Holcombe’s work on display

Rosalie Holcombe's frog sculpture is on display at the Ebenezer Swamp near Montevallo.

Rosalie Holcombe, a 2006 graduate of Bob Jones High School, was recently selected to have her sculpture work permanently displayed at the Ebenezer Swamp near Montevallo.

As a senior art student majoring in sculpture at the University of Montevallo, she had taken a new course offered last fall in public sculpture, and, through a private donation to the swamp, had the opportunity to complete her vision of the sculpture during the summer of 2010.

A dedication ceremony and unveiling was held Oct. 14.

Dignitaries including the University President, property benefactors and art department professors attended the event.

Two other university art majors, Jim Smith and Kirsten Bowman, also had sculptures commissioned for placement and dedication at the swamp. The sculpture professor, Ted Metz, gave the keynote address.

Holcombe honed her artistic skills and love of art as a student at Bob Jones High School, which enjoys a national reputation for its outstanding art program. Melissa Hughey, the department head, and other instructors mentored Rosalie and gave her the inspiration to pursue her dream of becoming a sculptor. She has excelled in her craft while at Montevallo.

The sculptures represent animals indigenous to the swamp. Holcombe chose to construct a frog using recycled metal to represent the renewal process of the swamp.

The students purchased various scrap metal from local junkyards and then learned metal techniques that would turn the scrap metal into the sculptures they had envisioned.

The 60-acre tract for the Bolton-Orr Ecological Preserve at Ebenezer Swamp was donated to the University of Montevallo by generous benefactors, and is located off Hwy. 24 in Shelby County. The Ebenezer Swamp Preserve forms the Spring Creek tributary, which forms Shoal Creek, a tributary to the Little Cahaba River, which forms the Cahaba River watershed.

The Cahaba is one of the most ecologically renowned watersheds in North America.

Holcombe is the daughter of Tim Holcombe, marketing manager for Sun Drop Bottling Co. and a Madison City Council member, and Sharon Holcombe, a teacher at Monrovia Middle School.

She will graduate from the University of Montevallo in May 2011, and pursue her dream of becoming an artist.