As we settle in for Thanksgiving eve, we're grateful for veteran South Dakota journalist Tom Lawrence's latest for the Daily Beast, Rittenhouse Photo Reveals Where Trump Keeps Bizarre Rushmore Sculpture:
SIOUX FALLS—The “Mount Trumpmore” statue that South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem gave to then-President Donald Trump—grafting him onto the iconic monument—was not mothballed.
The bronze—which has not been seen since it was presented—made a surprise appearance in a photo Trump released Tuesday showing him meeting Kyle Rittenhouse at Mar-a-Lago.
The sculpture, created by South Dakota artists Lee Leuning and Sherri Treeby, can be seen below a table at the Trump resort in Palm Beach, Florida
“Cool,” Leuning told The Daily Beast when the photo was shared with him. “That’s our piece. Definitely. That’s pretty cool.” He said it was good to see the statute on display because often “stuff ends up in a closet.”
Noem presented “Mount Trumpmore” to Trump on July 3, 2020, before he spoke at Mount Rushmore as part of a political rally and fireworks display. It was paid for by anonymous donors.
The gift was reported after the event, but it was not seen until The Daily Beast published photos of it earlier this year in a story that revealed who made it. . . .
Go over to the Daily Beast to read the rest and see a photo of Mount Trumpmore.
Back in June 2020, Lawrence reported in Adding fifth face to Mount Rushmore National Memorial has been political football for decades:
Is there room for a fifth face on Mount Rushmore?
The National Park Service says no, there is no secure surface on the mountain. While a large expanse to the right of George Washington seems a likely spot for at least one more president, NPS officials point out that sculptor Gutzon Borglum intended to place Thomas Jefferson there.
But it turned out the area was not stable, so Jefferson was relocated and crunched between Washington and Theodore Roosevelt. The rock next to Washington is simply not available.
Mount Rushmore National Memorial Chief of Interpretation and Education Maureen McGee-Ballinger said it is a frequent question.
“From time to time individuals, groups or organizations make proposals to add the busts of other individuals to Mount Rushmore National Memorial,” McGee-Ballinger said. “Additions are not possible for two reasons.
“First, the rock that surrounds the sculpted faces is not suitable for additional carving. When Gutzon Borglum, the sculptor of Mount Rushmore died in 1941, his son Lincoln Borglum closed down the project and stated that no more carvable rock existed.”
Since 1989 the National Park Service has worked with RESPEC, a rock mechanics engineering firm, to study the structural stability of the sculpture and to install rock block monitoring devices that assure long-term preservation of the sculpture, she said.
“RESPEC supports our long-held belief that no other rock near the sculpted faces is suitable for additional carving,” McGee-Ballinger said. “RESPEC also believes that if additional work were undertaken it is possible that exposing new surfaces could result in creation of potential instabilities in the existing carving. . .
All joking aside, is it possible? For years, the answer was no.
But in 2017, the Washington Post interviewed Texas stone-carver Stuart Simpson, who said with the advances in technology, it could be done.
Simpson said with a large enough budget and crew — he estimated a cost of $64 million just for labor — and given four years, he could add a face. Laser locating could measure the deaths of stone to ensure it was done without harming the existing sculpture.
Technology these days is way more advanced,” he told the Post. “I think a lot of it will still have to be sculpted and removed off the mountain in the same manner that it was in the past, but with the new computer abilities and 3-D scanning, I would think there’s much more equipment that could be used to make it a more accurate and easier process.”
For decades, the theory was it couldn’t be done. Now, perhaps, there is a way to place another face on Mount Rushmore. . . .
We'll be happy leaving Trump's Mount Rushmore visage in Mar-a-Lago. Perhaps the United States could also return the Black Hills to the Lakota oyate.
Related posts
- Digest: NDN Collective's Tilsen seeks dismissal of charges, claims prosecutorial misconduct
- Another face on Mount Rushmore? Keep calm and consider history, engineering studies
- Charges against Nick Tilsen, Land Defenders for July 3 Mount Rushmore protest dropped
- Future Fund, COVID-19, indigenous land & wildfires: notes on Mt Rushmore fireworks show
Photo: The Mount Trumpmore sculpture peeks out from under a table in this photo of Donald Trump and Kyle Rittenhouse. Photo Illustration by The Daily Beast/Twitter/Big League Politics.
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