The characters include athletic legends Mia Hamm, Michael Jordan, and Julius Peppers as well as the street's namesake, Ben Franklin.Ĭlient Elizabeth Edwards and her husband, Senator John Edwards commissioned Mihaly to carve the headstone of their deceased son, Wade, out of a 24,000 pound block of Vermont marble. Mihaly's collection of gargoyles from popular town and gown characters of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill sit atop the restaurant, Top of the Hill, overlooking central crossroads of Franklin and Columbia Streets. Mihaly's sculptural work includes angels, gargoyles, an elaborate gothic mausoleum, and four tractor-trailer loads of stonework that he carved for a miniature Renaissance villa. But these two sculptures "ended up spooking the wealthy donors they were intended to honor", and were subsequently removed from the building. The Gothic west campus has more than 100 gargoyles perched upon buildings to ward off evil spirits. The University commissioned the gargoyles to honor Aubrey and Kathleen McClendon, a couple who gave $5.5 million for a new dorm. In 2002, Duke University commissioned Mihaly for the first gargoyles at Duke since the construction of the Gothic-styled West Campus. Mihaly unsuccessfully sued the cathedral in small-claims court for breach of contract. The cathedral removed the structure, leaving Mihaly unable to work. The cathedral came to think of the stone and scaffolding as an eyesore and safety hazard. Mihaly and the church encountered a stumbling block: the 24,000-pound (11,000 kg) Vermont marble block Mihaly was transforming into an angel. In 1996–97, Mihaly was the Artist in Residence at Washington National Cathedral, the country's second-largest cathedral. His business plan to design and sell artistic architectural ornaments was selected from 600 other proposals. At the age of 21, he was awarded $10,000 in a national college entrepreneur contest. Largely self-educated, he abandoned an art/honors scholarship at Kent State University to relocate to North Carolina.
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