WATERVILLE, ME.- Colby College celebrated the unveiling of a monumental sculpture by noted American modernist Albert Paley on Oct. 16, the first major piece of a promised gift from Rob Radloff and Ann Beha, D.F.A. ’24, to create access to museum-quality art across campus and accentuate Colby’s commitment to the power and practice of living with art on a daily basis.

The 14-foot-tall Corten steel sculpture, titled Proscenium EX-252, stands prominently along Mayflower Hill Drive in front of the Gordon Center for Creative and Performing Arts, creating a dramatic entrance to the building. With sharp angles and soft curves that reach skyward, Proscenium EX-252 explores architectural elements and organic form.

In addition to the Paley sculpture, Radloff and Beha also donated Catch I by John Walker, a British-born, Maine-based modernist painter whose artworks are in nearly 50 museums. The large-scale oil painting will go on view on campus in the coming months. Catch I is part of a series of abstract works that Walker developed recently, all in blue and inspired by the Maine coast.

The donors have promised other pieces from their collection to enhance and enrich the experience of art for the entire Colby community. The gift from the Rob Radloff and Ann Beha Collection also will include paintings, photographs, and other artworks that will be displayed inside academic and administrative buildings and community spaces.

The collection includes important 20th-century paintings and sculptures by Arthur Dove, Beverly Pepper, Juan Gris, Helen Frankenthaler, Oscar Bluemner, Louise Bourgeois, David Hockney, Mark di Suvero, and many others.

Colby President David A. Greene thanked Radloff and Beha during the celebration, which coincided with a meeting of the Colby Board of Trustees. “They are the most amazing people,” Greene said, noting that neither Radloff nor Beha, nor any of their kids, attended Colby. “They are doing so much for this institution. They’re phenomenal in so many ways.”

He described the Paley sculpture as a statement piece for the Gordon Center.

“When you come up to this building, it says that ‘art lives here.’ You don’t have to say it in words, you just have that sculpture out there, and your eyes go to it—and wow. It truly looks as if this was a site-specific sculpture. From its scale to the coloring, to the design itself, it looks like Albert Paley said, ‘This has got to go to the Gordon Center.’”

In June 2025, while traveling for their 50th anniversary, the couple added the Paley sculpture as a gift for Colby. They had originally intended to place the sculpture on their property in Maine, but they decided to make it the first major piece of their promised gift to Colby after visiting Mayflower Hill this summer.

“We just decided that we ought to share this with the Colby community now rather than place it at our house where few people would see it,” said Radloff, who came to campus to witness the installation earlier in the week. “This is a perfect, prominent spot on campus, a gateway and crossroad to the Gordon Center, Colby’s new, wonderful campus arts venue.”

Beha, a prominent architect, said the placement of the Paley sculpture outside the Gordon Center is appropriate because it showcases the majesty of the piece, which is personally meaningful because she is a longtime friend and colleague of William Rawn and many members of William Rawn Architects, the firm that designed the Gordon Center building.

“Paley is a maker. His work is forged by hand, reflecting a lifetime exploration of materials, form, and space. He is as interested in metallurgy as he is in sculpture—a special combination of art and fabrication,” Beha said. “I’ve seen his monumental and smaller pieces all across America—always fresh, visually arresting, accessible, and memorable.”

Jacqueline Terrassa, the Carolyn Muzzy Director of the Colby College Museum of Art, said the campus art initiative is a collaborative effort that involves the museum.

“With the placement of stunning artworks such as Albert Paley’s sculpture and John Walker’s vibrant painting, Catch I, we are creating moments of delight and awe on campus that slow us down, calling us to attention,” Terrassa said. “Realizing a campus art program takes many partners, from our donors to colleagues in operations and grounds. The Colby Museum is proud to play a key role in the team, providing expert guidance to create new ways to experience art and make our campus even more of an art destination.”

Born in 1944, Paley began his career as a jeweler and has become a distinguished and influential metalsmith. His work can be found at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the British Museum, the Museum of Fine Arts Houston, the Smithsonian Museum, the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, and elsewhere. In 2013, 13 of his monumental sculptures were installed on Park Avenue in New York City.

Earlier this year, he became the first metal sculptor to receive the Lifetime Achievement Award from the American Institute of Architects. He lives in Rochester, N.Y.