Monumental Figures
Digital Resources
Dig deeper into Monumental Figures with digital resources below.
Who is Alan LeQuire?
Thirty-five years ago, Alan LeQuire became Nashville’s most prominent sculptor with the unveiling of Athena Parthenos. Now, he is returning to the Parthenon with a new body of work that celebrates contemporary people. Working on a monumental scale usually reserved for mythological figures and royalty, LeQuire aims to elevate regular people that have inspired him. Several Nashville natives are featured prominently in his selection of activists, musicians, and athletes, highlighting the everyday heroes among us.
Read more about Alan LeQuire by clicking button below.
Fannie Lou Hamer, 2025
Plaster, paint, steel
“Nobody’s free until everybody’s free.” – Fannie Lou Hamer
Due to voter suppression in Mississippi, Fannie Lou Hamer discovered she had the right to vote at age 44. The night she registered to vote, she was forced out of her family home. A year later, after attending a voter’s workshop, she was jailed and nearly beaten to death over 4 days which left her scarred and physically disabled. She bravely testified about her experiences at the 1964 Democratic National Committee Convention and ran for Congress three times.
Click these article links for more information about Fannie Lou Hamer:
National Women’s History Museum Biography
How Fannie Lou Hamer Challenged a Nation- National Museum of African American History & Culture
Soaring Olympians
Soaring Olympians , 2025
Alan LeQuire
Plaster, paint, steel
These sculptures are more than twice life-size, spanning 12-16 feet to celebrate the extraordinary abilities and determination of female Olympic athletes. LeQuire drew inspiration from Simone Biles and Nashville Olympians: Wilma Rudolph, Tracy Caulkins, Ashley Whitney, Alex Walsh, and Gretchen Walsh.
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Aunt Eleanor , 2025
Alan LeQuire
Plaster, paint, wood, wire
Eleanor Brickey grew up in Cades Cove, on land that is now part of the Smoky Mountains National Park. She died before her grandson, Alan LeQuire, was born. This sculpture is based on family stories and LeQuire’s memories of visiting her home.
Diane Nash , 2025
Alan LeQuire
Plaster, paint, wood, wire
Diane Nash moved from Chicago to attend Fisk University in Nashville where she experienced Jim Crow laws and structural inequalities for the first time. Nash attended James Lawson’s nonviolent civil disobedience workshops.
In her early 20s, she organized Nashville sit-ins, led the Freedom Riders, and fought for voting rights. On the steps of City Hall, Nash asked Nashville’s mayor if he believed it was wrong to discriminate against a person on the basis of their race or color. These persistent and thoughtful actions led to victories across the South. Her achievements were recognized with the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2022.
Video:
Diane Nash Interview: The Power of Nonviolence - Life Stories, Kunhardt Film Foundation
Dr. dorothy brown , 2025
Alan LeQuire
Plaster, paint, wood, wire
Dr. Dorothy Brown became the first female Black surgeon in the south in 1954 after completing her residency at Meharry Medical College. She was the first single woman in Tennessee to adopt a child, whom she named after her foster mother. As the first Black woman elected to the Tennessee General Assembly in 1966, she recalled being told, “You’re a girl, you’re Black, you’re poor. And it just can’t be done.” Not to be discouraged, she said, “I just kept right on, dreaming my dreams.”*
* Black, Susannah & Abuelgasim, Hibatullah. (2021). ‘You’re a girl, You’re Black, You’re poor’: Dorothy Lavinia Brown: Challenging inequality in surgery. Journal of the Nuffield Department of Surgical Sciences. 2. 10.37707/jnds.v2i3.165.
Article:
Trailblazing Women Minority Surgeons: Dr. Dorothy L. Brown: Surgeon, Legislator, and Teacher
Dr. Dorothy Brown is supported in part by The Conway-Welch Family Foundation
dr. mildred stillman , 2025
Alan LeQuire
Plaster, paint, wood, wire
In 1960, Dr. Mildred Stahlman created the world’s first modern neonatal intensive care unit at Vanderbilt University Medical Center. She is credited with saving millions of premature babies with her research and innovative methods. While at Vanderbilt, she trained over 80 physicians across 20 countries in neonatal best practices.
Article:
Vanderbilt mourns the loss of neonatal medicine pioneer Mildred Stahlman- By Bill Snyder
Dr. Mildred Stahlman is supported in part by The Conway-Welch Family Foundation
For the birds , 2025
Alan LeQuire
Plaster, paint, wood, wire
In this sculpture, LeQuire challenged himself to update the seated female figure from antiquity. The playful inclusion of pigeons is a personal reference to the pastoral as a theme that continues in his life on a farm.
joan baez , 2025
Alan LeQuire
Plaster, paint, wood, wire
Since the age of 16, Joan Baez has used her voice to battle against injustice. She works for equality among people of all ages, races, genders, and sexualities.
“Let us together repeal and replace brutality and make compassion a priority.…We the people must speak truth to power and be ready to make sacrifices. We the people are the only ones who can create change. I’m ready, I hope you are too. I want my granddaughter to know that I fought against an evil tide and had the masses by my side.” * - Joan Baez
Odetta , 2025
Alan LeQuire
Plaster, paint, wood, wire
Known as “The Voice of the Civil Rights Movement,” Odetta Holmes is remembered for her singing and advocacy. She used her music to push for political change and raise money for important causes. She discovered that fold music helps “keep our eye on history, not to relive, but to grow from it, learn from it.”*
sifan hassan , 2025
Alan LeQuire
Plaster, paint, wood, wire
Sifan Hassan broke an Olympic record for her long-distance run at the Paris 2024 Olympics. When receiving her gold medal, she wore her hijab, something French athletes were banned from wearing. While she doesn’t usually wear a headscarf, choosing this moment signaled her support for Muslim women.
sisters , 2025
Alan LeQuire
Plaster, paint, wood, wire
Sisters draws inspiration from ancient sculptures of Greek women, or korai in Greek. A family could dedicate korai on the Acropolis as offerings to Athena- or in cemeteries as memorials to loved ones. As a sculptor with deep appreciation for ancient sculpture, LeQuire offers these figures as a meditation on relationship and memory.
Complete and Unbroken
, 2025
Alan LeQuire
Plaster, paint, wood, wire
In the early 1800s, popular culture experienced a renewed fascination with antiquity’s lost beauty and the incompleteness of ancient sculptures. Over time, the human torso became seen as a complete work instead of just a broken piece of the body. In these ten sculptures, LeQuire creates torsos, the place of the breath and the heart, as a simplified conveyer of the essence of a human being.
More work by sculptor Alan LeQuire
-on view and available for purchase
LeQuire Gallery & Studio
4304 Charlotte Avenue, Nashville, TN 37209
Tuesday - Saturday 10am - 3pm
615.298.4611