Nelson Grice / Flamboyant Flamingo — Artist Nelson Grice posing in front of his newest sculpture, *Flamboyant Flamingo*. (Nathan Watson / Bham Now)

For the past year and a half, local artist Nelson Grice has been piecing together a massive, 800-pound bronze sculpture of a flamingo for the Birmingham Zoo. To learn more, we met up with Nelson at his studio in Columbiana as he puts the finishing touches on Flamboyant Flamingo.

Meet Flamboyant Flamingo, Nelson Grice’s latest bronze sculpture

Headquartered in a studio at the Shelby County Arts Center in Columbiana, Nelson Grice is an artist specializing in custom clay and bronze sculptures—ranging in size from handheld pieces to a massive, 2,500-pound statue of Miss Fancy, the legendary elephant that has become the unofficial mascot of Birmingham’s Avondale neighborhood.

After the completion of the Miss Fancy statue, Nelson was commissioned to design a new piece for Hoover’s Aldridge Gardens. Dubbed “Long Tall Silly,” (a play on Little Richard’s “Long Tall Sally”) the nine-foot-tall bronze-cast sculpture was installed in March of 2024.

Shortly after the completion of Long Tall Silly, Nelson was contacted by an anonymous donor who wanted to commission a similar piece for the Birmingham Zoo.

“[The donor] got their friends to contact the CEO of the Birmingham Zoo on my behalf. The Zoo had recently held a fundraising gala called ‘Flamingo Flamboyance,’ and we decided to run with that theme for our sculpture.”
Nelson Grice

Just like his Miss Fancy and Long Tall Silly sculptures, Nelson began designing Flamboyant Flamingo in miniature.

“For a project like this, you start by building a small clay model. Then, you begin building the full-sized sculpture piece by piece, using Plasticine to create the base piece, pulling the molds off your wax model, casting it in bronze and welding it all together.”
Nelson Grice

Flamboyant Flamingo will be installed at the Birmingham Zoo in early November

After nearly a year and a half of grueling work in the Alabama heat, Flamboyant Flamingo is nearly complete. Standing seven feet tall with a wingspan of six feet, the 800-pound cast bronze statue is awaiting a few final touch-ups before its installation in the flamingo exhibit at the Birmingham Zoo.

“Miss Fancy was my boot camp: it was the first large-scale bronze sculpture, and it was so big—it took a lot of work to complete. These ‘smaller’ sculptures still take a lot of work, but I’ve had a lot of fun with Flamboyant Flamingo.”
Nelson Grice

Excited to see Flamboyant Flamingo installed at the Birmingham Zoo? Follow Bham Now on Instagram, Facebook and TikTok and sign up for our FREE newsletter to stay in the loop on this + other exciting happenings in The Magic City.