19. Rabbit Bench by Seattle area artist Georgia Gerber was commissioned in 2011 by Elizabeth Uihlein, owner of the ULINE shipping supply company. Three bronze benches in total were commissioned as a set, and this piece, which depicts a rabbit, was originally installed at the ULINE corporate headquarters campus in Pleasant Prairie, Wisconsin. It was later moved to its current location at Middlefork Savanna Forest Preserve in Lake Forest. The remaining two benches, one depicting an otter, the other depicting a beaver, are still located at ULINE corporate headquarters. Rabbit Bench is a prime example of Gerber’s artistic aesthetic, which unites the natural world with imaginative formal stylization. Regarding her own artwork, Gerber explains, “I enjoy pushing shapes beyond realistic … I feel that my most successful work could be stripped of its figurative elements and the underlying form remain beautiful.”Georgia Gerber was raised on a small family farm in rural Pennsylvania where she developed a love of animals and a desire to express her passion for them through art. She studied sculpture and bronze casting at Bucknell University and earned her MFA from the University of Washington. Since 1983 she has lived on South Whidbey Island, just north of Seattle in the Puget Sound. Gerber has become one of the Northwest’s most well-known and prolific artists, with over 80 permanent installations throughout the country.