‘Famous’ sculpture goes home to creator’s daughter

By Sam Waller

What started as a class fundraising project and went on to gain a certain notoriety on the local art scene gained a new home earlier this year.

In January, Albany’s Jennifer Carlile took possession of a sculpture created more than 50 years ago by her late father, Steve Carlile.

The piece had been owned by A.V. and Pat Jones since they purchased it as part of a fundraiser.

“K.C. Jones told me that the ag teacher had the kids make art pieces for an auction to raise money for a new welding machine,” Jennifer Carlile said. “His parents had the highest bid, and they got my dad’s.”

The sculpture was created by Steve Carlile in 1970. It consists of pieces of scrap metal welded together and attached to a piece of oilfield pipe supported by a base of square tubing.

“It’s been called a lot of things,” Jennifer said, “but I call it a rooster going into battle.”

K.C. said his parents enjoyed having such a conversation piece.

“Mom and Dad put it in their back yard, and it stayed there for a good 50 years,” he said. “When Jennifer asked if I still had the piece, I told her I would love for her to have it if she wanted it.”

The piece holds sentimental value for Carlile.

“My dad died in 2015,” she said. “It’s nice having something here that was his. K.C. was really nice about offering to let me have it.”

The base had to be rebuilt before it could be moved to Carlile’s residence, which also happens to be the home of Jennifer’s grandmother, where Steve grew up.

“Don Taggart and Darrell Roysdon took care of that and hauled it to Jennifer’s house for her,” Jones said.

Jones said the piece was a definite attention grabber. At a time before the Old Jail Art Center was established, the Joneses hosted an exhibition in their home.

“My parents hung all this art and invited two or three artists to be present,” Jones said. “These two ladies kept talking about the sculpture in the back yard. They finally asked my dad to tell them about it, and he said, ‘Oh, it’s a Carlile.’ This one woman turned to the other and said, ‘I told you it was a famous person’.”

Jones said the sculpture quickly became a focal point for the evening.

“The ladies started asking the other guests if they had noticed the Carlile in the back,” he said. “All these people were oohing and aahing over Steve’s high school ag shop project. Up until it was moved to Jennifer’s house, we would always say, ‘and we have a Carlile’.”