Walk around Athens and you’ll start spotting welded metal sculptures full of repeated nature symbols, rusted to a soft reddish brown. Who makes these magical creations? Harold Rittenberry, a native Athenian, who’s lived just off Baxter Street for most of his life.
Rittenberry grew up in a log cabin in Athens and was always drawing, even as a child. He lived near the folk artist Dilmus Hall, who made concrete sculptures that likely inspired the young man. Rittenberry left high school around 1955 and lied about his age to join the military, where he served in the motor pool in Western Europe. After returning to Athens he worked a series of service industry and factory jobs but quit in 1985 to take care of his aging mother. At that time, he took up welding, making small sculptures as he had time and beginning to decorate his yard. People started coming to buy them, and then commissioned him to make larger work.
In 1996, Rittenberry made two stainless steel benches and a table for the Corporation for Olympic Development in Atlanta and began creating more public art. The museum gave him a solo show in 2003 and has numerous examples of his work, including “Escape,” a large cage with circling birds, and a new bench that reflects education themes installed outside the side entrance. The University of Georgia commissioned him to make benches commemorating its integration, and his work can be found at the Athens-Clarke County Library, the Lyndon House Arts Center and Bear Hollow Zoo.