From Idea to Bronze

 

On Naturalism

As a formerly trained naturalistic sculptor (see support document)  my specialty has been people and animals.

I work from nature, not imagination, and have developed various methods of using resource materials that I gather 

or produce myself.

 

Research and Historical Accuracy

My first concern for producing a convincing sculpture of three tormented soldiers was truth to history. I knew I needed to be accurate in regards to the date of the event,

to what the soldiers would have worn and carried with them, and to what they would have looked like ethnically and after their many months fighting in the jungle.

It so happened that White Sands had a pre-WWII corporal's uniform on hand that was used for the annual Memorial run. They lent it to me and, to my surprise, I discovered that the soldiers sent to the Philippines before 1942 were outfitted with dated WWI uniforms, equipment and weapons! This is most apparent in  the "doughboy" helmet, a familiar relic of the trenches of WWI.

The Filipino soldiers, many trained and outfitted by the U.S. wore similar uniforms. I was able to study these in photographs supplied to me by museums.

Models & Photography

The next step was to have models pose for a series of photographs that would be my primary visual reference. I am indebted to the soldiers of White Sands Missile Range and their Sargent Major Gilbert Canuela for volunteering to model. The uniforms were donated by a local business

and the gear was the aforementioned WW I uniform. I took over 150 photographs and used them as  references.