Latest news with #statues
Daily Mail
4 days ago
- Business
- Daily Mail
Trump's national garden plan with 250 sculptures at risk, artists warn
President Donald Trump may face headaches as he tries to cobble together hundreds of statues before the 250th birthday of the U.S. Speaking in front of Mount Rushmore during his first term in 2020, Trump vowed that statues would soon be going up in America. Half a decade later Trump is working to make good on the promise he made before the stone faces of the most revered presidents. But his plan to create a national sculpture garden, replete with the busts of at least 250 American heroes, all before July 2026, is already facing major hiccups. 'It seems completely unworkable,' Daniel Kunitz, editor of Sculpture magazine, recently said of the president's plan for the National Garden of American Heroes. The main issue, Kunitz told Politico, is timing; the creators will have just nine months to produce their works. 'It doesn't seem to be very serious,' Kunitz said of the project. 'It's sort of trolling.' One sculptor even suggested that Trump may have to look to China for help with his ambitious project. Dylan Farnum, who formerly headed up the highly-esteemed Walla Walla Foundry, told Politico that America simply does not have the number of artists needed for such a task. 'You'd be flooding the capacity of artists in this country who do that kind of stuff, and the capacity of foundries,' Farnum said. 'There are places where you can really whip some stuff off. They can do it in China.' Trump revamped his plan for the sculpture display in a new executive order earlier this year. 'The National Garden will be built to reflect the awesome splendor of our country's timeless exceptionalism,' the order says. 'The National Garden will feature a roll call of heroes who deserve honor, recognition, and lasting tribute because of the battles they won, the ideas they championed, the diseases they cured, the lives they saved, the heights they achieved, and the hope they passed down to all of us.' The action also calls for the garden to be completed 'as expeditiously as possible.' However, it remains unclear where the garden will be or what the design will look like. The order calls for an appropriate space to be identified, though the governor of South Dakota has offered a location close to Mount Rushmore. The White House is currently receiving artists' applications to create sculptures until July 1. The application process is being overseen by the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH). The group, along with the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) will contribute a total of $34 million for the project. Artists are asked to volunteer 10 - 20 names from Trump's list of U.S. heroes that they want to bring to life. A single applicant can be selected for up to three sculptures. Those selected can earn up to $200,000 per sculpture. NBA legend Kobe Bryant, signer Whitney Houston, American gardener Johnny 'Appleseed' Chapman, Walt Disney, Harriet Tubman and more are on the list of heroes. George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, Jackie Robinson and Rosa Parks are also some of the names on the expansive catalog. Artists will not know the status of their applications until September - meaning they won't know which famous American they will be sculpting until then. Once approved, artists will have until June 2026 to complete there statues and get them to the government roughly a month before the nation's 250th birthday on July 4, 2026. 'You put out an [request for proposal] and then there's just a long period working with the institutions,' Kunitz said. The editor noted that the Trump administration will likely work closely on the designs with the artists, which could, and likely will, slow down work on the hundreds of sculptures. 'A year is highly unlikely,' he said of the turnaround time. The NEH did not return the Daily Mail's request for comment.
Daily Mail
4 days ago
- Business
- Daily Mail
Trump's dream to build a $34 million 'heroes' garden hit with major setback
President Donald Trump may face headaches as he tries to cobble together hundreds of statues before the 250th birthday of the U.S. Speaking in front of Mount Rushmore during his first term in 2020, Trump vowed that statues would soon be going up in America. Half a decade later Trump is working to make good on the promise he made before the stone faces of the most revered presidents. But his plan to create a national sculpture garden, replete with the busts of at least 250 American heroes, all before July 2026, is already facing major hiccups. 'It seems completely unworkable,' Daniel Kunitz, editor of Sculpture magazine, recently said of the president's plan for the National Garden of American Heroes. The main issue, Kunitz told Politico, is timing; the creators will have just nine months to produce their works. 'It doesn't seem to be very serious,' Kunitz said of the project. 'It's sort of trolling.' One sculptor even suggested that Trump may have to look to China for help with his ambitious project. President-elect Donald Trump and family pose at the end of a welcome celebration at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, DC, on January 19, 2017 Dylan Farnum, who formerly headed up the highly-esteemed Walla Walla Foundry, told Politico that America simply does not have the number of artists needed for such a task. 'You'd be flooding the capacity of artists in this country who do that kind of stuff, and the capacity of foundries,' Farnum said. 'There are places where you can really whip some stuff off. They can do it in China.' Trump revamped his plan for the sculpture display in a new executive order earlier this year. 'The National Garden will be built to reflect the awesome splendor of our country's timeless exceptionalism,' the order says. 'The National Garden will feature a roll call of heroes who deserve honor, recognition, and lasting tribute because of the battles they won, the ideas they championed, the diseases they cured, the lives they saved, the heights they achieved, and the hope they passed down to all of us.' The action also calls for the garden to be completed 'as expeditiously as possible.' However, it remains unclear where the garden will be or what the design will look like. The order calls for an appropriate space to be identified, though the governor of South Dakota has offered a location close to Mount Rushmore. The White House is currently receiving artists' applications to create sculptures until July 1. The application process is being overseen by the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH). The group, along with the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) will contribute a total of $34 million for the project. Artists are asked to volunteer 10 - 20 names from Trump's list of U.S. heroes that they want to bring to life. A single applicant can be selected for up to three sculptures. Those selected can earn up to $200,000 per sculpture. NBA legend Kobe Bryant, signer Whitney Houston, American gardener Johnny 'Appleseed' Chapman, Walt Disney, Harriet Tubman and more are on the list of heroes. George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, Jackie Robinson and Rosa Parks are also some of the names on the expansive catalog. Artists will not know the status of their applications until September - meaning they won't know which famous American they will be sculpting until then. Once approved, artists will have until June 2026 to complete there statues and get them to the government roughly a month before the nation's 250th birthday on July 4, 2026. 'You put out an [request for proposal] and then there's just a long period working with the institutions,' Kunitz said. The editor noted that the Trump administration will likely work closely on the designs with the artists, which could, and likely will, slow down work on the hundreds of sculptures. 'A year is highly unlikely,' he said of the turnaround time.
BBC News
26-05-2025
- Entertainment
- BBC News
Shakespeare statues appear along Birmingham-Stratford rail route
Statues honouring the world-famous playwright William Shakespeare have been installed on train platforms along a West Midlands railway line. A total of 18 stations between Birmingham Moor Street and the birthplace of Shakespeare, Stratford-upon-Avon, have been connected to a different one of his plays, with 34 statues placed along the of the pairings include, Yardley Wood and Twelfth Night, Wood End and The Merchant of Venice, as well as Henley-in-Arden and Romeo and Juliet. Students from King Edward VI School in Stratford, which Shakespeare attended, marked the unveiling of their town's statue with a short performance of an extract from As You Like It. Nick Abbey, the school's head of English, said: "Shakespeare remains a central part of the English curriculum, not least because of the power and beauty of his language, but also because the characters he creates and the emotions they experience still feel fresh and relevant to today's students". 'The statues put the line on the map' A spokesperson for Network Rail said the project had been made possible as a result of funding from Friends of the Shakespeare Line (FoSL), Network Rail, West Midlands Railway and Chiltern Wiseman, from West Midlands Railway, said: "The West Midlands is rich in literary history and we are sure these new artworks will bring a sense of local pride to the millions of passengers who pass through these stations each year".The stations have a flower box alongside each statue to provide information to locals and visitors about the play it is connected to and the story of Shakespeare in Warwickshire. Neil Morgan, treasurer of FoSL, added that the statues had put the line "well and truly on the map". Follow BBC Coventry & Warwickshire on BBC Sounds, Facebook, X and Instagram.
Forbes
22-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Forbes
Alex Davis On Why FiGGYZ Could Be The Future Of Affordable Collectibles
The upcoming 'Cowboy Bebop' FiGGYZ set. With a few weeks away until the FiGGYZ launch, I spoke with the company's CEO Alex Davis to understand why these are an interesting and different type of collectible. Alex is also the CEO of First 4 Figures, which has made a worthy name for themselves with excellent statues of famous pop-culture characters. To get an idea of their output, feel free to check out my recent review of their Gravity Suit Samus statue from Metroid Prime. It's beautifully done and undertaken by people who clearly know and care about the host property. So this is why I thought FiGGYZ was interesting, and why I wanted to talk with Alex to find out more. 'With First 4 Figures, we've built a premium collectible business, but the truth is, those statues are expensive, large, and limited in availability. That makes them inaccessible to most people, especially in today's economic climate. I saw a real need for something smaller, affordable, and more widely available. People still want to own pieces of their fandom, and we wanted to give everyone that chance. FiGGYZ was created to be the opposite of high-end exclusivity. It's designed to bring joy, variety, and collectibility to a much bigger audience. 'FiGGYZ takes a pixel art approach, but more on that in a minute. The core product is a soft PVC character with magnets on the back, allowing it to snap onto a metal background. Each background is reversible, so collectors can flip it to get a fresh display whenever they like. We've also added QR codes to bridge the physical and digital world. This connects each FiGGYZ to our app, where there's a lot more in development, including the FiGGYZ Verse: an online world where you can view collections, earn evolution packs, and play FiGGYZ mini-games. The experience goes beyond the collectible itself. And then there are the chase variants: Gold (1%), Silver (3%), and Bronze (6%) backgrounds randomly inserted and not sold separately. It adds a layer of excitement and rarity to each wave.' FEATURED | Frase ByForbes™ Unscramble The Anagram To Reveal The Phrase Pinpoint By Linkedin Guess The Category Queens By Linkedin Crown Each Region Crossclimb By Linkedin Unlock A Trivia Ladder The pixel art approach obviously works great for classic gaming series such as 'Sonic The Hedgehog'. The pixel art was an interesting choice, so I wanted to know why Alex had gone down that specific stylistic path. 'Pixel art is timeless. It appeals to those of us who grew up in the 8-bit, 16-bit, and 32-bit eras, but it's also become massively popular again with modern indie games. Even younger audiences, thanks to games like Roblox and Minecraft, are already comfortable with blocky or pixel-like designs. So it feels universal, not retro. What makes FiGGYZ stand out is that we've gone all-in on this format. No one's really making full collectible ranges in pixel form like we are.' Obviously, for something like this to work, you're going to need a lot of major properties to sign on, and the line-up that I was shown was already very impressive. There's also a decent momentum of releases planned as well, as Alex explains. 'There's literally a launch every single week. We have so many IPs involved that we had to build a schedule that makes sure every fandom gets its spotlight, something for everyone. We officially launch on June 4th with five IPs: Sonic, Banjo-Kazooie, Cowboy Bebop, Street Fighter, and Shenmue. The following week adds three more IPs, and then we continue dropping one to two new waves each week. This weekly rhythm keeps collectors engaged and always looking forward to what's next. 'But we're going a lot further than that. We're building what we call the FiGGYZ Verse, a digital universe where fans can showcase their full collections, connect with others, and unlock new experiences. 'Again, this ties into the QR code on the back of each FiGGYZ that connects to our app. When you scan it, it adds that collectible to your FiGGYZ World profile. From there, you can view your collection digitally, unlock badges, and earn achievements. Each FiGGYZ has magnets at the rear, making them very versatile. 'One of the big features inside the FiGGYZ Verse is the evolution mini game. When you play, you'll receive digital packs that contain 10 cards, five character cards, and five background cards. These cards evolve over time through simple game mechanics, gradually unlocking lore surrounding three original characters that exist only in the FiGGYZ Verse. 'The great thing here is that if you manage to evolve one of your characters all the way to its final Legendary Evolution, we will send you a free physical FiGGYZ of that evolved character. You cannot buy it. It's a real, tangible reward that proves you made it all the way. It's our way of connecting physical and digital in a meaningful and rewarding way. "We've always been known for video game collectibles, but with FiGGYZ, we're intentionally looking to go much broader. Movies, anime, comics, music artists, VTubers, sports teams, you name it. The vision is for FiGGYZ to become a platform where any fandom can live and be celebrated. So in the future, whatever slice of pop-culture you celebrate, there should be a FiGGYZ that speaks to you.' Finishing up, I was also sent a few FiGGYZ to check out for myself. The first of these being Spike from Cowboy Bebop. Having interviewed the likes of Shinichiro Watanabe, Kimitoshi Yamane, and Yoko Kanno, I have a certain investment in the anime, and the pixellated Spike was very nicely done (shown top). I also think that after the dreaded soul-draining Funko Pops, we actually need some decent and affordable collectibles for fans of games and anime. By contrast, these FiGGYZ genuinely feel viable and something I'd actually want to own. The fact that they are magnetic also makes them nicely multi-purpose and can be put pretty much anywhere. In any case, the first wave of FiGGYZ will be released this June, with details revealed on the official site. Follow me on X, Facebook and YouTube. I also manage Mecha Damashii and am currently featured in the Giant Robots exhibition currently touring Japan.
Times
15-05-2025
- Politics
- Times
It's taken a British sculptor to challenge America's white male heroes
For thousands of years humanity has been creating statues of its heroes and gods — big or small, artistically sublime or shabby, morally uplifting or (judged by modern standards) horribly misguided. You might think that by now nobody would be outraged by a new one. Haven't we seen it all before? You would be wrong. Two examples unveiled on different continents in the past month show that, perhaps because statues are usually erected in prominent places where thousands pass each day, they still have more potential to inflame public wrath than any other art form. One is of Joseph Stalin. In itself that's not newsworthy. The rehabilitation of Stalin's reputation — emphasising his record as war leader rather than mass-murdering dictator — has been going
