Just in time for the end of summer, The Reading Public Museum is pleased to announce the placement of Bronze Root, 2010, by renowned Pennsylvania artist Steve Tobin. The work is on a three-year loan from the artist and will be positioned at The Museum’s Entrance Plaza. That site has been host to loaned outdoor sculpture, most recently Ant X and Ant O, the popular sculptures by Susan P. Cochran of Florida. Eventually, the site will be the permanent home of an important bronze sculpture that has been promised to The Museum by one of its leading donors.

Bronze Root is monumental in scale (10’6” H x 10’ W x 15’ D)—presenting an oversized view of an enduring aspect of the natural world that is usually hidden in the subterranean realm. Curator of art and civilization, Scott Schweigert remarked that, “Steve’s work is meant to be explored from all angles and points of view—taking into account both positive and negative space, as well as light and shadow. We hope visitors will pay close attention to the convincing surface textures and intricate, organic patterns the artist achieves in the bronze. The sculpture works wonderfully in the beautiful surroundings of the Arboretum at the Reading Public Museum.” This work, and others from the series, demonstrates Tobin’s lifelong interest in biology and natural history. Examples of Tobin’s Roots have been on view at Grounds for Sculpture, Hamilton, New Jersey, and the United States Botanical Garden located on the National Mall in Washington, DC.

Tobin is perhaps known for The Trinity Root, the first memorial to the September 11, 2001 attack on the World Trade Center, which is a bronze casting of the stump and root system of the old sycamore tree that is credited for having “saved historic St. Paul’s Chapel” from falling debris as the Twin Towers came crashing to the earth. Sited at the corner of Wall Street and Broadway, The Trinity Root was dedicated on the four year anniversary of the WTC attack, thus 2015 marks the ten year anniversary of this iconic sculpture, which receives 1.3 million visitors annually.

Tobin has exhibited his work extensively throughout the world, including New York's American Museum of Natural History; the Page Museum at the La Brea Tar Pits; the Los Angeles County Museum of Art campus complex in Los Angeles; and in museums, art fairs and public sites in Europe and Asia. Most recently, he was the subject of a monographic exhibition at the James A. Michener Art Museum in Doylestown, Pennsylvania.

The Reading Public Museum is supported in part by grants from the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts and is located at 500 Museum Road, Reading, Pa. Admission per day is: $10 adults (18-64), $6 children/seniors/college students (w/ID) and free to Members and children three years old and under. The Museum is open daily 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.  Web: www.readingpublicmuseum.org