Michael A. Maglich 

Artist, consummate wit, and iconoclastic thinker, whose public art projects for the cities of Phoenix, Scottsdale, and Tempe helped in recent years to shape the cultural landscape of those cities, died on August 2, 2007 in Phoenix.

Known for the signature wit and wry humor that he brought to his work, he was a formidable artist, whose large scale creations include the installation, "Arizona Bolas," a series of 59 bronze sculptures installed in 1995 at the Phoenix Convention Center, a piece that spans two city blocks and celebrates the bola and its history as a regional icon, incorporating diverse elements from desert flora to swimming goggles Other important works include "Cereus Mechanicus,' a 2004 sculptural installation for the Cactus Garden at Sky Harbor Airport, and "The Sirens of Highway 60," commissioned by the City of Tempe, in which 180 small siren figures, based on a bronze from the Getty Museum, are captured in flight on either side of the freeway. In 1999, he created "Horseshoe Falls" in Scottsdale, an installation of fourteen columns, made of stacked horseshoes, with an internal misting system and pathway.

As a true lover of the desert, Michael embraced the landscape of the Southwest. Born on July 1st, 1945 in Buffalo, New York, he was six months old when his family relocated in Phoenix. Following high school, in 1964 he moved to Los Angeles, where he enrolled in the prestigious Chouinard Art Institute, from which he graduated with honors. In 1982, Michael returned to Phoenix (as he wryly said, for love of the Susan) and it was here, in the early 1990s, that he began accepting the commissions that would result in his large public installations and bring him wide acclaim. He also continued to exhibit his art in galleries and museums across the country. Following graduation from Chouinard, Michael was offered teaching opportunities, but he preferred the life of a working artist and the freedom that came with it.

His curiosity and instinct for adventure led him to travel widely, in India, Hungary, China, Tahiti, France, Mexico, and the Czech Republic. For Michael, travel became a means of stimulating his imagination and refreshing his artistic sensibility, and wherever he went, he made friends who appreciated his rare talent to amuse, his eye for the absurd, his love of the bon mot. He was an avid reader, a lover of music, a droll man who could make anyone laugh---and often did. He will be deeply missed by his family, his many friends, and long appreciated by the strangers who encounter his enduring work. As one close friend said upon hearing of his death,

"We have been robbed of a treasure."

He is survived by his sister, Karen Elaine Maglich, his son, Emory Maglich, his stepson Byron Carrick, and his wife, Susan Carrick, who often worked with Michael on his public art projects.