Construction
of the K-9 Memorial was completed earlier this year. Here are some pictures of
the base of the memorial as it was being carved. The bronze statue
was mounted on the granite pedestal and installed in addition to
granite benches and the kiosk. The Memorial was covered until the unveiling
earlier this year, on the morning of April 7th, 2006.
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The artist selected to do the memorial
was
sculptor, Jeff Carol Davenport. Below is her initial rending of what the Memorial
was projected to look like. This is a small model
sculpture done by the artist. After seeing the site on where the memorial
is now placed, it was decided to have the dog looking
straight ahead instead of to the side. Also the gun belt was moved to the front of the
sculpture. Jeff
then made a second sculpture and a drawing
with the new design.
The architectural firm "Architectural Resource Team"
was contracted to assist with the construction of the memorial. CEO Patrick Rehse
also worked on the project. Architectural Resource Team also owns a construction business. They were able to
handle the design, planning and building of the Memorial. Patrick Rehse
also was able to get some of the materials needed donated. Once ALECA
was advised of the final cost figure, the go ahead was given for construction.
Gordon Leitz and Owen Keefe
kept busy with getting the Memorial done. Much planning was done and
they met with the grounds crew on August 1st, 2005, to go over the plans and layout of the project.
They had an additional meeting later on that month to present the plans for final approval to the mall commission.
Owen and Gordy visited the sculptor, Jeff
Carol Davenport, to take a look at the full size model that
was made of clay. Jeff did an excellent job on sculpting the dog. It took Jeff about 4 months to make the mold and cast the bronze statue.
Below are pictures of the full size clay sculpture. Click on the thumbnails to see the amazing detail in the sculpture.
Base of sculpture
you can see the
gun belt on the
upper left corner. |
Full body |
Right Profile |
Left Profile |
Head |
ALECA Badge |
Updated
September 15th, 2006 |
