Saving Nevada sculptures

'Save Outdoor Sculpture!' a Washington-based initiative offering restoration grants for outdoor sculptures is waiting to hear from Nevada. The group, a partnership between Heritage Preservation and the Smithsonian Institution, is offering to pay 50 percent of the restoration cost of one statue from each state -- up to $40,000 apiece -- as long as the other half is matched by the community or another grant.

Nevada may not be known for its many statues and historical monuments (not even in the top 40), it does have more than 200 and more than half are in need of repair, according to Susan Nichols, who heads the Save Our Sculpture!

The project began 10 years ago with volunteers from every state combing the land to locate and assess the country's sculptures. More than 30,000 publicly accessible outdoor sculptures were assessed and entered into the Smithsonian's database. Nevada's total at the time was 215.

"Outdoor sculptures are orphans of the art and history world," Nichols said. "They're not identified and protected like other pieces. A statue on a street corner is vying with street signs, shops, traffic and graffiti.

"What we're trying to do is extend the life of the sculpture so it meets the needs of the next generation," she said.

Statues missing fingers, heads, toes, parts and objects qualify as statues in need. Cracks, illegible inscriptions, graffiti, metal eaten away by acid and guano also help them qualify. Other criteria include statues of artistic and historic significance; urgency of need; ability of applicant to do the job; and public awareness, such as lectures and tours, Nichols said.

"We are in desperate need of applications from Nevada," she added.

The "Winged Figures of the Republic," a nationally known sculpture created in 1935 -- in honor of those who designed and built Hoover Dam is a possible candidate for restoration. The two identical nude, bronze figures sitting on either side of the flagpole at Hoover Dam are discolored and cracked and plagued by guano, accumulated dirt and grime. They were listed as in need of urgent treatment.

"Nevada's Tribute to Union Soldiers and Sailors," a zinc sculpture with a granite base created in 1891 in Carson City's Lone Mountain Cemetery, is another possible candidate, according to the assessment.

'The Sailors' are cracked throughout, possess evidence of structural instability, guano, black-and-white crusts, pitting and staining. Treatment is listed as urgent.

The statue was erected when soldiers who had died and were buried at Fort Churchill were transferred to the Lone Mountain Cemetery. "If it falls apart, we're going to lose a pretty valuable piece of history," Cindy Southerland, a historian in Carson City, said.

"It was really a big deal in Carson when they did this. They had a parade. People were very patriotic."

Southerland, who guides groups on historical walks through the cemetery, said many people have commented on restoring the statue but no formal committee has been formed.

State Historic Preservation Officer Ron James, who had not yet heard of the grant, now hopes committees throughout Nevada will begin the application process. "We have to have as many candidates as possible," he said.

James was on the board of the Comstock Historic District Commission when it restored the "Statue of Justice" outside the courthouse in Virginia City. The statue, constructed in 1876, was brought to the state from the Williamsburg Fine Arts Gallery in New York a year later.

By the 1940s the gold leaf on the 7-foot-tall figure had flaked off, the seams of the statue were splitting and it had lost one of the scale's pans, James said. In 1987 the Comstock commission paid $3,000 to have it stripped down, restored and rededicated, he said.

To ensure that it would remain through generations to come, PVC pipes filled with paint chips and a list of step-by-step instructions that were taken to restore it were placed inside the hollow statue.

Nearly 500 people went to the dedication.

"When we took that sheet off her and revealed her, there was this gasp through the audience," James said. "We reclaimed history. And this is what we ought to be doing with all of our statues."

Susan Boskoff, executive director for the Nevada Arts Council, said the staff was surprised by the number of sculptures identified in Nevada. The council engaged the "sculpture seekers."

Northern Nevada has several historic works and sculptures including a statue of John Mackay, created by Gutzom Borglum (who sculptured the four presidents on Mount Rushmore), "The Winged Figures" at Hoover Dam, "The Flashlight" at UNLV and "Ground Zero" at Las Vegas City Hall.

"The inventory was very important for the state, because I think there's a very narrow understanding of what sculputre is and people within and outside the state see Nevada as lacking in public art," Boskoff said.

Minneapolis-based Target stores and the National Endowment for the Arts are providing additional funding for the renovation of outdoor sculptures. Deadline for applications is Nov. 30.

For more information on Save Outdoor Sculpture!, call toll free (888) 767-7285.

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