Johnny Cash statue unveiled at U.S. Capitol

by Roby Brock (roby@talkbusiness.net)

Singer, songwriter, activist and Arkansas native Johnny Cash is now represented in the halls of the U.S. Capitol.

A statue of Cash, who was born in Kingsland, Ark., and spent his childhood in Dyess in the Arkansas Delta, was unveiled Tuesday (Sept. 24) in Emancipation Hall at the national capitol complex. Arkansas’ Congressional delegation and Gov. Sarah Sanders joined other dignitaries and artist Kevin Kresse of Little Rock in revealing the 8-foot tall sculpture.

Cash is the first musician in history to be included in the National Statuary Hall Collection and his statue is one of two honoring Arkansas icons. Civil rights pioneer Daisy Bates, whose sculpture was unveiled earlier this year, also represents the state.

Johnny Cash statue unveiled at U.S. Capitol

A statue of Arkansas-native Johnny Cash was unveiled Tuesday (Sept. 24) in the U.S. Capitol.

Work advances on statues of Daisy Bates, Johnny Cash for U.S. Capitol

KUAR | By Michael Hibblen

Key advances have been made to replace Arkansas’ two statues in the U.S. Capitol, though their unveilings won’t happen as soon as originally hoped.

The architect of the U.S. Capitol notified the state in a letter Tuesday that approval has been given for a full-size clay model of Little Rock civil rights activist Daisy Gatson Bates to be used to cast the bronze statue. Meanwhile, the sculptor creating a statue of music legend Johnny Cash says he has completed work on a clay model and is preparing to submit a packet of material about it for approval.

Each state has two statues on display, most in Statuary Hall, with the ones currently representing Arkansas, attorney Uriah Rose and former U.S. Sen. James P. Clarke, being more than a century old. In 2019, at the urging of Gov. Asa Hutchinson, the Arkansas Legislature approved replacing them with Bates and Cash.

ualrpublicradio.org/local-regional-news/2022-10-27/work-advances-on-statues-of-daisy-bates-johnny-cash-for-u-s-capitol

Michael Hibblen/KUAR News

The face of Kevin Kresse's clay model for the Johnny Cash statue as it appeared on Oct. 20 at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock's Windgate Center of Art and Design.

Public Invited to See Renowned Sculptor at Work

(LITTLE ROCK, ARK.) – The public is invited to visit with nationally-recognized sculptor Benjamin Victor as he works on the sculpture of Daisy Gatson Bates that will be placed in Statuary Hall in the United States Capitol at the Windgate Center of Art + Design on the campus of UA Little Rock.  The hours are 3:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m., Monday, April 25th, 1:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. Tuesday, April 26th through Thursday, April 28th, and 1:00 p.m. to 3:00 p.m. Friday April 29th at the Windgate Center, 2801 South University Avenue in Little Rock.  Groups can be scheduled for specific times by emailing Amber Crawford at amber.crawford@sos.arkansas.gov. 

Victor has been commissioned by the National Statuary Hall Steering Committee and the Arkansas Capitol Arts and Grounds Commission to create a 7-foot-6-inch bronze sculpture of Daisy Gatson Bates, a renowned civil rights activist. Victor is working on the clay model from which the bronze statue will be cast. He brought the model from his home and studio in Boise, Idaho.

Victor will join Arkansas artist Kevin Kresse on Wednesday, April 27th from 5:00 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. at the Windgate Center for a reception hosted by the Political Animals Club of Little Rock where both will speak about the Statuary Hall project. Kresse has been commissioned to create the sculpture of Johnny Cash. For more information on this event email the club at politicalanimalsclub@gmail.com.

Victor is recognized as being the youngest artist to have a sculpture in the National Statuary Hall in the United States Capitol, placing his first statue there at age 26. He is also the only living artist to have three works in Statuary Hall. Victor is the sculptor of the Chief Standing Bear statue, the Dr. Norman E. Borlaug statue, and the Sarah Winnemucca statue located in the National Statuary Hall Collection. 

AUDIO: Governor Hutchinson’s Weekly Address | Immortalizing Two Arkansas Icons

LITTLE ROCK – First, the Arkansas General Assembly had the tough task of choosing the two people who would represent Arkansas in Statuary Hall in our nation’s capital, and then we had a nationwide search for the artists who would sculpt the statues. Today I’m happy to report we now have selected the artists for the statues of civil rights icon Daisy Bates and music legend Johnny Cash.

This discussion began in 2018 with the consensus that we needed a historical update in who represents Arkansas in Statuary Hall. The Arkansans who have been standing in for the state for nearly a hundred years are U.M. Rose, a lawyer who served as president of the American Bar Association, and James Paul Clarke, a governor of Arkansas and a U.S. senator.

The legislature authorized the update in 2019, and since Arkansas is well-known for its civil rights leaders and musicians, Daisy Bates and Johnny Cash are fitting replacements for Mr. Rose and Mr. Clarke.

Once we had settled that matter, the Secretary of State’s office put out a call for artists. The U.S. Statuary Hall Steering Committee and the Arkansas Capitol Arts and Grounds Commission narrowed the list of applicants to three for each statue.

The artists wheeled in their clay prototypes of Daisy Bates and Johnny Cash to the Capitol last month, and members of the committees spent June 14 hearing from each of them. Ultimately, they chose Benjamin Victor to sculpt Daisy Bates and Little Rock artist Kevin Kresse to sculpt Johnny Cash.

The artists’s attention to details such as the way they stood and the expressions on their face capture not only the likeness of Mrs. Bates and Mr. Cash but a sense of their character at pivotal moments in their remarkable lives.

Under Mr. Victor’s hand, Daisy Bates stands with a newspaper tucked under her left arm and a spiral-bound notepad in her right hand. She is stepping out with her left foot, striding ahead with the resolve and fortitude that Mr. Victor discovered as he studied her life, including the year of the desegregation crisis in 1957 when she mentored the Little Rock Nine.

Mr. Kresse’s statue of Johnny Cash will enhance his reputation as a sculptor of Arkansas musicians. In Mr. Kresse’s depiction of the Man in Black, you see in Mr. Cash’s face a hint of the hard life he lived. Mr. Kresse has slung Johnny’s guitar across his back, and the strap of the guitar crosses beneath the Bible he carries in his right hand, testimony to the faith that delivered Johnny from his hard living.

As the artists go to work, we must raise the final $300,000 of the amount needed to pay the artists and for the delivery and installations of the new statues as well as the return of the other statues to Arkansas.

A lot of people have worked on this project, including the members of the U.S. Statuary Hall Steering Committee and the Arkansas Capitol Arts and Grounds Commission; the Daisy Bates and Johnny Cash families and foundations; the Arkansas Secretary of State’s Office; and Shane Broadway, chairman of the Steering Committee, former speaker of the House, and all-around thoughtful and kind guy.

When we undertook this project, my goal was to have Daisy Bates and Johnny Cash in place by the time I leave office in January 2023. Congratulations to Mr. Kresse and Mr. Victor. I hope to visit with them at the unveiling of their work sometime in the next 18 months.

Campaign To Replace Arkansas Statues At U.S. Capitol Passes $500,000 Mark

The campaign to replace Arkansas’ current statues at the U.S. Capitol’s Statuary Hall has officially reached its public fundraising phase.

During a news conference on Thursday, Gov. Asa Hutchinson announced that through private donations, the effort to replace the existing statues of Uriah Rose, a 19th century attorney and former Arkansas Senator and Governor James P. Clark, with statues of Civil Rights icon Daisy Bates, and hall of fame musician Johnny Cash, had reached $510,000.  An amount, Hutchinson said, is slightly more than halfway to the one million dollars they expect it to cost.

https://www.ualrpublicradio.org/post/campaign-replace-arkansas-statues-us-capitol-passes-500000-mark

Campaign To Replace Arkansas Statues At U.S. Capitol Passes $500,000 Mark

The campaign to replace Arkansas' current statues at the U.S. Capitol's Statuary Hall has officially reached its public fundraising phase. During a news conference on Thursday, Gov. Asa Hutchinson announced that through private donations, the effort to replace the existing statues of Uriah Rose, a 19th century attorney and former Arkansas Senator and Governor James P.

Governor Announces Half-Million Dollars Raised For Bates, Cash Statuary Hall Project

State Launches Website for Those Who Want to Donate

LITTLE ROCK – Charter donors have contributed $510,000 of the $1 million needed to replace Arkansas’s statues in National Statuary Hall in Washington, D.C., with statues of Daisy Gatson Bates and Johnny Cash, Governor Asa Hutchinson announced at a news conference today.

The Foundation for Arkansas Heritage and History has launched a website for those who would like to donate. The website is https://arkansasheritagefoundation.org/donate/

“I started calling potential contributors several months ago, and the initial phase of our fundraising campaign has been very successful,” Governor Hutchinson said. “We’re more than halfway to our goal. Now we enter the public phase of our campaign. We want Arkansans to participate, whether they can give $5 or $50. In the past 100 years, Arkansas has changed, but our visitors in Washington do not see the changes. This is an opportunity for Arkansans to help tell our story to the rest of the world. 

“These two historic figures represent equally important aspects of the lives of Arkansas. Daisy Bates was a woman of principle and courage who changed Arkansas for the better. Johnny Cash elevated every-day hard-working people by telling their stories in his songs. 

“My goal is to have Daisy Gatson Bates and Johnny Cash in place in Washington by the time I leave office.” 

The top donors include Steuart & Kelly Walton; Wal-Mart Corporate; Tyson Family Foundation; the City of Little Rock; Sony Music; Crown Merchandise; Simmons Bank; Murphy Family Foundation; and Murphy USA Charitable Foundation. 

Arkansas’s first sculpture in Statuary Hall, a statue of attorney Uriah Milton Rose, was installed in 1917. The statue of James Paul Clark, the eighteenth governor of Arkansas and a United States senator, was installed in 1921. 

The General Assembly accepted nominations for statues and selected Daisy Bates, a civil rights activist who mentored the Little Rock Nine in 1957, and Johnny Cash, world-renowned singer and songwriter, who sold 90 million records during his career. 

With the selection of Daisy Bates, Arkansas is one of the first states to choose an African American to represent it in Statuary Hall. Johnny Cash will be the first musician with a statue there. 

The official move to replace those statues began during the 92nd General Assembly when Senator Dave Wallace and Representative Jeff Wardlaw sponsored House Bill 1969, which authorized the change. Governor Hutchinson signed the bill on April 11, 2019.

Organizers estimated the entire project would cost about $1 million. That includes creating the statues, shipping them to Washington, and installing them. The cost also included returning the originals to Arkansas and installing them in their new places. 

The leadership and members of the Foundation for Arkansas Heritage and History have agreed to accept and handle the donations. The National Statuary Hall Steering Committee and the Capitol Arts and Grounds Commission are overseeing this endeavor. The members are reviewing 33 Requests For Quote (RFQ) as they begin the search for sculptors. Secretary of State John Thurston and his team helped with the bid proposals and are handling much of the administrative work.Others whose work has brought the project to this point include Stacy Hurst, Secretary of the Department of Parks, Heritage and Tourism; Shane Broadway, Chair, National Statuary Hall Steering Committee; and Charles King, President of the Daisy Bates House Museum Foundation.