Living Rock: Massive Monuments Sculpted in Situ

"Crazy Horse Memorial, South Dakota"
Image Credit

Although the USA is a comparative newcomer to massive sculptures which have been carved in situ, Mount Rushmore is among the most famous statues in the world and will no doubt withstand the millennia as it was designed to do. When finished, however, the Crazy Horse Memorial should be the largest sculpture in the world and stand over one hundred and seventy two meters (that’s five hundred and sixty three feet). In other words, it will be almost ten times taller than each of the Presidents’ heads at Rushmore. Started in 1948, it remains unfinished and there is no date which has been fixed for its completion either. The face, however, was completed in 1998. LINK

Black And White Photos

The photo presented above, although in black and white, is both extremely sharp and clear. To achieve such level of clarity in black and white is extremely hard. LINK

Been close to there, I went and see the Blue Thunder air show at Ellsworth Air Force Base In Rapid City S.D. instead.

Reflecting Back

Reflecting Back is a 17" diameter sphere that was painted in 1989. As Deadwood is very close to where Termes lives much of this painting was done on the spot in the Adams House. This house is now owned by the city of Deadwood South Dakota. This is a wonderful spherical painting to show the six point perspective which Termes is known for. The ghost image of Mr. Adams is shown looking in the window and Mary Adams is standing in the dining room. Termes' image shows in the two mirrors. It is as though you are standing in the living room and turning in a circle seeing everything around you as well as above and below you. This piece is owned by the artist Dick Termes. LINK: Youtube

Mount Rushmore National Memorial

The four figures carved in stone on Mount Rushmore represent the first 150 years of American history. The birth of our nation was guided by the vision and courage of George Washington. Thomas Jefferson always had dreams of something bigger, first in the words of the Declaration of Independence and later in the expansion of our nation through the Louisiana Purchase. Preservation of the union was paramount to Abraham Lincoln but a nation where all men were free and equal was destined to be. At the turn of the Twentieth Century Theodore Roosevelt saw that in our nation was the possibility for greatness. Our nation was changing from a rural republic to a world power. The ideals of these presidents laid a foundation for our nation as solid as the rock from which their figures are carved. Each man possessed great skills and leadership of the brand our nation needed for the times.
I have been to Rapid City, South Dakota but never made it to Mount Rushmore.Which we also call the Black Hills. They also have an airforce base ther where I watched the Thunderbirds do there air show. LINK