Nicklaus

Jack Nicklaus Tribute Sculpture

Audio transcription:

Jeff: “My name is Jeffrey Hanson Varilla and I’m a native of Chicago. I’m a painter and a sculptor, and I studied at the University of Iowa and also studied at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago – where I met my wife Anna in the Sculpture Department, and together we’ve been creating public monuments, both secular and religious, for about 25 years.” Anna: “My name is Anna Koh-Varilla; I came from Seoul, South Korea in 1982. I came to the School of the Art Institute of Chicago as a foreign student, and in the Sculpture Department that’s how I met my husband Jeff. We are creating public monuments and sacred arts all over the United States, England and South Korea. When we visited your community, Jeff and I said – I don’t know who said it first; we finish the sentences of each other – that we cannot imagine Jack Nicklaus without a child. I mean, especially after we spent time with Jack Nicklaus; he was a wonderful family man and not only as a golfer but a great business man and mentor in all different ways.” Jeff: “I think, too, in the sculpture we wanted to convey the idea of Jack being a consummate golf professional, one of the best golfers of the 20th century but also as a mentor to young people; he’s also very strong on family values, so we wanted to convey that as well.” Anna: “Right. And the composition kind of points at the direction for the future of Dublin.”

To learn more about the Jack Nicklaus Tribute Sculpture, visit dublinarts.org/publicart.

Dublin Art in Public Places
  1. Field of Corn (with Osage Orange Trees)
  2. Leatherlips
  3. Out of Bounds
  4. Recreation Center Relief Sculptures: Charting History, Community Time Capsule and Running Man Frieze (after Muybridge)
  5. Jack Nicklaus Tribute Sculpture
  6. Watch House
  7. Going, Going... Gone!
  8. Ascension
  9. One Step at a Time
  10. Narrow #5
  11. Injection
  12. Exuvia
  13. Modified Social Benches
  14. One Scene and Untitled
  15. Jaunty Hornbeam and Sanguine Standing Stone
  16. The Simulation of George M. Karrer's Workshop
  17. Playing Through
  18. Daily Chores
  19. Tree of Life, Future Tense
  20. Dublin Tunnel Mural
  21. Feather Point
  22. The Boat in the Field