October 2015 - Prior to their vote to officially endorse the Las Vegas Veteran's Memorial, American Legion's National Executive Committee asked Douwe to present the project and "bring them up to speed". Along with the Memorials' executive director, Scott Tiano, Douwe basicially walked them through the vision behind the piece and gave them a short overview of how a memorial of this scale and scope is created. It was a fascinating experience as both the legion and its Indianapolis Headquarters are steeped in history and tradition. The Committee did approve the resolution of support which is a great honor.
Douwe Completes final Las Vegas Veteran’s Memorial sculpture! /
After almost four years of sculpting, Douwe put the finishing touches on the last of eighteen figures. Each figure is life-and-a-quarter scale making them about seven and a half feet tall. He has been dovetailing clay sculpting with assembly and finishing of metal castings as they come from the foundry, but this is the final clay figure to be done. The particular figure represents an aged Vet. Douwe invited his neighbor, “farmer” Don Hutchinson to spend the afternoon modeling in the studio while working on the final facial features. This week, this along with three other clay figures will be transported to the foundry in Oklahoma where they will be molded and cast in metal.
A unique sculpture delivery! /
Always looking for an excuse to fly his homebuilt antique airplane, Douwe crammed his “great sport” wife Marci into the front cockpit along with a sculpture needing delivery. Invited to make a presentation near Louisville, they flew into a local grass airstrip where friends picked them up and brought them to the event where both the presentation was made and the sculpture delivered to the new owner. It was a bit of a tight squeeze for Marci up front but the flight only lasted fifty minutes and it turned out to be a wonderful couple of days together with friends.