Extra Credit Questions

[David Lockmiller]

Title: Lincoln, The Frontiersman
Sculptor: Avard T. Fairbanks
Location: Ewa Public School
Ewa Beach, Hawaii
Dedicated/Displayed: 2/12/1944

More on the Fairbanks statue in Hawaii per your request:

In 1939, Katherine Burke, a former teacher and principal made a bequest to the Ewa Plantation school for the construction of a Lincoln statue. The money available was small and several sculptors declined due to this. Avard Fairbanks was contacted and was interested in spite of the small budget. The idea of Lincoln as a youth captured his attention when he considered that the benefactor was a school teacher who desired to inspire her students.

The idea of the young frontier Lincoln with ax in hand came to Fairbanks as he was clearing trees and stumps on his recently deceased father’s farm. . . . From an article in the Journal of the Abraham Lincoln Association: “The concept of a young Lincoln, figure in action, for a school in a relatively young territory in the Pacific, a frontier, was received with enthusiasm.”

From a newspaper article announcing the dedication of the statue:
“The statue cast in bronze is of a youthful Lincoln…a stalwart and capable worker, a symbol of physical strength as well as spiritual.” “The base upon which is the statue is placed is of rainbow granite. In ancient days the symbol of the rainbow was given to Noah that there should never again be such a deluge as the flood on the face of the earth.”

You are thorough!

In my research online, I saw some photographs of the sculptor Avard T. Fairbanks at work. He used stick figures at size to sculp the position of body parts and other portions of the prospective sculpture. Do you know if that is a common practice among sculptors?