Converse Art Students Revive Grad’s Spartanburg Sculpture

When Instructor of Art Education, Andrea Elliott, heard that a local sculpture by a Converse alumna needed some love, she and students in Converse’s Art Department stepped up. The students spent months repainting the tree and restoring it.

The Graffiti Foundation commissioned Berry Bate ’75 to sculpt a peach tree to go on the corner of Main & Pine streets. The sculpture was later moved near Pine Street School on the rail trail. Bate graduated from Converse with a Bachelor of Music degree in voice. It was at Converse that she discovered her true calling of working with metal. Bate’s career has taken her from roles as a restoration consultant for the Statue of Liberty to a sculptor for the Biltmore Estate.