Somewhere a Bird is Singing
By Una Hanbury, Installed 1991
Born in 1904 and deceased in 1990, Una was born just outside of London England. A graduate of the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in London, England, who had also studied drawing in France at the La Grande Chaumier and L’Academie Julien, she studied animal drawing with painter Frank Calderon, and sculpture with Sir Jacob Epstein and the March brothers. The Yugoslav government commissioned her to create a 12-foot marble monolith for permanent exhibition in the Beli Venac Sculpture Park in Arandjelovac, Yugoslavia. She also created a double life-sized bronze memorial portrait of Dato David Sung, which stands in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Her works are on view in museums throughout the world, including the Smithsonian Institute, the National Portrait Gallery and the National Academy of Science in Washington D.C.; the Museum of Navajo Ceremonial Art in Santa Fe (called the Wheelwright Museum since 1976); The Museum of Northern Arizona, Flagstaff; and the John F. Kennedy Center in Washington D.C. The artist completed large commissions in Washington, D.C., Virginia, Maryland, Ohio, and numerous Federal building complexes, medical centers, private firms, churches, and parks. Her portrait busts (from life) include Andres Segovia, Polingaysi (a great Hopi educator and potter), Dr. Robert Oppenheimer, Georgia O’Keefe, Dr. Frances Kelsey, and Rachel Carson. Her reputation as an outstanding artist has spanned several decades and continents. She is included in Who’s Who in America, Who’s Who in American Art, Who’s Who Among American Women, and Bronzes of the American West.
