Plaza by Aleksandra Kasuba at the Old Post Office Pavilion

Aleksandra Kasuba (January 10, 1923 – March 5, 2019) was a

Lithuanian-American Lithuanian Americans refer to Americans, American citizens and residents of Lithuanians, Lithuanian descent or were born in Lithuania. New Philadelphia, Pennsylvania has the largest percentage of Lithuanian Americans (20.8%) in its population ...

environmental artist. Kasuba studied sculpture in her native country before emigrating to the United States with her husband

Vytautas Kašuba Vytautas Kašuba (actual surname ''Košuba'', 15 August 1915 – 14 April 1997) was a Lithuanian sculptor and honorary doctor of the Vilnius Academy of Arts (awarded in 1994). His major work is the Monument to Grand Duke Gediminas, a public scu ...

in 1947, having spent the previous two years in

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

as a refugee. Much of her work, in materials such as marble and brick, is abstract and architectural in nature, and is fully integrated into nearby buildings. Examples may be seen at the

Rochester Institute of Technology The Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT) is a private university, private research university in Henrietta, New York, a suburb of Rochester, New York, Rochester. It was founded in 1829. It is one of only two institute of technology, institut ...

; Lincoln Hospital in

the Bronx The Bronx ( ) is the northernmost of the five Boroughs of New York City, boroughs of New York City, coextensive with Bronx County, in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York. It shares a land border with Westchester County, New York, West ...

; the Bank of California Building in

Portland Portland most commonly refers to: *Portland, Oregon, the most populous city in the U.S. state of Oregon *Portland, Maine, the most populous city in the U.S. state of Maine *Isle of Portland, a tied island in the English Channel Portland may also r ...

Oregon Oregon ( , ) is a U.S. state, state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It is a part of the Western U.S., with the Columbia River delineating much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington (state), Washington, while t ...

; the headquarters of the

Container Corporation of America Container Corporation of America (CCA) was founded in 1926 and manufactured corrugated boxes. In 1968 CCA merged with Montgomery Ward & Company, Inc., becoming MARCOR. MARCOR maintained separate management for the operations of each company, but ...

Chicago Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...

; and the plaza in front of the

Old Post Office Pavilion The Old Post Office, listed on the National Register of Historic Places as the Old Post Office and Clock Tower, is located at 1100 Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W. in Washington, D.C. It is a contributing property to the Pennsylvania Avenue National ...

, today the Trump International Hotel Washington, D.C. She also produced a design for the Amherst Street station of

Buffalo Metro Rail Buffalo Metro Rail is the public transit rail system in Buffalo, New York, operated by the Niagara Frontier Transportation Authority (NFTA). The system consists of a single, light rail line that runs for most of the length of Main Street (New ...

. In addition to her sculptural work, she has received architectural awards for designs made of stretched fabric. Kasuba lived in New York and

New Mexico New Mexico is a state in the Southwestern United States, Southwestern region of the United States. It is one of the Mountain States of the southern Rocky Mountains, sharing the Four Corners region with Utah, Colorado, and Arizona. It also ...

during her career. A collection of her papers is currently held by the

Archives of American Art The Archives of American Art is the largest collection of primary resources documenting the history of the visual arts in the United States. More than 20 million items of original material are housed in the Archives' research centers in Washing ...

of the

Smithsonian Institution The Smithsonian Institution ( ), or simply the Smithsonian, is a group of museums, Education center, education and Research institute, research centers, created by the Federal government of the United States, U.S. government "for the increase a ...

. She was the subject of a retrospective at the National Art Gallery in Vilnius in 2015.

References

1923 births 2019 deaths Environmental artists 20th-century American artists 20th-century American women artists 21st-century American artists 21st-century American women artists 20th-century sculptors Lithuanian sculptors 20th-century Lithuanian artists Lithuanian refugees in the United States {{US-sculptor-stub