Carnegie Elementary School students have been wide-eyed this week at the sight of the prehistoric carnivore that greets them each time they walk into school.
A Tyrannosaurus rex sculpture measuring 10 feet high and weighing 600 pounds was delivered to the school for permanent display on Monday. Parents of one of the school's students paid $4,000 for the work of art called "Fossil Fuels" by Patrick Daugherty.
"It's so large to the students, especially the kindergartners," teacher Roseanne Plum said. "Some were hesitant at first to go near it, but when they found out it wasn't real they were more receptive to it."
The sculpture originally was one of several dinosaurs on display at The Waterfront in Homestead, during the Carnegie Museum of Natural History's recent DinoMite Days. In all, the event featured 100 distinct dinosaur works of art in the Pittsburgh area's parks and streets.
Carnegie Museum accepted bids on the dinosaurs throughout October, and an online auction was held Sunday.
The Carnegie couple called school Principal Regina Urso when they realized they submitted the winning bid of $4,000, but they want to remain anonymous, district spokeswoman Michale Herrmann said.
Urso said the dinosaur is a unique addition to the school, and will serve as a great educational tool.
"It lets students see how an artist describes and uses history to represent things," she said. "The students will see the history of our area. The proportion of it in relation to the children is wonderful. It's a great teaching tool."
Daugherty's design represents a realistically detailed T-rex, transforming into coal. The animal's head and torso is shown, but the lower body gradually becomes pieces of coal. At the base, black acrylic paint creates the appearance of a wet, shining pool of oil.
The creation could represent the ultimate fate of the dinosaurs, which decomposed into fossil fuels such as coal and oil. Or it could show the Pittsburgh economy, being reborn fiercely out of its coal-, coke- and steel-based economy.
Plum said she'll teach a unit on dinosaurs in January and students will learn about the life of the T-rex and other prehistoric animals.
"This is a great model of what the T-rex may have looked like. The students will be able to get an idea of how big and powerful this creature once was and also give us a greater appreciation of our earth," Plum said.
Daugherty, of Uniontown, said he's pleased that the final destination of his sculpture is a school.
"When I was a child, I was always fascinated by something that was done by a real artist. The kids will not only learn about coal and dinosaurs, but they can also see the brush strokes and how it was constructed," he said.
