Bobbi Gibb

Bobbi Gibb's zest for life and natural curiosity show up in the many hats she wears: mother, scientific researcher for neurodegenerative diseases, attorney, athlete, author and speaker, to name a few. While many people know her as the first woman to run the Boston Marathon, few people know her as an artist. Aside from running, she finds creative expression through her bronze and wax sculptures and acrylic paint murals. In honor of the 50th year of her run in 2016, Bobbi is sharing her lifetime wish for her artwork — to sculpt a life–size statue of a female runner and have it places on the Boston Marathon Course.

Her works are found at the National Art Museum of Sport in Indianapolis and in private collections. She has exhibited at the prestigious Geraci Gallery and the Rockport Art Association, where she has won the Manship Prize for excellence. She attended the School of the Boston Museum of Fine Arts and has benefited from the teaching of Richard Gibney, Richard Reccia, and Walker Hancock.

She is a three–time winner of the Boston Marathon Women’s Division in the pre-sanctioned era, 1966, 1967 and 1968. She was the first woman ever to run and complete the Boston Marathon in 1966 at a time when it was believed that women were not physically able to run marathon distances and were not allowed to complete in events longer than one and a half miles. Her list of honors is long and can be found on her running website. Her feat disproved widely held beliefs about women and was a pivotal event in triggering the second wave of the women’s movement and in changing the consciousness about women’s capabilities. Her sculpture reflects her love of sports and celebrates the human body in motion.

Germain Glidden, the founder of the National Art Museum of Sport, says of her work, “She captures the human spirit in bronze.” As part of the 50th Celebration of her 1966 run, she has been selected to create a life size bronze sculpture that will be placed along the route of the Boston Marathon. The Bobbi Gibb Marathon Sculpture Project is being organized by the 26.2 Foundation in Hopkinton Massachusetts.

She is an author of a book, Wind in the Fire, available on Amazon, which recounts her adventures and philosophical musing in the two years from 1964 to 1966 when she trained for and ran the marathon.

She has also worked as an attorney in intellectual property law, and as a neuroscience affiliate with Jerry Lettvin at MIT and currently with Dr. Robert H. Brown at the Cecil B. Day Laboratory at the University of Massachusetts Medical Center.

She is an author of a book, Wind in the Fire, available on Amazon, which recounts her adventures and philosophical musing in the two years from 1964 to 1966 when she trained for and ran the marathon.

Motivated by her love of nature and humanity, she seeks to create a more peaceful, harmonious, loving world that embraces a sustainable future.

Having produced commissioned art for many decades, she now feels that it is time to share her art and so is beginning to exhibit publically. She hopes that others will enjoy and be inspired by her art to appreciate the beauty that is everywhere around us and to celebrate the wonder of existence