Nationally known sculptor and retired Smith professor Elliot Offner dies at 79

By Larry Parnass and Owen Boss

Staff Writers

NORTHAMPTON - Elliot Offner, a longtime Smith College professor whose sculptures are prized for their lyricism and beauty, died of cancer on Friday at the age of 79.

The artist and educator who lived on Washington Avenue in Northampton retired from Smith in 2004 after 41 years on the faculty. At the time of his retirement, the college mounted four separate exhibitions of his work.

Offner said then he looked forward to retirement. "I just need the time to carry on with my work," he said in 2004.

When Offner was selected as one year's "master wildlife artist" by the Leigh Yawkey Woodson Art Museum, in Wausau, Wis., its director cited his "poignant lyricism" and called him "a sculptor of enormous talent who is recognized widely for his graceful and elegant birds and animals."

A sculpture of a horse by Offner stands outside the college's equestrian center on Route 66.

John Davis, associate provost and a professor of art at Smith, called Offner's passing "an immeasurable loss" not only for the college but for "the larger world of arts and letters."

"Elliot's talents and passions spanned more media than are commonly found in an entire faculty of art. As a sculptor, his direct carving in wood and his mastery of the bronze casting process unlocked the formal potential of these media," Davis said in a statement issued Friday. "Elliot captured the abstract beauty of movement in the natural world, always with a warmth and richness of surface that reminded you of the transformative power of the artist's hand."

Davis noted that Offner's sculpture of a great blue heron "has become a virtual symbol of the college, with its exhilarating unfolding of wings and elastic curve of neck - lithe and filled with potential."

Fellow professor Justina Gregory, who teaches in the college's classical languages and literatures department, first met Offner when she joined the faculty in 1975 and said she will always remember him for his selflessness when it came to helping a local cause.

"He was always ready to donate either his time or his work to benefit a local charity or fundraiser," Gregory said. "It was a beautiful thing to see. He was always open to doing what he could to help out and saw his art as something he could use to help other people."

Gregory said she will also remember Offner's love for being in the classroom and the joy he got out of changing the way his students looked at art.

"When he retired he said teaching was what he really missed," Gregory said. "He said what he enjoyed the most was not teaching future professionals but liberal arts students at Smith who may end up going into completely different careers but will always carry within them what he taught them about art."

Peter Rose said he and Offner came to Smith at the same time and established a friendship that lasted more than 50 years.

"I remember he lent his pieces and prints to charitable events and became active during the civil liberties movement and the anti-war movement. Whenever there was an issue he was always there to help and lead," said Rose of Northampton, an emeritus professor who five years ago retired from the sociology and anthropology department at Smith,

"He was a great artist and an excellent sculptor but he was also a wonderful man who will be sorely missed by all of us," Rose added.

Jay Czelusniak, director of Czelusniak Funeral Home in Northampton, which is handling arrangements for Offner, said he will be cremated and there will not be a funeral. A memorial service organized by the family likely will be held in the next few weeks, Czelusniak said.

Offner was the Andrew W. Mellon Professor in the Humanities Emeritus at Smith.

He was the recipient of the National Sculpture Society's Medal of Honor, as well as many other awards, grants and recognition for his art. He had served as president of the National Sculpture Society from 2000 to 2003.

The Brookgreen Gardens in Pawleys Island, S.C., the first public sculpture garden in the United States, dedicated a building on its 9,000-acre property as the Elliot and Rosemary Offner Sculpture Learning and Research Center.

After earning bachelor's and master's degrees from Yale University, Offner joined the Smith faculty in 1960 and was named to the Mellon professorship in 1974.

Offner had served as a visiting artist at Brandeis, Yale, the Royal College of Art in London, and various colleges at Cambridge University.

Works by Offner are included in the collections of the Brooklyn Museum and Sculpture Garden and the Huntington Sculpture Garden.

Offner is survived by his wife of 53 years, Rosemary (O'Connell) Offner; his daughters, Helen Ong, of Norwalk, Conn., and Emily Hollidge, of Eagan, Minn.; his son, Daniel Offner, of Santa Monica, Calif.; his brother, Arnold Offner, of Newton; and nine grandchildren.

An obituary for Offner will be published in Monday's edition of the Daily Hampshire Gazette.

Owen Boss can be reached at oboss@gazettenet.com