An alligator with origins in Polk County now stands sentry outside a citadel of scholarship in Gainesville.<\/p>\n
When fall classes open Aug. 21 at the University of Florida, students will find a realistic bronze sculpture of a 10-foot bull alligator poised near the entrance to Library West.<\/p>\n
David Price of Lake Wales created the sculpture, titled \u201cFocused Attention\u201d and based on his observations of the prehistoric reptiles, both in Polk County and elsewhere. The sculpture is identical to one on display outside the visitor center at Bok Tower Gardens<\/a>, where Price is president.<\/p>\n A third sculpture cast from the same mold in 2016 is in a private collection, Price said.<\/p>\n The A. H. Burnett Foundation\u00a0acquired and donated the 430-pound sculpture in 2016 to George A. Smathers Libraries, according to a news release from the University of Florida. For the next nine years, the sculpture was exhibited inside on the third floor of Library West.<\/p>\n \u201cIt was in one of their computer areas, so you had to go looking for it,\u201d Price said.<\/p>\n Judy Russell, dean of George A. Smathers Libraries until her recent retirement, told Price that she wanted to see the sculpture displayed near the entrance to the library. When UF completed a renovation of the colonnade in front of the library, workers installed the sculpture on a base of Florida limestone, its fierce and toothy visage facing the Plaza of the Americas.<\/p>\n Hoping to give inspiration<\/p>\n Price traveled to Gainesville on Aug. 12 for a private showing for leaders of the Burnett Foundation. He plans to return for the official unveiling at 12:30 p.m. on Aug. 21, the first day of fall classes.<\/p>\n Though the University of Florida\u2019s athletic teams are known as the Gators, Price \u2014 a Clemson University graduate \u2014 said his sculpture is intended to provoke awe toward the natural world rather than sporting passion.<\/p>\n \u201cIt represents scholarship and science and studies,” he said. “I think they’re noble creatures. And so, I’m really happy to have this one in front of the library. It was real fitting for that \u2018Focused Attention\u2019 be put out front of the library and hopefully inspire students to stay focused on their goals.\u201d<\/p>\n Price said the alligator is a composite of many he observed and photographed \u2014 in the wild in Polk County, at Paynes Prairie near Gainesville and at alligator farms. He also studied skulls and taxidermied specimens.<\/p>\n Inspired by the outdoor sculpture collection at Brookgreen Gardens in his native South Carolina, Price began carving wood and stone in high school and dabbled in sculpture. He returned to the form more seriously in the early 1990s.<\/p>\n