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| The Visionary by Sutton Betti and Daniel Glanz, 89"x48"x48", bronze and stone, The Stanley Hotel, Estes Park, Colorado ©2016 |
Last Thursday, Dan and I installed our monument The Visionary for the Stanley hotel in Estes Park. Although the sculpture was designed a year ago I had the idea to sculpt a likeness of the builder of the Stanley a few years ago, even talking with a couple of people at the hotel about doing a bronze bust or full figure portrait of mr. Stanley. That idea died as, at the time, there wasn't any funding or approval from the hotel to do a statue of FO. It was late 2015 when my friend and studio mate, sculptor Dan Glanz, and I got an invite to submit a sketch for a potential monument that would be located in the center of the hedge maze, in front of the Stanley hotel. Immediately, Dan and I came up with a wonderful design that would not only be a good likeness of the inventor of the Stanley Steam engine vehicle and the Stanley Dry Plate Company, but would also incorporate written word about FO Stanley and the area, adding another depth to the design. Our rough sketch was selected to be one of three finalists from a pool of about 50 applicants from across the US. Once we were selected as a finalist we needed to create a maquette to help illustrate our concept in three dimensions. On March 9, 2016 we presented our 1/5 scale bronze and stone statuette and landed the highly publicized project. It is important to note that the two other finalists were also winners, as the committee and the hotel's owner John Cullen selected their designs to be located on the Stanley grounds at a later date. Although we won center prize it was great to see our competition win a spot as well.
Our over life size bronze and stone sculpture titled The Visionary reflects Freelan Oscar Stanley's love of the violin. He began building violins when he was 10 years old, a passion which continued throughout his life. It also illustrates his appreciation of the grandiose natural world that surrounds Estes Park, the Rocky Mountain National Park. With one arm leaning against a sandstone column, the inventor, business man, musician and teacher is looking out at the wondrous views of the Rocky Mountains in appreciation for the life they have given him. Having been diagnosed with tuberculosis, he was told to go to the Colorado mountains which immediately cured him of TB.
On September 29, 2016 we had the unveiling. Unfortunately it was initiated on short notice, so some of my family couldn't attend, but it was a great event nonetheless. There were many people involved in making this monument happen and we are very grateful to those that contributed.
