Boonslick Outdoor Arts Project
6 p.m. September 27, 2005
Emergency Operations Center
Attending: Bob Dyer, Mary Pat Holmes, Gary Nauman, and Art Schneider.
Art Selection Committee: Pat Hanna, Bob Dyer, Mary Pat Holmes, Gary Nauman as the arts selection committee met prior to the project meeting. Though unable to attend, Laura Gramlich notified the committee that Kemper alumni meeting the previous weekend had favored the submission of Kwan Wu.
The committee reported it had excellent submissions. It recommended the selection of Kwan Wu.
Arts Project discussion and follow-up to recommendation: After brief discussion in which it was noted that each of the submissions had desirable features, the project accepted the bid of Kwan Wu at $ 5500 for the bust. The slight smile of the face was noted. However, the selection committee noted that Frederick T. Kemper wore a bow tie and that the final bust should have this. In addition, Kwan will provide a full-scale plaster model to the outdoor arts project.
To avoid complications, the committee will separately gather a bid for the plaque and the stone pedestal. Per previous agreement, Carter Memorial will be the company to provide the stone pedestal to continue matching the pedestals already in place at Morgan Street Park.
Gary reported that this would work out well for the Parks & Recreation Department. To coincide with the Heritage Days, the dedication would take place June 24, 2006, immediately following the Heritage Days parade. This will be communicated to the alumni and to the Boonville Area Chamber of Commerce.
Story Script on F. T. Kemper for the plaque: Bob Dyer submitted the following 232-word story:
Frederick T. Kemper (1816-1881)
Frederick Thomas Kemper, pioneering Missouri educator and founder of Kemper Military School in Boonville, was born at Madison Courthouse, Virginia. After graduating from Marion College in Palmyra, Missouri, he came to Boonville in 1844 and opened his first boarding school for young boys, the New Boonville Male Academy. For the next ten years the school grew in enrollment and went through several name changes until he settled on the name Kemper Family School in 1854. In that year he married Susan Holten Taylor, a teacher in a local school for girls, with whom he had eleven children. In 1856 Kemper accepted a position at Westminster College in Fulton where he remained for the next five years. With the impending Civil War he returned to Boonville and reopened his school. In the 1873-74 school year a military flavor was introduced for the first time with the adoption of a cadet-gray uniform in the West Point style. The school continued to grow in both enrollment and physical size up to the time of Kemper’s death on March 9, 1881, at which time the reins of the school were handed over to one of his former students, T.A. Johnston. Kemper and his family are buried in Walnut Hill Cemetery in Boonville. During Kemper’s lifetime he was an advocate of strict family discipline and Christian morality along with the rigorous regimen of a classical educational curriculum. His motto was “not to make mere scholars, but to make men.”
Pat Holmes noted that the story “reads well.” After discussion, the following words are to be inserted after “T. A. Johnston”: Kemper and his family are buried in Walnut Hill Cemetery in Boonville. (The insertion was added to the story in bold blue above.)
Plates of Hannah Cole for Sale: Art reported that Nan Painter had contacted him for additional plates of Hannah Cole. Winky Friedrich had additional decals and created 24. Nan sold the 24 additional plates through the Cole Family Association and the revenue from them will be applied to the David Barton bust, scheduled for dedication in June 2007. Under the $100+ donors it will list Cole Association.
Asiancrafts to create resin models of Hannah Cole: Per previous discussion by the project to seek a company to make models of the Hannah Cole statue, Art searched the Internet and found Asiancrafts. He reported that his research showed it to be a credible company. He sought quotes for replicas of the statue at the following heights: 6 inches, 8 inches, 10 inches and 12 inches. The outdoor arts project owns three dimensional reproduction rights to the statue with the right of first refusal and approval of sculptor Harry Weber.
Art said that he would prefer that the project contract with a local private firm, such as the proposed Boonville Area History Souvenir Co., but that as its initial funding would be committed to updating and reprinting Bob Dyer’s Illustrated History of Boonville, it would be necessary to seek alternative underwriting for the near future. He noted that there are funds available from the sales of souvenirs in conjunction with the Hannah Cole statue and suggested those funds be used as seed money.
There also was concern about the quality of the image. Art said the company reported it only needed photos of the image to create a model.
Asiancrafts said the first model would cost $400, including shipping. Quotes were asked for 500 statues. The company sent photos of sample polymer resin statues with a bronze appearance. They are on the we at: http://www.mo-river.net/Arts/outdoor_art/asiancrafts/index.htm
Bob said he would prefer to have an actual sample of a product with a bronze finish. Bob also was concerned that the handle of the shovel be durable. He and other project members discussed the number of statues to be ordered and agreed that quotes be sought for fewer than 500 statues. Consensus that the project preferred 10 inch or 12 inch statues.
Also discussion and approval to contact Harry Weber to seek his written approval of the process.
Art will contact Asiancrafts and Harry Weber.
Outdoor Arts David Barton Fundraiser: David Fiedler, author of The Enemy Within, will present a program at 6 p.m., October 16, at the Boonslick Senior Center, 415 Main Street, on the thousands of German and Italian POWs housed in Missouri during World War II.
It is cosponsored by M. U. Extension of Cooper County and the Missouri Humanities Council Program Bureau with support from the National Endowment for the Humanities. Cost is $5 for adults and $2 for high school students.
Art asked members to spread the word. Brochures have been printed.
No further immediate business, the committee adjourned at 7:33 p.m.
Next meeting will be at 6:30 p.m. Thursday, October 20, at the Emergency Operations Center meeting room.