Client: The Boy Scouts of America

Overview

The sculpture depicts two brothers, Jared, and Sam Harvey. Jared, the older brother on the right is displaying leadership and guidance for his little brother Sam. The brothers have experienced grief due to an untimely separation. The sculpture base shows their bike trails embarking down two diverging paths to symbolize this separation. As a boy scout, they both loved the outdoors and the adventure that outdoor experiences brought to their lives. This commemorative piece is able to showcase this passion of mountain biking that they both shared. Dimensions are 96″ X 54″, cast bronze.

Goals

As with any portrait sculpture, capturing a likeness of the subjects was a major goal for Vandalia Bronze. This commissioned piece symbolized a tragic time in this families life and it was imperative to execute the story of the brothers properly. Lester chose to furtively show the diverging paths on of the bike trails left behind. It was important to display strong leadership and Scouting morals through the integrity of the boy's faces and body posture. One specific characteristic of Jared Harvey was his hair. The ever classic mullet was Jared's key style identifier and his parents strongly desired this portrayal of their son.

Process

This sculpture was executed in the traditional steel armature, foam, and clay method. The Vandalia Bronze team welded and built a larger than life mountain bike just for this piece. By the end of the sculptures process, the team had pounded over 2 tons of clay on this 8' double-figure piece.