Gwendolyn "Gwen" Gillen (January 6, 1941 – January 27, 2017) was an American sculptor and artist. Her best known works include a bronze sculpture of actress Mary Tyler Moore tossing her Tam o' shanter hat into the air as a homage to the final scene of opening credits of The Mary Tyler Moore Show. Gillen's life-size sculpture of Moore, dedicated in 2002 on the Nicollet Mall in downtown Minneapolis, is one of the city's most recognizable landmarks and a "symbol of Minneapolis".[2][3][4][5] Her other well known pieces include a 4-foot bronze sculpture of Gertie the Duck, which was installed on the Wisconsin Avenue bridge in Milwaukee in 1997.[4]
- ^ The statue now stands in the Minneapolis Visitor Center pending the completion of mall renovations in 2017. Associated Press (December 7, 2015) "Minneapolis' Mary Tyler Moore statue comes back out of storage" St. Paul Pioneer Press
- ^ "Gwendolyn Gillen, 76, Wis. artist who cast Mary Tyler Moore sculpture". Boston Globe. 2017-02-10. Retrieved 2017-02-27.
- ^ "Gwendolyn Gillen, artist of bronze sculpture of Mary Tyler Moore, dies at 76". Washington Post. 2017-02-01. Retrieved 2017-02-27.
- ^ a b Collins, Bob (2017-02-01). "Gwen Gillen was much more than the Mary Tyler Moore statue". Minnesota Public Radio. Retrieved 2017-02-27.
- ^ Hauer, Sarah (2017-01-31). "Obituary: Gwen Gillen created Mary Tyler Moore bronze". Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. Retrieved 2017-02-27.