North Light Studios

Long ago Hiawatha became a spokesman for the Iroquois people under the The Great Peacemaker, a prophet of the tribe. He spoke to the different groups of people and helped convince them that they should all unite and become a peaceful people. By the end of his mission, there were Six Iroquois Nations that had banded together. When August Saint-Gaudens finished studying in Paris, he continued to Rome, Italy with another student. It was in Rome that he sculpted Hiawatha in clay, and then carved him in marble. The sculpture is based on Longfellow’s poem, The Song of Hiawatha . I have never read the poem in its entirety, but I have read pieces of it. It is inspirational. How many of us have been inspired by a song, a poem, a piece of art or a story to create another artwork from it? Music has inspired sculptors and sculptures have inspired music. Anything that is created that can give you a feeling of peace or happiness or joy is meant to be. This beautiful sculpture shows the you...

William Tecumseh Sherman was born in 1820 in Lancaster, Ohio. He attended the West Point US Military Academy and served in the Mexican War. In 1861, he became a volunteer in the Union army. He fought in Shiloh and Bull Run, and earned a Confederate surrender in 1865. He became the US General in 1869. After he retired, he sat for a portrait for Augustus Saint-Gaudens , which became the Sherman Memorial, one of the most celebrated memorials in the US today. While Saint-Gaudens worked with General Sherman, he found himself enthralled by the man's stories, and it helped him to put the best effort into his work. General Sherman died in 1891, and was never able to see the completed monument. Saint-Gaudens continued to labor over it, even when he began to fall ill. The sculpture was unveiled in 1903 on Memorial Day. It took eleven years from start to finish. I believe Saint-Gaudens at this point in time knew the value of working on a piece so diligently. It was his last signi...

In the years 2011 through 2015 the United States will be commemorating the sesquicentennial of the Civil War. With that in mind, I share with you thoughts on the Shaw Memorial, done to pay tribute to the Massachusetts 54th Regiment. Robert Gould Shaw grew up in a home of strong abolitionists. He joined the New York Seventh when the Civil War began, and rose in rank throughout infantries and battles, including the Battle of Antietam, where he was wounded. Shaw was promoted to Colonel during the Civil War and in February of 1863 was selected to lead the Massachusetts 54th , a black regiment. Accounts of the men in his troop suggest that the Colonel and his men grew to respect and admire each other over the course of a few months. In June of that same year, they sailed to Hilton Head, South Carolina to prepare to attack Fort Wagner. The 54th marched to battle the eve of July 18, 1863. Colonel Shaw was killed that night alongside other men in his regiment. Although it was a Conf...

In the Rock Creek Cemetery in Washington D.C. lies the grave site of Clover Hooper Adams. This unique grave site bears an allegorical bronze sculpture representing despair and grief. It is not named, but does not ask to be named. This sculpture is the questioner. The story of Marian "Clover" Hooper Adams is complex and tragic. An outspoken, intellectual woman who was one of the earliest portrait photographers, fell into a deep depression after the death of her father in April 1885. In December of the same year in her bedroom, she drank potassium-cyanide, a poisonous chemical used in developing her photographs. To read more about Clover Adams, click here . Henry Adams, Clover's husband, traveled to Japan with La Farge in 1886 to learn about Buddhism. The next year he commissioned Augustus Saint-Gaudens to create a memorial for his wife. He was specific about the need for the sculpture to be a union of Eastern and Western spirituality . Saint-Gaudens became deeply involved ...