Monumental Figures

Photography by: Dean Dixon. All work and Copyright belongs to Alan LeQuire.

As studio and production manager for the Monumental Figures exhibition, Amber Lelli saw each sculpture through 90 percent of its fabrication before handing it off to Alan LeQuire for final sculpting. She guided shop operations, led a team of twelve assistants, and managed materials and schedules. She developed workflows and trained each assistant in the traditional enlargement techniques that bring these forms to life. As fabrication lead, she translated LeQuire’s vision into tangible form across the exhibition, ensuring every detail met exacting standards. For the three suspended figures, the work became a collaboration between Alan LeQuire and Amber Lelli.

Project Description:

Monumental Figures is a world-premiere exhibition of 24 new works by artist Alan LeQuire. Monumental Figures is a celebration of scale, history, and hand-crafted artistry set against the backdrop of Nashville’s Parthenon—itself a living experiment in ancient Greek architecture. For twenty years, Alan LeQuire immersed himself in the techniques of classical sculpture, beginning his life-size Athena in 1982 and completing it in 2002. That landmark work marked the culmination of his formal training, but it was only the beginning of an ongoing exploration. Working alongside a team of twelve assistants, LeQuire revives an age-old method of enlarging models by contour and cross-section, balancing today’s computer-aided design tools with the muscle and intuition of traditional modeling. Throughout, he remains committed to passing those hands-on skills to emerging artists, mentoring each one in the physical discipline of sculpting.

Rather than reserving monumental scale for gods and monarchs, Monumental Figures spotlights the everyday heroes who shape our community. Activists, musicians and athletes from Nashville become the subjects of LeQuire’s towering portraits—each one a testament to courage, creativity and resilience. As Parthenon Curator Jennifer Richardson observes, elevating these familiar faces invites us to reconsider whom we honor in the public realm. In casting local changemakers in bronze and stone, LeQuire transforms personal stories into timeless form, reminding us that greatness often springs from ordinary lives. More information at LeQuire Gallery.

Highlights of Monumental Figures include:

● Fannie Lou Hamer a colossal portrait on the plaza outside the east doors. Fannie Lou. Hamer was a legendary activist for voting rights, women’s rights, and civil rights and a community organizer. Hamer’s testimony at the 1964 Democratic National Convention about her attempts to register to vote as a Black woman in Mississippi made a profound Impression on the 9-year-old LeQuire.

● Complete and Unbroken will be the focal point of the Treasury. This collection of ten Larger-than-life human torsos celebrate the human figure, and respond to the “fragment aesthetic” that we inherit from Greek and Roman sculpture.

● Soaring Olympians floating in the air before Athena, three enormous and energetic sculptures of female athletes celebrating gymnastics, track, and swimming. LeQuire drew inspiration from Olympic gold and silver medal winners: Simone Biles, Tennessee State University alumna Wilma Rudolph, Tracy Caulkins, Katie Ledecky, and sisters Alex and Gretchen Walsh.

Monumental Women will line the colonnade on both sides of Athena. These 10 sculptures are all inspired by women whom LeQuire admires or considers to be role models featuring: Dr. Mildred Stahlman, Dr. Dorothy Brown, Sifan Hassan, Diane Nash, Odetta, and Joan Baez. More information at LeQuire Gallery.