Lewes’ Kristen Visbal creates Fearless Girl

Sculptor Kristen Visbal, the artist behind the Fearless Girl statue now facing off against Wall Street’s bull in New York City, may be the most famous sculptor in the world right now. And Lewes’ Nassau Valley Vineyards is home to her studio.

In a March 8 press release, Visbal said the work features a daring and confident young girl, cast in bronze. The young girl says soft and sensitive equals strong and capable, she said.

“All women should relate to this work,” she wrote. “It should inspire the young to dream as if anything were possible and simultaneously encourage today’s working woman to hold her ground, no matter what challenges may come barreling down the pike.”

The piece was a collaboration with State Street Global Advisors and McCann New York in celebration of International Women’s Day, March 8, and Women’s History Month.

Understandably busy at this particular moment, Visbal has not responded to interview requests from the Cape Gazette, but she was featured as a Saltwater Portrait in the summer of 2012, shortly after completing nine sculpted figures for a Cradle of Coaches collection at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio.

In that interview, Visbal said she finds inspiration in many settings, including the location of her studio, hidden away among the green vines and large trees at the vineyards. “It's a bucolic area, a perfect place for me to work,” she said.

The 50-inch high bronze Fearless Girl was installed March 7 under the cover of night at the intersection of Broadway and Morris streets. According to the release, the statue will be on display for one year.

Visbal said the piece is something all women of any age, shape, color or creed can relate to.

“A work which reminds us today’s working woman is here to stay and has taken her place in the nation’s financial district,” she said. “The piece is pungent with Girl Power!”

According to the release, Fearless Girl was modeled and cast in two months, a process which typically takes six to eight months. The sculpture was cast in bronze at New Arts Foundry of Baltimore, Md.

Visbal is a member of the National Sculpture Society and is currently working on Twisted, the first in her distortion series. Her work can be viewed at www.visbalsculpture.com.

Editor’s note: This story has been changed to reflect that Visbal’s studio is in Lewes, not her home.