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Touch History
December, 2012
First Donors Kickstart LaBuche Project
The MRSP Board of Directors and Florence Bird would like to thank these donors
for their contributions to the next statue in the Park, Aunt Mary Anne LaBuche and her
granddaughter, Mary Louisa Gagnier:

Doris Glass

John and Donna Milam

Dennis and Alice Kirschbaum

Evelyn Crowley
Karen O'Meara




NEWS FLASH!

Raffle coming!
Prize: Bronze maquette of Mary Anne LaBuche and Louisa Gagnier
Value: more than $5000
Read more about it in the Editor's Corner

Sculptor's Corner


The Mississippi River Sculpture Park. What is it for?

People have asked me this question and it is hard for me to answer.
For me expression comes through the artwork. Although I know
inside myself what it is for, I find it a little difficult to express in words.
It is to focus on the historical and cultural identity of the
community:
As the sculpture park develops and more and more figures are
added, the truly amazing stories and depth of human history and
prehistory in this area where the great rivers meet will be revealed.
Prairie du Chien sits on a broad plain, the meeting place for travelers since before time began, at
least,
we know, since the last ice age 12,000 years ago. For most of that time the rivers were the only
highways, bringing people from all corners of the world
to rendezvous, trade and live their lives. We have evidence of wooly mastodon hunters,
prehistoric effigy mound builders, rock shelter pictographs, prehistoric agricultural fields and fish
weirs, early European voyageurs hunters and trappers. And we have community family histories
dating back many generations. Native American tribal chiefs, European missionaries and
explorers, American generals and presidents have all called this area home. Ancient cultures from
South America and Northern Canadian descendants of Mongolian tribes have met here. Today
tugboats and barges can be seen carrying freight and grain to major world ports. Illustrated by this
sculpture monument we can point with pride to our community identity and national cultural
heritage.

--Florence Bird



Hidden Treasures . . . .
Droppin' of the Carp

If you happen to be strolling through the Mississippi River Sculpture Park on December
31 and you're wondering what else might be happening on or near St. Feriole Island, consider
joining an event that has attracted national attention, The Droppin' of the Carp.
It has been 12 years since Lucky the Carp became Prairie du Chien's signature symbol on
New Year's Eve, along with the continued tradition of Kissing the Carp for good luck in the
coming year.
Even if the day looks like the one in the picture, the weather doesn't bother people who
show up. Two years ago, although the temperature dropped almost to zero, visitors came from
12 different states, 42 different cities, and three foreign countries -- an estimated crowd of 2500.

There will be a bonfire, and the warm-up tent opens at 9 p.m. The King and Queen will
be crowned at 11 p.m. At midnight, this year's Lucky will drop onto the river ice. Event
organizers will rescue him and store him once again in a freezer until the ground thaws. Then he'll
be permanently buried beneath a new tree planted in Lucky Park, on the mainland side of the
Blackhawk Avenue bridge, where the Droppin' takes place.


Geocaching Brings Park Visitors

Geocaching is a very modern hobby, using a GPS to hunt for treasure that someone else has
hidden. Subscribers to the website geocaching.com log in to report a discovery that was listed on
the website, and their reaction to the place where the cache is located.
In late September, a visitor to the Sculpture Park, identified as rcflyer2242, e-mailed,
"Heading down to Prairie du Chien for a meet and eat at Pete's Burgers. Caching our way there.
We spent way more time here than I thought we would. I liked the chief Black Hawk statue the
best. I studied up on him and his trek from Beloit to here. Pretty sad story."
In October, a group of geocachers that calls itself North Star Seekers found one of the five
caches located on St. Feriole Island, the container at the Sculpture Park. They e-mailed, "Lots of
neat places on this island. I would've driven right by the statues if it weren't for the cache." These
visitors left a fairy doll in the cache's waterproof container, and will be watching where that doll
will travel after someone else picks it up and logs in.
Mitch, the son of Board member Cathie Nelson, will collect tokens with serial numbers so
when he goes to Europe, he can take those along and hide them in the
country he is in.

Editor's Corner

The five statues now in the Mississippi River Sculpture Park started life as clay models -
maquettes - then small bronzes. The figures on St. Feriole Island are perhaps five times as big as
the originals.
If you compare each pair - maquette and lifesize statue -- you'll see that Florence Bird has
added a lot more detail on each final version. Look, for instance, at the flowers on the Victorian
Lady's hat, or the book in her hand. Look at the frog in Israel Beaumont's hand, or the buttons
on his father's coat. Look at the basket at Emma Big Bear's feet, or the bandolier around her
shoulders.
It's not surprising that Florence can add more detail whenever she has a bigger "canvas"
to work with.
The sculptor puts the finishing touches on the lifesize clay model of one sculpture at a time,
but only after the total cost of the statue has been donated. However, Florence won't be around
forever. So she won't have the chance to add those meaningful final touches to all of the 26
statues planned for the park unless more donations arrive.
The next newsletter block illustrates the cost of the steps that have to be taken in order to
add Aunt Mary Anne LaBuche to the Sculpture Park.
The board is in the process of developing a raffle, where the prize will be the
bronze model of Aunt Mary Anne and the baby, Louisa Gagnier. For every $100
donated, the donor will receive a raffle ticket -- a $500 donation gets five chances to win
this piece of art worth more than $5,000.
If you can help us speed up the addition of the next statue to the Sculpture Park
with a tax-deductible donation, check out our website,
mississippiriversculpturepark.com, for more information on donating, and put "Mary
Anne LaBuche" on the memo line of your check. The drawing will not be held until the
lifesize sculpture is completely paid for, but we'll send your raffle ticket(s) as soon as the
contest plans are finalized.

--Marilyn Leys





$teps to reach the lifesize scupture

<---------4. final bronze casting..............$27,000
(lost wax process), delivery
<---------3. detailed artwork ...................$23,944
on lifesize statue,
molds for casting


<--------- 2. enlarging from maquette, .....$24.622
initial artist's work on
enlarged foam mold

<---------1. mold, casting of .....................$6915
maquette-size bronze

Final cost:
$82,481

Each step must be completed before the next step is started.

Step one may be completed and the bronze maquette size sculpture delivered before the other
steps are funded.
Step two may be completed by the enlarger and artist before the last two steps are funded.
Steps three and four must be fully funded before the bronze casting can proceed.


MSRP
Mississippi River Sculpture Park
608-326-0862
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Mississippi River Sculpture Park | 1702 E. Parrish St. | Prairie du Chien | WI | 53821