About Rebecca Childers Caleel
Rebecca Childers Caleel is a native of Port St. Joe, Florida, and a graduate of Florida State University. She has studied extensively for over 35 years with many masters; including the National Sculptor of Egypt, Mustafa Naguib, world-renowned forensic sculptor Betty Gatiliff, masters in France, Italy and at the Art Institute of Chicago, Illinois.
Rebecca was awarded the “Women of Distinction Award” for Oak Brook, Illinois commemorating their 50th Anniversary. She is a member of the Oak Brook Infant Welfare Society and one of the founding members of the Women’s Board of the Adler Planetarium, Chicago, Illinois.
One of her many commissions was to sculpt a larger-than-life mother, infant, and child for the Angel Harvey Infant Welfare Society of Chicago Community Health Center.
In 2004, “Lincoln and Son,” by Caleel was presented to the Oak Brook Library in Oak Brook, Illinois. This sculpture is one of the works submitted to the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library & Museum in Springfield, Illinois. She was also the sole artist chosen to do a maquette for a 100-foot wall to be placed on the back of the museum building.
For many years, The Illinois State Historical Society used one of Caleel’s Abraham Lincoln busts for their Achievement Awards.
Rebecca was commissioned by the City of Ottawa to create two heroic sculptures commemorating the first Lincoln-Douglas debate that took place on August 21, 1858 in Ottawa, Illinois. Abraham Lincoln is 11 feet in height and Senator Stephen A. Douglas is 9 feet. The unveiling took place on September 14, 2002 in Ottawa, Illinois, the original debate site.
Caleel undertook extensive research in preparation for this project by using the life mask of Lincoln that was made and cast by sculptor Leonard Wells Volk in 1860. A second life mask, made before his death by sculptor Clark Mills, in 1865, was also used.
Dr. Wayne C. Temple, Chief Deputy Director of the Illinois State Archives in Springfield, and an Internationally authority on Abraham Lincoln was her advisor and used many of her Lincoln photographs in his books. Harold Holzer, Senior Vice-President for Public Affairs at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, also used Rebecca’s photographs of her Lincoln works in his books.
In 2000, The Chicago Opera Theater presented Mary Zimmerman’s production “Akhenaten,” by Philip Glass. Because of Rebecca’s bronze Egyptian sculpture, she was selected to exhibit her works, the Pharaoh Akhenaten and Queen Hatshepsut. At the same time, The Art Institute of Chicago exhibited, “Pharaoh of the Sun,” which included the Pharaoh Akhenaten.
Rebecca’s sculptures exhibit a wide range of subjects from large bas-reliefs to larger-than-life bronze works. Inspired by the Native American Art of the Eastern United States and Mexico, along with many other cultures. Because of Caleel’s interest in anatomy, much of her work that is not classical includes parts of the body in unusual places not evident until careful examination of the piece. She feels that out of each work of art grows myths, legends, and a history of various groups of people. The artist attempts to capture essential elements behind these emotions, beliefs, fears, and express them as a pointer unto to the future.
Caleel’s goal is to illuminate the absurd in life and make it beautiful, creating a composite view of the world that mirrors the illusion of life and yet gives one pause to reflect on the joy and beauty of that which surrounds us.
Contact
rcaleel@gmail.com