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Published on 06/30/1997 All articles from this issue

Council confirms sculptor for memorial

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By Joanne Griffith Domingue

Town Crier Staff Writer

The Los Altos City Council and members of a veterans memorial search committee have selected a local artist to design the memorial, planned for Shoup Park, after a nationwide search.

At its June 24 meeting the Los Altos City Council unanimously confirmed Los Altos sculptor R.J. Truman's model as the final choice for the memorial.

Truman, one of three finalists for the community veteran's memorial statue, said she read "book after book" about war to prepare for the project.

"I'd be in an aisle with tears streaming down my face for what we did to each other. I had no idea how horrible war is," Truman said, her voice choked with emotion.

She had been the first choice of the design selection committee members of the Veterans Memorial Association of Los Altos & Los Altos Hills.

"The fact that it's by a Los Altos artist adds feeling and makes it more from our community," said councilman Lou Becker.

But the local angle is a serendipitous coincidence. More than 400 sculptors around the country were invited to apply.

Of those, 40 sent applications with slides of their work.

As the committee reviewed the 40, they knew one was a Los Altos artist. But those who set up the slide review for choosing the final three disclosed only last names.

Truman "was selected entirely on her own merit," said Bill Henderson, co-chairman of the memorial association.

Once a finalist, Truman drew about 140 ideas from her research on war, she said. Then she had people from different walks of life review the designs.

Next she made seven 9-inch models out of clay.

For her winning entry, titled "Cradle of Liberty," she used her next-door neighbor, Tom Lund, and his baby son as models.

In Mountain View she rented a military uniform for her neighbor to wear. Then she took pictures.

In the final design, a soldier leans his foot onto a rock and cradles an infant girl, Liberty, on his knee. An American flag swaddles Liberty.

"We don't have liberty unless that soldier is willing to protect Liberty," she said.

"Because soldiers fought in the past, I haven't had to participate in war," said the 40-year-old Truman.

The soldier wears a bandoleer around his neck that holds bullets.

"That represents all the men and women back home who worked in factories to support war - all the civilian soldiers at home," she said.

Creating her model was a "painful process," Truman said, "having my eyes opened about war."

She will spend the next year creating the final statue, a 7-foot bronze, that will be unveiled July 4, 1998.

For the sculpture the committee will pay her $80,000 from its $100,000 budget, $70,000 of which has been raised.

Later this summer a copy of the model will be on display at the library.

This sculpture "will become much loved," said Los Altos Mayor Francis La Poll.

"It fills a void in our community," he said.

Truman will have work in an art exhibition in August at the United Methodist Church in Los Altos.

For more information, call 941-3930.