News from the Plains: All the RED can make you BLUE
The American has no clothes
by Barry Friedman
About ten years ago, an Oklahoma artist and a member of the Osage, Shan Gray, who had never created anything larger than a 18.7 foot statue of Edmond gymnast Shannon Miller, had this idea of building one of a Native American--called The American--a 217-foot bronze that would attract people from lands near and far. He shopped it around to Oklahoma's two biggest cities, Oklahoma City and Tulsa, promising it would be the biggest thing to hit America since Gutzon Borglum carved presidential heads into the side of a mountain.
I wrote about it back then and distinctly remember hearing the following:
"He came with a powerpoint presentation. It was embarrassing," said an OKC official.
"He came with a powerpoint presentation. It was impressive," a Tulsa official said.
Well, Tulsa "won," but Gray never had the investment needed to complete the $34-million project, even though he kept insisting he was close.
Yeah, in much the same way I was close to dating Crystal Bernard because she shook my hand during an Evening at the Improv segment I taped.
Ultimately, the project never materialized--some say because of the recession, others contend because of sanity and good taste--and Gray then went about schnooring the project across the state.
After looking at nearly 40 sites throughout the state, including 33 in the Tulsa area, Osage artist Shan Gray thinks he has found the perfect spot to anchor his massive sculpture of an American Indian brave.
And that place is
Sand Springs Oklahoma.
The American, which will be taller than the Statue of Liberty, depicts a young brave in a loincloth, facing east with an eagle landing on his arm, a symbol, the artist said, symbolized a new day.
The eagle will have the same wingspan as a U-2 spy plane - 103 feet.
"Hey, anyone here in the newsroom know the wingspan of a U-2?"
"Hundred and three feet."
"Damn, what a coincidence."
It is, not to put to fine a point on this, atrocious, gaudy, silly, insulting. It was then; it is now. As one Native American told me in 2005, "Hey, it got cold in Oklahoma. What's with the loincloth?"
An elevator would carry visitors to a two-story gallery two-thirds of the way up the statue, and from there they could climb to an observation deck in the statue's forehead.
And see what--downtown Sand Springs?
Nevertheless, the city fathers and mothers couldn't be happier.
Or more gullible.
The City Council has expressed enthusiasm for the $34 million privately-funded project. It will also consider a proposal Monday for a $48,500 engineering study that would provide cost estimates for supplying utilities to the site.
Since the project will be privately financed, it is also designed to make a profit, meaning, essentially, the investors get the door, Sand Springs gets the revenue from the pop and vending machines at the Visitors Center, as well as the sales tax generated from the--throat clear--millions who come visiting.
And that, according to some, will be substantial.
Mark Snead conducted an independent economic study on the project when he was director of the Center for Applied Economic Research at Oklahoma State University. He estimated that the project would attract more than 2.2 million visitors a year with advertising and about 1.5 million visitors a year without advertising.
For comparison purposes, 800,000 people visit the Washington Monument, 2.7 million visit Mt. Rushmore, 3-million visit the Statue of Liberty.
In other words: Bull. Shit.
Millions of people are not coming to Sand Springs each year to see a scantily-clad Indian in a field. And even if they do, it takes about 12 minutes to look up, mutter "Wow, Indian's damn near naked" before getting back in the car and continuing on with your Oklahoma vacation.
So, how come none of the city officials in Sand Springs asked why 39 other locations turned down the project ... or wondered why Oklahoma's other Native American tribes aren't more vocal in their support for it ... or are concerned about the experiences in Oklahoma City and Tulsa, ... or are even curious why The American's website hasn't been updated since 2004?
In corporate weasel speak, this would fall under due diligence.
As for the project, the actual construction ... who knows?
Gray, according to reports, is already hard at work.
He hopes to be successful in negotiations with owners of a former Sand Springs manufacturing facility that is large enough for the work and is equipped with a 20-ton crane.
Read that again:
a former Sand Springs manufacturing facility ... has a crane?
Hot damn! So many of your manufacturing companies no longer in business don't.
And some are acting like the crane fell on their heads.
Jack Shenkner, an Edmond businessman and investor in the project, said he is honored to be associated with The American.
"If thousands of people travel Route 66 to see the 66-foot pop bottle at POPS in Arcadia, people from all over the world will surely come to see 'The American.'"
That's because thousands of people are already ON Route 66 when they see the pop bottle--nobody from Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin or Boca Raton, Florida is gassing up the Coachmen and making a special trip.
Gray said he has been working on an 8-foot engineering model in an effort to determine the statue's dimensions.
You started this project ten years ago and are just now getting around to this?
D'oh!
As Toby Ziegler once said, "I'll bet all the money in my pockets against all the money in your pockets" this project will NEVER be completed.
If I'm wrong, I'll be at the pop bottle.