Sculptor to the Great

LAST SPRING ARTIST Wheatley Allen '63 saw a dream realized: he presented his bronze sculpture "Snow Goose" to former Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev in the Russian Archive at Stanford's Hoover Institute. And Gorby is not the only important person to own Allen art.

Allen chose the goose for the symbolic value of its unhindered migrations between the Soviet Unionand the United States. Although former Secretary of State George Shultz was scheduled to present the sculpture, at the last minute he asked Allen to present it himself. Allen explained to Gorbachev that the snow goose summers in Siberia and winters in California. Gorby's reply: "Ah—this makes a living link between us."

Allen has been carving birds since age eight. He received his first commission at age nine when restaurateur "Trader Vic" Bergeron paid Allen $20 dollars to carve a quail. When Ronald Reagan was governor of California he commissioned from Allen a wood carving of a California valley quail for Emperor Hirohito of Japan; as President, Reagan had Allen create a bronze American eagle for West German President Karl Karstens in 1983 and a bronze heron for Premier Zhao Zyiang of the People's Republic of China in 1984.

A full-time sculptor, Allen works out of his garage in the East Bay city of Lafayette, California.

Though most ofhisworkis not commissioned by heads of state, Allen's apparent popularity among Republican leaders has garnered him a reputation as the "Sculptor to the GOP." His latest honor does nothing to diminish that rep: after the Gorbachev affair, a California philanthropist invited Allen to a dinner he was giving for George Bush in June and had him present a piece to the President. This time the featured bird was a saw-whet owl, which, he told Bush, "represents two qualities a President should have: wisdom and a sense of humor."

KILLEBREW '89

Allen andhis worldly goose.