34 THE COASTAL BEND MAGAZINE • Late Spring 2019 TheCoastalBend.com Above—Ullberg’s“Cobra”and“Meerkat”sculptures were inspired by his time in Africa, where he served as curator for the Botswana National Museum, early in his career;“Victory Eagle,”one of Ullberg’s many depictions of the national bird, atTexas A&M University in College Station; Below—”Spirit of Nebraska’s Wilderness”was a 10-year project that became the world’s largest, continuous sculpture installation, and which depicts a herd of American bison and a flock of Canadian geese traveling through a five-block section of downtown Omaha, Nebraska. D enver’s Museum of Na- ture and Science is owed a debt of gratitude for bringing Kent Ullberg to America. Its directors worked with Ullberg in Botswana curating its new Africa ex- hibit, and after two years invited him to Colorado where he was hired to run the exhibit itself—all the while Ullberg was honing his sculpting skills using his time away from the museum to gain exposure for his work. By 1976, Kent Ullberg was at last able to declare himself a “work- ing artist,” as he had secured enough commissioned work to survive financial- ly. In the 43 years since, he has earned his place as one of the world’s most re- spected and accomplished sculptors, Ull- berg’s work standing as monuments in locations throughout the United States and in Europe. Although Ullberg found a beloved new home in Colorado—enamored to the Rocky Mountains and its diverse, sea- sonal wildlife, and finding a large artists community with whom he could share ideas, philosophy and techniques—he and his wife Veerle nonetheless chose the then-new Padre Isles community on North Padre Island in Corpus Christi as their permanent home in America. It was in his new adopted hometown that several of Ullberg’s early monumental works gained acclaim throughout the art world. “Wind in the Sails,” was commis- sioned by Edward H. Harte, publisher of the Corpus Christi Caller Times, cofound- er of the Padre Island National Seashore, and a director of the National Audubon Society, to celebrate the newspaper’s centennial in 1983. The first of Ullberg’s eagle monu- ments were installed at the prestigious Lincoln Centre in North Dallas in 1981, a spectacular 23-foot American Eagle in stainless steel setting upon black gran- ite, and at the Genesee County (New York) Museum, a 21-foot bronze-on- stone, in 1984. One of his most visible American Bald Eagle monuments over- sees the entrance to the Federal Reserve Bank in Houston, 15-feet high with a 20-foot wingspan, installed in 2005. The Lincoln Centre Eagle was subsequently donated to the University of Texas at Dallas, Center for Brain Science. In the Coastal Bend alone, Ullberg’s work is highly visible on North Shore-