History
David Alan Clark makes history in bronze!
The Tom Lee Monument
1 1/4 life-sized.
Tom Lee Park, Memphis, TN.
Portrait monument of Memphis hero Tom Lee, a riverman who, despite the fact that he could not swim, rescued 32 white people from the Mississippi River in 1925 after their steamboat capsized. The plaza is etched with river currents, and is surrounded by white spotlights - one for every person rescued.
Tom Lee’s niece, Charmeal Neely-Alexander, was instrumental in helping us create this tribute to her uncle.
All Aboard
8’ tall x 4.5’ long x 2’ wide.
Wickford Junction Train Station, Rhode Island.
An old-time conductor shepherds two young travelers. The boy is fascinated by the conductor’s pocket watch - which was the technological marvel of the day. Seeing that the conductor is distracted, the boy's big sister takes it on herself to yell "All Aboard!”
Frisco’s First
Life-sized man and locomotive engine.
Frisco City Hall, Frisco, TX.
The city of Frisco, Texas owes its survival to the timely arrival of the railroad in 1902. Rail transport made it possible for the cotton farmers in the area to reach distant markets and prosper. When the trains first came to town, it was the custom for townspeople to meet the train outside of town and ‘ride’ it into the station.
Jim Bridger
8’ tall.
Fort Bridger State Historic Site, WY.
Mountain man and prairie diplomat, founder of Ft. Bridger, Wyoming.
Bridger was famous for telling tall tales (nobody believed him when he told them about the wonders of Yellowstone and the Great Salt Lake).
He was one of the first and last mountain men, spoke a dozen languages and married into several tribes during his long and exciting life.
Jimi Hendrix
Clay maquette for an unrealized monument for Nashville, where Hendrix played the ‘Chitlin’ Circuit backing up Little Richard.
The maquette shows Hendrix at the height of his fame.
Laughing Lincoln
Life-sized, Naperville, IL.
A young Abraham Lincoln, still a state senator and a bachelor, was known for his storytelling and sense of humor. Here, he is shown laughing at his own punchline, at ease and happy.
Milpitas Minute Man
12’ tall.
City Hall, Milpitas, CA.
The Minute Man is on the city seal as a symbol of defiance to neighboring San Jose, which tried to annex the town 60 years ago. The sculpture faces San Jose and is an homage to Daniel Chester French's Concord Minuteman.
Robert Goddard
Robert Goddard, unrealized clay maquette, for Roswell, New Mexico.
Roswell is where Goddard, the father of American Rocketry, made his first successful flights. He is shown wearing his working costume of high boots and jodhpurs, with a celebratory cigar stashed hopefully in his breast pocket.
Spirit of the Prairie
7’ and 6’7” tall.
Schaumburg Town Square, Schaumburg, IL.
The woman scatters seed and dreams of the harvest to come, while the man wields a scythe to bring the harvest in, bracketing the agricultural year.
John Wesley Powell
9' tall.
Sweetwater County Historical Museum, Green River, WY.
Portrait monument of the explorer, first director of the USGS, founding member of the National Geographic Society and namesake of Lake Powell. Both Powell expeditions were launched from Green River, Wyoming a short distance from where this sculpture stands. Fourth slide: This sample shows my ability in portraiture, and I think captures the determined mindset of a Civil War veteran who did not let the loss of his right arm in battle deter him from mapping and exploring the western frontier.
