Gwendolyn Gillen

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 life-size sculpture of Moore, which dedicated in 2002 in the Nicollet Mall in downtown Minneapolis, has own of the city's most recognizable landmarks and "symbol of Minneapolis". 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.

Gillen was born Gwendolyn Scrivener on January 6, 1941. Her father, Carl H. Scrivener, was a newspaper editor for The Patriot Ledger. She was raised in Quincy, Massachusetts. Gillen studied acting at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts in New York City, which helped her lose her Massachusetts accent. She met her future husband, Ronald W. Gillen, who was from Brooklyn at an evening party in New York City. The couple married in a ceremony held on May 20, 1961, in Spokane, Washington. Ronald Gillen was a member of the U.S. Air Force, causing the couple to move frequently, including to Guam and Japan.

By the late 1960s, the Gillens had settled in the Milwaukee metropolitan area so Ronald Gillen could enroll at the Milwaukee School of Engineering. They settled in nearby Hustisford, Wisconsin, where they raised two children, Alessandra and Christopher. Gwen Gillen worked as a set designer for a local Wisconsin theater.

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