| Ira Chaffin, is a native of
Escondido, California and was raised on a small farm. He
earned his Bachelor of Fine Arts degree (BFA) in Sculpture from the
University of Southern California and did graduate studies in
Sculpture at California State University at Los Angeles. He
posses a life-time teaching credential from the State of California
for Community Colleges. His sculptural
creative endeavors include casting the Liberty Bell in Philadelphia
for the Nation's Bicentennial Celebration, creating stage sets for
"Beauty and the Beauty" Broadway production, inventing copyrighted
marionettes used at the Kennedy Center and Wolf Trap Theaters in
Washington DC, crafting of movie props for PBS, and creation of
custom mannequins and dolls for New York City stores. Since
moving to Birmingham in 1999, he has been featured in CBS news for
his carousel horse carving and was the Birmingham News
"Critics Choice" for his sculpture, "The Acrobat":. He
exhibits work regularly at several venues.
His sculptures are in private collections
throughout the Nation. Amongst his public pieces are the
recently completed "Joe Lee Griffin" sculpture for the Griffin
Cancer Society Building in Birmingham, Alabama; "Senator William
Craven" sculpture for Craven Hall at the California State University
in San Marcos, California; "Madonna and Child" sculpture for the
Point Loma Episcopal Church in La Jolla, California; and "Mathes
Family" sculptures for the Mathes Cultural Arts Center in Escondido,
California. He was recently commissioned to create an
heroic-size full figure portrait of UAB President Emeritus, Dr. S.
Richardson Hill, to be permanently mounted in UAB's Mini Park on
University Boulevard in Birmingham.
A recent interest of Ira is carving carousel
horses in all sizes, shapes and colors. Clients are delighted
by these whimsical skilled wood carvings which are in high demand.
He has a clay studio in Watson and a carousel horse carving studio
in Birmingham. |
