Through his sculptures, installations and public art projects, Peter Calaboyias gave viewers a window into his world of powerful and vivid imagery.

“I have never met a more intensely dedicated artist than Peter,” said his longtime friend and notable local artist Fran Gialamas. “He was indefatigable.”

His most recognized pieces include “Tribute,” a bronze sculpture that he designed and built to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the Olympic Games -- it still includes bits of nails and other shrapnel from a pipe bomb that tore through Atlanta’s Centennial Olympic Park in the summer of 1996.

There was also “Silver Grid Wall,” a 78-foot-long aluminum-paneled screen that greeted visitors at Pittsburgh International Airport for nearly 20 years.

Mr. Calaboyias, of Shadyside, died Nov. 27 of complications from congestive heart failure. He was 82.

He was the son of Greek immigrants who lived in Cambridge, Ohio, before his birth.

In the summer of 1939, his unknowingly pregnant mother took her two children back to the Greek island of Ikaria to visit her family.

Before they could return to America, though, World War II broke out, stranding them in Greece. Mr. Calaboyias was born on the island and fled with his family after the country was invaded by German and Italian forces in 1942.

“They took a rowboat to Turkey and made their way to Cairo, Egypt, and ultimately, the Belgian Congo, (now the Democratic Republic of the Congo), where he lived in a refugee camp until the age of 6,” said Mr. Calaboyias’ daughter Dianna Wyrick, of Oakmont. “There wasn’t a lot of food and it was rationed. One day, he was getting his ration of one egg and accidentally dropped it into the dirt. His mother scooped it up and made him eat the raw egg.”

Those early years on the Aegean Sea and in Africa inspired some of the colorful imagery that Mr. Calaboyias later used in his art.

“The development of my recent work lies in the recalling of the memories of early years of my life. I remember growing up in Europe and Africa during the second World War and recall images of broken and twisted metal of war machines; images of broken marble archaic Greek sculptures; Ionic columns standing alone for millenniums; Cycladic plank idols; objects carved in ivory and ebony from the Congo; and the massive geometric forms of Egypt,” Mr. Calaboyias said in a biography compiled by Art in Embassies, a U.S. Department of State program that fosters cross-cultural dialogue and mutual understanding through visual arts. “Like most artists, my work develops with new experiences. This coming together of the early and current ideas influences the always-evolving creation of new sculptures, paintings, drawings and prints.”

Years after the rowboat escape, Mr. Calaboyias was reminded of the harrowing journey.

“He had a show in Athens in the ‘80s and the man who rowed the boat came and saw him,” his daughter said. “The villagers still remembered my dad.”

During the years that his wife and children were away, Mr. Calaboyias’ father relocated to Johnstown, where the family was finally reunited in 1947.

Mr. Calaboyias graduated from Johnstown High School in 1958 and earned a bachelor’s degree in art education from Penn State University. He later obtained a master’s of art from Indiana University of Pennsylvania.

Early in his career, Mr. Calaboyias taught art in the Pittsburgh Public Schools. He also taught for about 25 years at the Community College of Allegheny County and another 20 or so years at Grove City College, where he was able to hone his art and educate the next generation of artists.

In 1972, the Carnegie Museum of Art hosted the first of what would be many solo exhibitions for Mr. Calaboyias throughout the U.S. and Europe.

He was commissioned by public institutions and private collectors for numerous paintings, stainless steel and bronze sculptures, and artwork in other media.

“His favorite medium would depend on what decade it was,”  Ms. Wyrick said. “He had a complete evolution from wood to stainless steel, then moved on to bronzes for a couple of decades. The largest bronze he’s ever done is ‘Tribute.’”

Commissioned by the American Hellenic Educational Progressive Association for the city of Atlanta, the sculpture took Mr. Calaboyias more than three years to complete.

The fan-shaped design features three running Olympic athletes with a base composed of stones excavated from Greece’s ancient city of Olympia, site of the first Olympic games.

Located just 40 yards from the pipe bomb blast, the sculpture almost certainly saved the lives of people standing behind it, Mr. Calaboyias told the Post-Gazette in 1996.

“It’s possible that the fan acted as a shield,” he said.

Asked whether he would repair damage to the 17-foot, 8-ton sculpture, he said he wouldn’t.

”I want the slight damage left there because they are the marks of history now. They stand as permanent testimony of what happened in the park during the 1996 Olympics,” Mr. Calaboyias said in the PG story.

After the bombing, the sculpture became an impromptu memorial of sorts for the victims, which included one dead and 111 injured.

His aluminum sculpture at the airport was located above a bank of escalators in the airside terminal. It was commissioned as part of the construction of the terminal in 1992 and was taken down to make space for advertising and returned to Mr. Calaboyias in 2011.

His style was unique for an artist, said Sam Berkovitz, owner of Concept Art Gallery in Regent Square, where many of Mr. Calaboyias’ pieces were exhibited and sold.

“He had a unique idiomatic statement that he made. It was pretty interesting. I think of his work as a good example of post-war American sculpture,” said Mr. Berkovitz. “I really liked his bronze sculptures -- I think they were his most interesting work. They were the best example of his personality and the kind of a statement he would make.”

“It’s just mind boggling that he was so successful in such a difficult medium. Peter was a tireless worker and he combined teaching and the making of art,” Ms. Gialamas recalled. “He was a very dedicated man. My husband and I bought a large stainless steel sculpture from him for our 10th anniversary.”

His most recent works were heavily influenced by a home that Mr. Calaboyias bought in the seaside village of Karavostamo, in Ikaria, about 20 years ago, loved ones said.

“It was basically just four huge stone walls built by his [great uncle], but never finished,” his daughter said.

When he completed construction of the home on the Aegean Sea, Mr. Calaboyias would spend up to half the year there, hosting friends and family.

Many of their most cherished memories were at the property, his daughter said.

“He loved the vibrant colors of the Aegean Sea, and he was inspired by them,” she recalled.

A founding member of Pittsburgh Society of Artists and a member of the Pittsburgh Society of Sculptors and the Associated Artists of Pittsburgh, Mr. Calaboyias should be remembered for his beautiful contributions to the world and his love of art, Mr. Berkovitz said.

“Peter was really an exciting and gregarious guy,” he said. “He did a lot of good work in and around the city and the world. He was an important part of the art community here.”

Along with his daughter, Mr. Calaboyias is survived by another daughter, Jackie Fox, of Lancaster; his longtime companion, Elizabeth Beisel, of Shadyside; sisters Mary Raich, of Seward, Westmoreland County, and Sophia Facaros, of Oakmont; and five grandchildren.

Donations can be made to the Dormition of the Theotokos Greek Orthodox Church, 12 Washington Ave., Oakmont, Pa. 15139, Pan Ikarian Foundation, PO Box 79037, Pittsburgh, Pa. 15216-0037, or St. Mary’s Greek Orthodox Church 435 Somerset St., Johnstown, Pa. 15901.

Janice Crompton: jcrompton@post-gazette.com.

First Published: December 11, 2022, 11:00 a.m.