Life and Career
Robert Mihaly was born in Akron, Ohio. Largely self-educated, he abandoned an art/honors scholarship at Kent State University to relocate to North Carolina. At the age of 21, he was awarded $10,000 in a national college entrepreneur contest. His business plan to design and sell artistic architectural ornaments was selected from 600 other proposals.
In 1996–97, Mihaly was the Artist in Residence at Washington National Cathedral, the country's second-largest cathedral. Mihaly and the church encountered a stumbling block: the 24,000-pound (11,000 kg) Vermont marble block Mihaly was transforming into an angel. The cathedral came to think of the stone and scaffolding as an eyesore and safety hazard. The cathedral removed the structure, leaving Mihaly unable to work. Mihaly unsuccessfully sued the cathedral in small-claims court for breach of contract.
In 2002, Duke University commissioned Mihaly for the first gargoyles at Duke since the construction of the Gothic-styled West Campus. The University commissioned the gargoyles to honor Aubrey and Kathleen McClendon, a couple who gave $5.5 million for a new dorm. The Gothic west campus has more than 100 gargoyles perched upon buildings to ward off evil spirits. But these two sculptures "ended up spooking the wealthy donors they were intended to honor", and were subsequently removed from the building.
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