150th Anniversary Sculpture

As a part of the First Presbyterian 150th Anniversary Celebration, the art committee, with a gift from the Golden Memorial Fund and a private donor, commissioned a life-size figurative sculpture of Christ releasing a dove from his hand. It was installed in our courtyard and dedicated on June 12. The work is fabricated in copper and brass with a reinforced steel understructure. Professor Paul Z. Kemp is the sculptor for the project, and he worked on this project for us for a year and a half. It took him over 1,000 hours to complete.

Professor Kemp, now retired, taught sculpture, silversmithing, and drawing to students in the Art Department at Baylor University for 35 years. He is known for his figurative sculpture, sculptures of animals and birds and his beautiful landscape paintings of the mountains in New Mexico where he grew up. Professor Kemp attended Highlands University in Highlands, New Mexico, where he completed his BFA studies in art and then received his MFA in art from the prestigious Cranbrook Academy of Art in Michigan. He was an incredibly effective and compassionate teacher at Baylor as well as a practicing artist.