered being a sculptor until his mid thirties. He was born in New
Jersey and spent his childhood on Long Island in a family of builders and architects.
His interest in travel and the sea found him at the outbreak of Word War II already a
radio operator, in the Merchant Marine. The six yea=s involved in the conflict were
not without exposure to various geographic cultures and peoples. Upon his return, he
married, studied and became a horticulturist, landscape designer, starting his own
successful nursery fifty miles from New York City. Ten years later, restless, he sold
out and moved his family aboard a 30' sailboat and sailed to Florida to spend a year
studying Tropical Horticulture at the University of Miami. To indulge himself, he
tried to enroll in a painting class, only to find it was filled ... so he took sculpture
as a second choice:. 1957 and 'S8 saw him with his family traveling and visiting museum:
and galleries in Europe, through England, Ireland, Holland, France, Italy and carving
three marble pieces in his studio in Spain.
Today he is known primarily for his monumental architectural sculpture. He says, "My
approach is different, yet traditional, in that much of my work is integrated as part o
the structure and related to the specific building in both design and materials, in har
mony, not conflict, with the architecture." His successful New York show at the ACA
Gallery, January 1966, exposed the artist and his direction. All twenty six bronze
pieces were architecturally involved. Vrana says, "Man cannot be taken out of context
for real understanding. This world shapes him as much as he molds it. My small galle
sculpture associates people to a definite environmental area. In my viewing my archi
tural sculpture, I find myself again associated ... the only change is scale."
MIDIA: He has achieved international recognition ,f or his relief sculpture (intaglio)
CONCRETE on the Professional Arts Center in Miami,~~Florida, perhaps the largest of its
kind. The non-repetitive design titled "The Procession", 6 stories high, flows over 20(
panels 12' x 12', four exterior walls cast in hand tooled expendable plastic foam molds,
The concrete panels became the actual structural exterior walls closing in the building,
(See Public Commissions and Books Contributed To)
Vrana's sculpture on Tamiami Pool and Tennis Center, Dade County, Florida offered him
opportunity to cast his designs in the structural walls poured by the general contracto .
Heretofore, his sculptured panels had been precast in a fabricating plant off the buil-
ding site, then trucked to the site and installed. This cast in place method can resul
in considerable savings. The retaining wall for the Johnson City Public Library, (Tenn )
also uses this system.
When faced with a major architectural commission to design and execute a relief on the
exterior of a Circular auditorium, he developed the host-hydro technique for sand casti
concrete panels. Working from his scale model of the 157 foot, two story high rotunda,
he carved in sand and cast the panels at a concrete plant, supervised their hanging at
the Miami Beach Public Library. This sculpture-in-the-round is titled "The Story of
Man". (See Awards & Public Commissions)
a •
MIDIA: A Crown of Thorns, 19 feet in diameter, executed in iron and suspended
DIRECT METALS over the sanctuary, an altar reminiscent of Stonehenge, designed in
native stone and wrought iron and the entrance doors worked in embossed
copper contributed to the design of architect Alfred Browning Parker fox
Hope Lutheran .Church in South Miami,'Florida (See Awards)
For Florida International University's sculpture, "Las Cuatro Razas", it was only natur
that Vrana should be inspired by his years of travel in Europe, the Caribbean, and Latir.
America. This part of the commission for the Primers Casa is a multiple sculpture with
components of ferro cement and hammered, brazed sheet bronze, held off the wall in an
area 30' x 103' and elevated between two stair towers. (See .Awards)
MEDIA: Intrigued by the development of ferro cement in the boating industry,
FERRO CEMENT using these techniques and procedures for the thin shelled reinforced
AND METALS
concrete, Vrana developed a method of fabricating large monumental
sculptures that were light and very durable.
Early in 1969, he was commissioned to design and execute his largest free-standing
sculpture. "The Obelisk" commemorating all the Arts, performing, visual, etc. stands 6C
high and weighs 50 tons. It consists of a central tapered tower form of white cast con-
crete, around which eight heroic sculptures of ferro cement are cantilevered. These fez
cement sculptures are sheathed in most part with brass and bronze, contrasting with the
precast tower.
In Raleigh, North Carolina, The Fountain for Crab Tree Mall. utilized ferro cement onto
which was applied stainless steel and bronze by an industrial method known as Metallizi~
This method, also known as flame spraying, melts the desired metals in wire form and
flame sprays them with the use of high volume compressed air onto the designated areas.
PUBLIC COMMISSIONS
Miami Beach Public Library.
Edgewater Beach Apartments
Professional Arts Center
Jacksonville Federal Bldg.
Florida Int'1 University
Miami Lakes First State Bank
and Capeletti Bldg.
Homestead City Hall
North Hialeah 1st State Bank
Johnson City Public Library
Tamiami Pool&Tennis Center
Johnson City Public Library
(retaining wall)-
PUBLIC COMMISSIONS
Concrete
Sand Cast Concrete Miami Beach, FL "Story of Man"
Precast Concrete Naples, FL -
" Miami, FL "The Processions"
" Jacksonville, FL "Evolution of Gov't`
" Miami, FL -
" Miami, FL "The Marketplace"
" Homestead, FL "The Homesteaders"
" Hialeah, FL -
" Johnson City, TN -
Cast in Place Concrete West. Miami, FL -
" Johnson City, TN -
Metals
Edgewater Beach Apartments Sheet Bronze Naples, FL Fountain
Hope Lutheran Church Iron, Copper & Limestone S. Miami, FL "Crown of Thorns"
1100 Building Sheet Bronze North Miami, FL "The Guardian"
Holy Trinity Church Bronze, Lucite Washington, DC "Glorious Cross"
Florida Int'1 University Bronze, FerroCement Miami, FL "Las Cuatro Razas"
PUBLIC COMMISSIONS
Arlen House
Plaza Center
Presbyterian Towers
Crabtree Mall
Ferro Cement & Metals
W/Bronze Miami Beach, FL "The Obelisk"
W/Bronze Palm Beach, FL Fountain
W/Bronze St.Petersburg, FL"Conscience of Man"
W/Bronze & S. Steel Raleigh, NC Fountain
MEDIA: Vrana's first training was in carving;. His earliest exhibitions
CARVED STONE were dominated by large wood, stone, some hammered lead pieces and
AND WOOD
fiberglass. (See page 1, Spain) He still thinks as a carver, his foam
molds for concrete panels are also carved:.
COLLECTIONS: MAJOR STONE AND WOOD SCULPTURE
Commissioned Carved Limestone 45 E. 57th St. Bldg. New York City
"`Peace and Reconstruction" Carved Limestone Blanche Morris Miami Beach, FL
Commissioned Wood Morris Burk Coral Gables, F.
"Family" Wood Edward Truppman, MD North Miami, FL
"Saved" Wood Janet Rainwater San Francisco,
MEDIA: A 1963 Tiffany Grant in the field of sculpture for his work in centrifu
BRONZE CASTING casting of small freestanding gallery bronzes encouraged Vrana to devel~
his studio foundry using the ceramic shell casting system.
In his one man traveling show, "Doorways and Windows", 1964, sponsored by the Lowe Art
Gallery, University of Miami, he presented a series. of eleven bronze figures related to
doorways and windows. This theme show of man's relationship to his environment and the
many symbolic interpretations of the door and window, was accompanied by shadow prints,
his unique process of "Shadow Capturing". This show traveled for one year to ten unive~
sities and municipal museums and galleries in the United States. He has maintained a b~
foundry in his studio since 19b$ and his exhibitions, shows, and workshops after this date
were dominated by his bronze casting.
EXHIBITIONS (one-man shows)
Joe and Emily Lowe Gallery, University of Miami - 1960, 1963
Ft. Lauderdale Art Center, Ft. Lauderdale - 1959
Fairleigh Dickinson University ARt Gallery, Madison,. NJ - 1964
Columbia Museum of Art, Columbia, SC - 1964
Weatherspoon Art Gallery, University of North Carolina, Greensboro, NC - 1964
University of Oklahoma Art Gallery, Norman, Oklahoma- 1964
Columbus Museum of Arts and Crafts, Columbus, Georgia - 1964
Hunter Gallery of Art, Chattanooga Art Association, Chattanooga, TN - 1964
Mt. Vernon Seminary and Jr. College, Washington, DC :- 1964
Ft. Lauderdale Museum of Art,- Ft. Lauderdale - 1965
ACA Galleries, New York City - 1966
The Berenson Gallery, Miami, Florida - 1968, 1969, 1972
Long Boat Key Art Center, Florida - 1973
Harmon Gallery, Naples, Florida - 1974
He is represented by the Harmon Gallery in Naples and Sarasota,. Florida and by the
L.F.A.; Galleries in Washington, DC
FILM- Title, "Artist in Concrete" - color - Subject:~documentary on process for relief,
Jacksonville Federal Office Building - Produced by Portland Cement Association
FIFTH NATIONAL SCULPTURE CONFERENCE, University of Kansas - May 1968 - Film and slides
subject of Monumental Sculpture Techniques.
1977 NATIONAL SCULPTURE CONFERENCE, Arkansas State University, titled "The Sculptor and
the Architect" - spoke on "Concrete Techniques," with slides and film.
CONSULTANT TO Dade County (Florida) "Art in Public Places" Ordinance ~~73-77.
TEACHING Primarily a working sculptor, yet Vrana enjoys occasional forays into the
teaching field, such as at the Art Institu,te.of Miami, Miami-Dade Community
College and summers, '68 through '80 at Penland School, North Carolina.
BOOKS CONTRIBUTED T0:
"Creating with Plaster", "Contemporary Stone Sculpture", "Creative Carving" and
"Contemporary ..Art with Wood", all by Dona Meilach.
"Plastics as an Art Form", "Plastics as a Design Form" and "Plastics as Sculpture",
all by Thelma Newman.
"A Decade of Sculpture", by Julia Busch.
"Sculpture, Tools, Materials and Techniques" by Wilbert Verhelst
"Spiel mit Form and Struktur" by Hans F. Erb (West Germany)
"The Family Creative Workshop ~~15" Penary Publishing Co. and Time-Life Books
"Direct Metal Sculpture" by Meilach and Seiden
"Sculpture from Plastics" by Nicholas Roukes
"Bath " (Architectural Magazine) Cover story on Professional Arts Bldg., Paris, France`
HONORS AND AWARDS FOR:
Miami Beach Public Librar
Miami Lakes First State B
Hope Lutheran Church
Florida Int'1 University
Professional Arts Center
Who's Who in American Art
STUDIO ADDRESS: Route 3,
PHONE: (704) 688-3514
y City Council Resolution - 1962
ank Portland Cement Association Award - 1972
26th Nat'l Conf. of Church Arch. Award - 1964
Florida Concrete Products Ass. Award of Excellence - 19 3
City of Miami Beautification Award - 1 66
Listings Since 1966
Box 330 C, Bakersville, NC 28705