Artist Harry Weber and City Council President Rory Riddler pictured with the clay model of the winning rendition of Daniel Boone. The artist will now produce a life size model to be cast in bronze.Six hundred and fifty art patrons packed the Foundry Arts Center on Friday evening (November 11th) for the unveiling of two major public art initiatives. Last year, at the suggestion of City Council President Rory Riddler, the City provided funding for two programs, one to begin a series of sculptures of famous historic personages of our city and the other to put works of art on display throughout the community. Both programs are being administered by the Foundry under contract with the City of St. Charles.
Ten winning sculptures, selected from dozens of entries, were on display outside of the Foundry. From there, the works will be put on display for one year at various locations. These locations include the Justice Center, the Elm Street Fire Hall, the corner of West Clay and Droste, Tecumseh and north Fourth, Fire Station Number One on Kingshighway, First Capitol near Kingshighway, Fox Hill Park near Cottonwood Drive and the Foundry itself.
The sculptures will remain at these locations for one year. It is anticipated the contest would be an annual one and that new sculptures would then replace these at the end of next year. During the time of public display, the sculptures are for sale, but even if they are purchased, they must remain in place for the contract period.
Each winning sculptor is awarded a small cash prize. There will also be a competition where citizens can vote for their favorite sculpture on-line at the Foundry web site or at the Foundry. At the end of the year the votes will be tallied and a “Peoples Choice Award” will be given in the amount of $5,000.
The Foundry also unveiled the winning entry to produce a statue of famed frontiersman Daniel Boone. Forty-three entries from all over the United States were received. Each artist submitted a small model in clay, called a maquette, of what the finished statue would look like. The winning artist will then be paid to produce a life-size clay model that will then be cast in bronze. At the Friday night event, Foundry Executive Director Joyce Rosen and Board President Grace Nichols, were joined by City Council President Rory Riddler to announce that artist Harry Weber was the winner of the competition and to unveil the clay model of the statue he will produce of Boone.
“We selected Daniel Boone as the first in a series of life-size statues to honor some of the historic people from St. Charles history. The plan is to produce one each year. Future personages so honored could include Saint Philippine Duchesne, Mary Sibley, Jean Baptiste DuSable, Alexander McNair, Arnold Krekel and perhaps more,” explained the originator of the program, Councilman Riddler.
“Daniel Boone was a good place to start. He was a frequent visitor to St. Charles, attended the wedding of his son here and even stayed here for a while with his wife when a grandson was here to attend school. The winning sculpture portrays the frontiersman as he would have looked in his later years, still alert and beckoning visitors to join him on a tree stump to share stories of his adventures.”
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