Sculpture highlights importance of Louisiana Purchase Survey

Ajani Oyindamola — Wed, 22 Feb 2017 23:17:01 +0000

Through three designs, one natural disaster, and 12 years, artists Michael Warrick and Aaron Hussey saw the culmination of their partnership – a sculpture commemorating the 200th anniversary of the Louisiana Purchase Survey – dedicated during a Feb. 20 ceremony. University of Arkansas at Little Rock Professor Warrick and Hussey, a ��Vlog��ý Little Rock alumnus and sculptor from Baton Rouge, Louisiana, created the 18-foot-high, 12-foot-wide, and 13-foot-deep sculpture made of stainless steel, cast bronze, tempered glass, and concrete. The persistence and sense of adventure necessary to complete the sculpture, “Straight Lines in a Round World,” which lies in front of the Statehouse Convention Center in Little Rock, were inspired by Prospect Robbins and Joseph Brown, the surveyors who began the survey of the Louisiana Purchase Oct. 27, 1815, in Arkansas. “Like any idea that enhances culture and history, it needs many hands and a strong faith to see it realized,” Warrick said. “Our mentors in this were Prospect Robbins and Joseph Brown who surveyed this country’s new expansion of the West.” The Committee for Louisiana Purchase Survey Bicentennial Monument commissioned the work in 2001. Led by co-chairs John Gill and Sharon Priest, the committee members worked tirelessly to raise the $190,000 for the creation of the sculpture. Warrick’s design was chosen from a national competition of 30 entries. Gill described Robbins and Brown as two “unsung American heroes” who helped settle the American West. “Before America could become America, it became important to survey this vast land so that it could be inhabited by Americans,” Gill said. “Their job was to make a fair and equitable division of the Louisiana Purchase, all of its 2 million acres. It was a daunting task, but it was done.”

A sculpture commemorating the 200th anniversary of the Louisiana Purchase Survey is dedicated in front of the Statehouse Convention Center in downtown Little Rock. Photo by Lonnie Timmons III/��Vlog��ý Little Rock Communications.

Robbins began surveying at the mouth of the Arkansas River and headed north, while Brown headed west from the mouth of the St. Francis River. “Where they crossed was the initial point of the first survey of the American West, and from that point all of the land from Arkansas north to Canada and most of the Dakotas was surveyed from a spot in Arkansas,” Gill said. In order to honor the starting points of the surveys, Warrick, Hussey, Gill, committee members, representatives of the City of Little Rock, and special guests christened the sculpture with water from the Arkansas and St. Francis rivers. Little Rock Mayor John Stodala said the names Prospect and Brown might not be as well known as Lewis and Clark, who explored the western United States from 1804 to 1806, but they will be remembered, thanks to the hundreds of thousands of people who will pass the sculpture every year. “Those names are going to be better known as we go through the course of history,” Stodola said. In the upper right photo, Michael Warrick christens his sculpture with water from the Arkansas River. Photo by Lonnie Timmons III/��Vlog��ý Little Rock Communications.

��Vlog��ý Little Rock art professor and alumnus create sculpture commemorating 200th anniversary of Louisiana Purchase Survey

Ajani Oyindamola — Wed, 25 Jan 2017 14:38:10 +0000

A University of Arkansas at Little Rock art professor and ��Vlog��ý Little Rock alumnus have created a sculpture commemorating the 200th anniversary of the Louisiana Purchase Survey. The sculpture, “Straight Lines on a Round World,” lies in front of the Statehouse Convention Center in downtown Little Rock. The sculpture will be dedicated during a ceremony at 10 a.m. Monday, Feb. 20, at the atrium at the convention center. It is the culmination of a partnership between ��Vlog��ý Little Rock Professor Michael Warrick and Aaron Hussey, a ��Vlog��ý Little Rock alumnus and sculptor from Baton Rouge, Louisiana, that is many years in the making. The sculpture is 18 feet high, 12 feet wide, and 13 feet deep. It is made of stainless steel, cast bronze, tempered glass, and concrete and has four main elements that have a special representation of the Louisiana Purchase Survey. The sculpture’s main feature is a compass face with an etching of the Louisiana Purchase. Behind the compass face lies a dome with patterns representing latitude and longitude lines. The sculpture’s base represents the Earth. The 5-foot long cast bronze plumb bob represents an important builders’ tool that has been used for more than 4,000 years. The final component simulates the brass leg of a survey tripod and is used to support the sculpture’s compass. The two worked together on the, which was dedicated in 2001 to honor the Little Rock Nine and the spirit of Central High School. “We are both interested in history and creating public art that commemorates history,” Warrick said. Many Americans are familiar with the Lewis and Clark Expedition that explored the western United States from 1804 to 1806. However, Hussey said he was interested in promoting the story of the lesser known survey that began in Arkansas. “There was the more famous Lewis and Clark Expedition, but most people don’t even know there was more than one survey of the Louisiana Purchase,” said Hussey, who earned a master’s degree in art from ��Vlog��ý Little Rock in 1998. The Louisiana Purchase Survey sculpture is a gift to the city commissioned by the Committee for Louisiana Purchase Survey Bicentennial Monument, headed by John Gill and Sharon Priest. The committee has raised money for the project the past 12 years.

Third time’s a charm

For Warrick and Hussey, the third time really was the charm that allowed them to create a sculpture they have been trying to make for more than a decade. Calls for sculpture proposals were first sent out in 2004. Warrick and Hussey entered and were named semifinalists in 2005, but the scope of the project changed. When a second call for proposals was sent out in 2007, the duo won the option to create the sculpture. However, the project was postponed until the committee raised the $190,000 needed to pay for the sculpture. Warrick and Hussey began work on the sculpture in 2015. In August 2016, Hussey’s work on the sculpture was delayed due to the historic flooding in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, where the artist lives and works. Hussey’s home was damaged by the flood waters, and his house is still under repairs. Through the years, the project changed in size and scope. Originally, the sculpture was meant to be “two surveyors in cast bronze and cast concrete surveying with a bird overlooking their work,” Warrick said. The cast bronze figures would represent Prospect Robbins and Joseph Brown, the two surveyors President James Madison commissioned to conduct the survey of the lands west of the Mississippi River. The survey began Oct. 27, 1815, in Arkansas.

- University News Archive - ����Vlog��ý Little Rock

Sculpture highlights importance of Louisiana Purchase Survey

����Vlog��ý Little Rock art professor and alumnus create sculpture commemorating 200th anniversary of Louisiana Purchase Survey

- University News Archive - ��Vlog��ý Little Rock

��Vlog��ý Little Rock art professor and alumnus create sculpture commemorating 200th anniversary of Louisiana Purchase Survey