Mid2Mod: Harold Balazs

Harold Balazs (1928- ) is an American sculptor and artist. He was born in Westlake, Ohio, and began taking art lessons at the age of 11. While still a teenager during World War II, he created his first murals in support of the war effort. When he finished high school, his family moved to Spokane, Washington, and he enrolled in Washington State College (now Washington State University), from which he received a BFA in 1951.

At that time, he and his wife Rosemary began making copper and enamel jewelry, which he consigned to local gift shops. In 1953, they opened a small gallery in Spokane. In 1961, he began collaborating with various architects to create doors, gates, walls, sculptures, murals, and other items for public and private buildings, for which he received the American Institute of Architects Gold Medal for Architectural Craft.

In the early 1970s, Balazs did enamel and carved brick work, and in 1974 he did his untitled "lantern" sculpture near the opera house in Spokane's Riverfront Park. Then, in 1978, he created his well known public art work, the Centennial Sculpture, celebrating Spokane's 100th year.

From 1982 to 1994, Balazs worked on the "Percent for Art" projects in Alaska, and in the late 1990s he began showing his work at Art Spirit Gallery in Coeur d'Alene, Idaho. In 2005, at the age of 77, he created the Rotary Fountain in Riverfront Park in Spokane.

Balazs currently lives in Mead, Washington.

From visitspokane.com