Crazy Horse Carving

[Merlion]

This new article (http://www.theeagle.com/stories/061106/lifestyles_20060611055.php) from the Smithsonian Maganzine may bring or bring back our attention to this very long-term effort to carve a gigantic statue of the American Indian chief Crazy Horse.

I understand the artist started the carving work way back in 1948. When finished, the sculpture will be the world's largest mountain carving. All four of Rushmore's presidents will fit inside Crazy Horse's 87.5-foot-tall head, while this head is only a small part of the complete statue of the chief on a horse.

[Merlion]

Here is a good write-up about the sculptor's widow who continued to be in charge of the massive project.

Crazy Horse sculptor's wife: In charge at 80
By Carson Walker, Associated Press Writer | June 25, 2006

CRAZY HORSE MEMORIAL, S.D. --Some people openly share their wisdom, experience and advice on how to live a full life. But Ruth Ziolkowski, in charge of the world's largest mountain carving, simply leads through example.

The widow of self-taught sculptor Korczak Ziolkowski, whose dream it was to honor American Indians by carving the likeness of Sioux warrior Crazy Horse into a granite mountain in the southern Black Hills, turns 80 on Monday.

The Connecticut native didn't set out to run a multimillion-dollar operation that spans a 1,000-acre complex, employs 176 -- including seven of the couple's 10 children and several grandchildren -- and draws more than a million visitors a year.

But after her husband's death in 1982, Ziolkowski felt she must carry through with his commitment -- and use dynamite, drills and determination to fulfill the dream she had already adopted as her own. [snip]

Momentum now multiplies the effort that has relied for nearly 60 years on simple principles: hard work, honesty, respect for others, thrift, private enterprise and perseverance.

"You can't just have the dream. You've got to work for that dream. And if it isn't within you and you don't love it yourself, you're not going to do it because somebody tells you to do it. It has to come from within," Ziolkowski said.

The complete AP article in the Boston Globe can be found here (http://www.boston.com/news/local/connecticut/articles/2006/06/25/crazy_horse_sculptors_wife_in_charge_at_80/).

[cek]

here is a picture of it and the web site


http://www.crazyhorsememorial.org/

[Merlion]

For those interested in taking a visit to this crazy horse carving site, there'll be a Labor Day Open House weekend. (The US Labor Day is I understand on Monday Sept 3.)

Activities planned at Crazy Horse Memorial (http://www.kxmb.com/News/156587.asp)

8/27/07, CRAZY HORSE MEMORIAL, S.D. (AP) The Crazy Horse Memorial near Custer, South Dakota, will again host a Labor Day Open House weekend.

Residents of the Dakotas, Montana, Wyoming and Nebraska can get in free, with a suggested donation of three cans of food for a food drive.

A dynamite blast on the mountain carving is planned on the morning of September 3rd, weather permitting.

I notice the last posting on this was 14 months ago. Thus I decide to compare pictures to see the progress. This below is from the 'recent pictures' page in the Memorial's website. Surprisingly, I can't see any noticeable progress in the carving.

http://www.crazyhorse.org/2005recentpix/tn_aerial_headon.jpg

[Blacksun]

The pace is glacial slow...... started in 1948 -that would be 59 years ago....and Merlion is looking for changes from 14 months ago??? Merlion, you sound like the Pope chastising Micaelangelo for his slow progress on the Sistine chapel ceiling.... :) Please don't take it personal, just good natured ribbing from me....

Looking closely at the photos...it does look like the face is a little cleaner, and the carving looks to have moved back from the face towards the feathered bonnet...might just be the shadows and the angle.... I guess I could take a couple weeks off and run up there and finish it for them, but I've got a pretty jam packed schedule this fall....maybe next year... :) (I need a "smarta**" smily...)

[evaldart]

I like to imagine if The Incredible Hulk and Superman were sculptors instead of superheros what wonderful things we all would have to look at. This one would be a job for superman. Hulk would handle the thousand foot John Chamberlain commissions. It would all be done in a jiffy.

[Merlion]

You are right, Blacksun. It is incredibly slow if this has already been going on for 59 years. You wrote, "the Pope chastising Micaelangelo for his slow progress on the Sistine chapel ceiling". I like this analology, not because I am being compared with the Pople.

Here, from the recent pictures page of the Memorial's website (http://www.crazyhorse.org/2005recentpix/newpics.shtml), is a recent close-up picture of the face.

http://www.crazyhorse.org/2005recentpix/tn_daybreak.jpg

Off hand I can't find the size of this face.