Man's Ascent to Woman by David Breeden

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Artist David Breeden brought this sculpture to the 1987 Three Rivers Arts Festival and generously donated it to the city.

Mr Breeden spent two years travelling as a National Geographic photographer and his artwork seems to have been influenced by his time in Botswana. Man’s Ascent to Woman is an abstract figure – a 14 foot high totem – male at the bottom, female at the top. It’s made from Virginia soapstone, a soft, easy to carve, metamorphic rock.

Katy Gresh interviewed the artist in 1993 for an article in the Indiana Gazette and said:

It’s art sculpted for the purpose of healing, but it’s not medicinal in any way. The soothing soapstone that David Breeden shapes to stand in public places is meant to make folks feel good. Breeden knows that too often when people visit places such as hospitals and courthouses they are upset or worried. We hope to let people have a little respite from their emotional and physical problems, he said about the goal of his art work. He considers his job done if they can take their minds off what they’re there for, for even 30 seconds.

Sadly, David Breeden passed away in 2006. He left behind over 89,000 pieces of beauty to help us forget our problems. We contacted his widow and she graciously told us a little bit about this piece. She explained that they had participated in the Three Rivers Arts Festival and Shadyside Art Shows for at least 10 years, and that David (who attended CMU) had a great affection for Pittsburgh. Elizabeth Breeden said the piece is named for David’s belief that women are naturally of a higher order in nature than men and are the older in the natural order (Mother Nature, matriarchal religion being far older than patriarchal).

Elizabeth also said As we installed it, we realized that the pedestal needed to be thicker and the crane operator became the most wonderful partner. He left his crane holding it, while we bought concrete and poured and finished another pedestal around it and waited for it to set up.

The sculpture is located in the median on Liberty Ave in Gateway Center, between 2 and 4 Gateway Center.