Swimming high in the air at the South Carolina State Museum, the sleek 43-foot-long sculpture of a prehistoric giant white shark is a breathtaking sight for visitors to the South Carolina State Museum. You could say the creation of this three-ton monster began more than 60 years ago during the Great Depression with a bar of soap.
Stavros Chrysostomides was just a grammar school student when his carving of a mare and colt from a bar of Blue Herron Soap won a national competition. The prize was $50, a huge sum in those days, but the bigger prize was the art career that sprang from that early beginning.
Sadly, Chrysostomides passed away in June 2007. In celebration of his artistic contribution to the region, the State Museum is presenting a "mini-exhibit" of his work. The enormous shark he created for the State Museum almost 20 years ago hovers over his model for the McGregor Cross and several of his bronze animal sculptures.
Born in Tarpon Springs, Florida, the son of Greek immigrants, Chrysostomides enlisted in the United States Army after high school and was sent to Fort Jackson for his military service. Transferred to the Air Force, he developed a love for planes and learned the construction techniques that he would later use in his art.
Returning to Columbia after his military service, Chrysostomides embarked on a very full and busy life. His company, Trojan Signs, produced signs for local businesses while he simultaneously created intricate bronze sculptures at his South Carolina Wildlife Designs studio and foundry on Monticello Road.
“The public sculptures and signs Chrysostomides created were all about communication,” says Curator of Art Paul Matheny. Sometimes it was a simple message. His giant ice cream cone, which towers over Zesto's in West Columbia, has long reminded customers of the delights of soft-serve ice cream dipped in chocolate.
Sometimes his work delivered a more complex message. The soaring McGregor Cross he created for McGregor Presbyterian Church is a sublime communication of spiritual love.
"This exhibit will give visitors a chance to see the incredible range of this self-taught artist,” says Matheny.
The exhibit will run through Nov. 4. For more information, please contact Paul Matheny at (803) 898-4941.
The prehistoric giant white shark created by Stavros Chrysostomides in 1988 stopped traffic on the journey to its final home at the South Carolina State Museum. A "mini-exhibit" of the sculptures of Chrysostomides can be seen at the State Museum until Nov. 4.