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 The Large Art Company
has completed
one of the most important
sculpture displays in the
United States. To
commemorate the 50-year
anniversary of the
desegregation of southern
public schools, the town of
Clinton Tennessee
constructed a national
historic museum that
features as its
centerpiece a monument
consisting of 12 life-size
sculptures of the first
African American high
schools students to attend
the previously all-white
southern schools.
The museum is called the
Green
McAdoo Cultural Center &
Museum and recounts the story of how
these young people changed
history.
 The sculptures depict the 12 children as
they made their historic
walk from their neighborhood
to the Clinton High School.
They were cast and finished
by New Arts Foundry in
Baltimore, Maryland.
"We are very proud to
have been a
part of this historic
project," said Richard Rist,
owner of The Large Art
Company. This is one
of the most important
national monuments in the
United States. Not only is
this project important in
terms of its civil rights
history, but it is also one
of the largest figurative
sculpture displays in the
country. The list of
artists or art companies
that can claim a piece in a
museum is very short.
And the list of artists that
can claim a centerpiece to a
museum is only a small
fraction of those and
includes many household
names. On May 17, 2007
that short list
now includes The Large Art
Company. We are
honored and humbled by the
entire experience," Mr. Rist
continued.
The
sculptures were unveiled by
Tennessee Governor Phil
Bredesen on May 17th, 2007
Below you can see the entire
process from beginning to
end.
Artist Rendering
Artist
rendering of the Green
McAdoo Museum. Sculptures
depicted in front above the
name.
To learn
more about the museum feel
free to visit the web site
for the Green McAdoo
Cultural center by clicking
here.
Research
Time Life
magazine picture of the
Clinton 12 first day walking
to school.
We became
completely immersed in this
project. We studied
dozens of photographs and
video footage taken at the
time of these historic
events. We made several
trips to Clinton Tennessee
to learn the history from
the people directly
involved. We were able
to meet 11 of the Clinton 12
personally. We learned
that not everyone reacted to
these events the same way.
Some were afraid, some were
proud and determined, some
were angry and some were
ambivalent. We would
eventually portray this
range of emotions in bronze.
Creating the sculptures
Building
the armatures
Life-size
mannequins are used as the
underpinning or frame of the
sculpture called an
armature. The
mannequins are cut apart and
reassembled for the perfect
anatomy of the positions
required for the sculpture.
Portraits
begin
Basic clay
heads are assembled with the
mannequins for scale and
proportions.
They can
also be removed to be worked
by an artist independent of
the body. Artist working on the
portrait of Alvah McSwain
The boys are ready for
molds
The facial
portraits are complete,
the bodies are positioned
and clothing sculpted out.
They are ready for molds.
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Click next above to see rest
of the process or use the
chapter links below.
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