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Touch HistoryMississippi River Sculpture Park

Emma Big Bear, Special Edition February, 2011

Emma Big Bear Celebration-

Next-to-the-Last StepThe MRSP Board of Directors is planning a celebration of the life

of Emma Big Bear by installing her life-size bronze sculpture in theMississippi River Sculpture Park in July, 2011, on what would be her

142ndbirthday.The Ho-Chunk basket weaver, who lived across the Mississippi

in Marquette, Iowa, and is remembered by many in the area, will be the

first 20th Century figure in the Sculpture Park. But we can get her tothe park for her birthday only if we can deliver her to the foundry inMilwaukee by March 1, along with enough money to pay the bill. (If youwonder why the process takes such a long time, see the article thatfollows this one.) Patrick and Janet Leamy are generously offering to match, dollarfor dollar, all funds collected for the Emma Big Bear sculpture up to$25,000.00. The $50,000 total will pay for the final bronze casting andthe last step, the installation of the life-size statue in the Sculpture

http://campaign.r20.constantcontact.com/render?llr=cefgmqdab&v=001yP95GP3a5wgpcVyodNFu6_UEdBhuqgu2uWMR5DnKldgwLnWEEvt3Uu2JL4o9XZATO8ki_10kvX7Y2gXB_gRHYz7OFUiN_nZ-VZQvML0aO0_iTLZFUDDjqsQr4nEYuaDYYS_b2oD1cjzzf6UnMG19Ab1UppfcpwC0FZLtymd7upm6c_xGWs_PFPGtZDNsvTLPZAEocHR6q5leqL8JWYgkewhZTt8BmL-VHkiebvekA-1bclI2wV87Ms4HBilDlBUwFeqcynBhEJRpc3h6TVfXooQs4UeqowiBeUjkm5GWo-DZJmVlxwsZcDnukuucr2KZGkAsrJjeHA3KJ-pU2UKSw47TAaJxfcnzfMhFQ30BnsI%3D&id=preview

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The maquette, a miniature of the life-size statue

Park. Contributions are coming in, but we still have a way to go to reachour $25,000 half of the match. Anything you can add to the total tospeed Emma Big Bear on her way will be greatly appreciated.

Write your check to "Mississippi River Sculpture Park" and markthe note "Emma Big Bear match." Then mail it to:

Mississippi River Sculpture ParkPO Box 395

Prairie du Chien, WI 53821.

Emma Big Bear GoesFrom Blue to Bronze

If you've been keeping up with thetransition of Emma Big Bear fromsmall maquette to life-size bronze,the picture at the top of thisnewsletter probably surprised you. Blue Emma is almost the finalstep in the journey. She's the resultof work done in Belmont, California.A technician did computer scans toenlarge the maquette's image andthen laser cut blue extrudedStyrofoam to produce the full-size,three-dimensional model that you saw in the picture. When the blue model arrived at Florence Bird's studio, she spent about amonth covering it with brown plasteline modeling clay, then doing the final sculpting byrefining the image, making sure of the features of Emma's portrait, and adding detailssuch as the bead work and moccasins. Florence used foam to construct the full-sizebasket that you first saw in the maquette, and covered it with plasteline clay to sculptthe detail. With the work finished and the money available, Florence will transport theenlarged clay-covered sculpture to the Milwaukee foundry for the lost wax bronzecasting process. This next-to-last destination in Emma's journey will take nearly fourmonths because it involves multiple molds, wax casting, refining, kiln burnout, bronzemelt and casting, plus sand blasting and welding together the pieces and finalcleaning and application of the patina (color). The basket will be cast separately andmounted separately on the concrete base in the sculpture park. Both pieces will be

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