Touch History

April, 2013
Sculptor's Corner -- Jurassic Park


Ever wonder how they made the monster dinosaurs for the movie Jurassic Park? They were
made by some of the same processes that the lifesize statues are made for the Mississippi River
Sculpture Park.
First the artist makes a small one like our maquette-sized clay sculptures. The foundry makes
a hard copy (usually resin) and it is shipped to a sculpture enlarging company. There are two in
California, one in New York and others around the country.
The enlarging company does a computer scan of the piece, enlarges it to whatever size is
needed, and digitally transfers that to a laser cutter. The enlarged image is carved out of an
extruded styrofoam block by the laser cutter. The foam is very lightweight and can be moved or
shipped easily.
For our sculptures I receive the life size foam in pieces shipped to my studio. I then cover the
foam with plastilene clay and do the final and detailed sculpture getting it ready to send on to the
foundry for lost wax bronze casting.
Before this process was invented for Jurassic Park, an artist would have to work with lifesized
mounds of clay instead of a small maquette. This enlarging technological innovation allowed me to
think of doing many sculptures, an impossible feat before Jurassic Park. We are using both
ancient technology in the casting of the bronze, and the latest new technology in doing the
enlarging.
The enlarged foam piece can also be covered with other material like fiberglass or cloth and
painted to give the effect wanted. I don't know the details of what was used for the dinosaurs in
Jurassic Park, but it must have been a fun challenge for the artists.
There is now the possibility of 3D printing which we may use in the near future. I'll keep you
posted.

--Florence Bird

Mother's Day/Marianne's Day


Does the Mississppi River Sculpture Park look deserted on this gray April day?
In the distance, beneath a tree, the Voyageur is napping, but the empty spot to the left of
the firepit is waiting for the sculpture of a grandmother holding and comforting her infant
granddaughter.
With Mothers' Day on the horizon, it's not a bad time to recount the story of the woman
and the baby. Marianne Labuche was a well-known and well-regarded healer in Prairie du
Chien. In fact, when the U.S. Army stationed a doctor here, many local residents still preferred to
bring their illnesses to the French woman.
The most famous of her patients was her own granddaughter. When Chief Red Bird and
three companions were attempting to avenge the illegal taking of Winnebago land by white miners,
they attacked a family that lived south of town at the spot where Wal Mart stands today. They
scalped Mary Louise Gagnier, and left the baby beneath a bed. She was still alive when the family
returned. Her grandmother managed to save her life by covering her wound with a silver coin.
The grandmother and granddaughter are already a part of what may be the local episode
most often documented in art. The Governor's Conference Room in the state capitol in Madison
is decorated with just four large paintings of famous Wisconsin events; one of the four is the
surrender of Red Bird to army authorities.
Another painting of Red Bird's surrender hangs in Prairie du Chien's city hall, along with a
painting, by the same artist, of the attack.




Hidden Treasures
Pete's Hamburgers
\
You can always tell when somebody is from out of town and hasn't been to Pete's
Hamburgers if he orders a cheeseburger.
Pete's is a foodie mecca known throughout the state, but only hamburgers are on the
menu, available with your choice of catsup, mustard, and/or onions. Plus sodas and bags of chips.
Those famous hamburgers and the cooked onions will be prepared on top of Pete's special
ingredient, which you can also buy, bottled, to take home. The unusual secret ingredient is what
makes the hamburgers unique. It's water.
Because the hamburger stand doesn't have any indoor seating, it's not open during the
winter. This year, it will open at 11 a.m. on Friday, April 26. It will be open every Friday,
Saturday and Sunday until it closes in late fall.
You'll always be able to find Pete's if you look for the long line of customers at the little
stand next to Stark's boat store on Blackhawk Avenue in downtown Prairie du Chien, but only if
you're in town on Friday or the weekend. According to owner Phyllis Gokey, the stand is only
open three days a week because the original owner relied on workers who also had regular jobs
elsewhere, and that's still the case.
"If the weather is right," Gokey says, they'll sell lots of hamburgers. "Right" means warm.
"It doesn't matter if it's raining," but when it starts getting dark earlier in the day, "there's no foot
traffic."
If you're planning to come to "Twilight of the Living Sculptures," you're invited to bring
dinner with you. Whether the weather permits the event to happen on May 5 or May 11, you can
pick up a bag of Pete's hamburgers to bring along. Other days, at lunchtime or dinnertime, there
are plenty of picnic tables on St. Feriole island, including several at the Sculpture Park. The island
is just across the bridge and down the street from Pete's.


Editor's Corner
Spelling Complicates Search for Descendants
Searching for descendants of Marianne Labuche has gotten me into the most complicated
spelling puzzle of my life. The grandmother who saved her granddaughter's life was French, but
by 1830, the officials who were writing down names were English speakers, so they recorded
names the way they thought they were hearing them. The biggest change I know of, so far
anyway, was a family named Gauthier then, now known as Gokey. But the Gokeys aren't
anywhere on the Labuche family tree, so that spelling isn't my problem.
Depending on where a descendant discovered the name of the grandmother, she would be
listed in the records as Mary Ann or Marianne, La Buche or La Bouche. She was listed as
Marianne Labuche when local historian Mary Antoine found the name in the records for her
children's baptisms and her marriage to Charles Menard, her third husband.
The grandmother had 13 children, and one of those was Registe Gagnier or Francois
Regis. The first spelling showed up in a document about that branch of the family tree provided by
Alice DuCharme Kirschbaum, a descendant who lives in Prairie du Chien. This ancestor was the
father of Louise, the name used on her baptism and her marriage to her first husband, Amable
Moreaux, or Louisa, as some other records list her.
The Mississippi River Sculpture Park Board has decided to rely on the spelling as it shows
up on the list provided by Mary Antoine as the most accurate. Here are the names of the 13
children of the first generation, plus the 13 children the injured baby brought into the world with
her two husbands after she healed and grew up.
Children of Marianne Labuche
1. Married Duchouquette
Francois Duchouquette
Charles Duchouquette
2. Married Claude Gagnier
Helen born circa 1795
Francois Regis born circa 1796
Claude born circa 1798
Melanie born circa 1800
Adelaide born circa 1800
Basil
3. Married Charles Menard 12 May 1817
Julie born 6 April 1805
Margueritte Born 6 April 1805
Charles born 22 February 1807
Louis born 1814
Pascal born about 1815
Children of Marie Louise Gagnier
1. Married Amable Moreaux 5 August 1843
Isadore born 1844
Aurelie born 1846
Caroline born 1847 (Dead by 1855)
Lillian born 1848 (Dead by 1855)
David born 1852
Virginia born 1 September 1853*
Sophia born 1856*
Emilie born 1857
Rosana born 1858*
Esther born 1859*
2. Married Combe Cherrier 1 March 1863
Madeline born 1863
Felix Combe born 1865
Louise born 1869
*In 1870 Federal Census listed with the last name Cherrier

In addition to Francois Regis, we've heard recently from a descendant of his brother Basil.
And from the branch that starts with the granddaughter, we've also heard from a descendant
of Isadore. If you see a name that sounds familiar, even if the spelling isn't, please let us
know at marl@centurytel.net.
--Marilyn Leys




Twilight of the Living Sculptures

Viewing the Mississippi River Sculpture Park, even mingling with the statues, is
something that many have enjoyed in the past, as this family found out the day The
Voyageur sculpture was dedicated. This year, as twilight approaches on Sunday, May
5, modern actors will make historic local figures come alive in the Sculpture Park, during
the fundraiser program, Twilight of the Living Sculptures.
Local high school teachers have organized a team of students to create vignettes by tying
in historical facts about the people behind the statues already in the Sculpture Park and some of
the 21 statues that are planned. Costumed local high school students and resident actors will
portray these characters by telling stories about the historical impact they made in southwest
Wisconsin and northeast Iowa.
Stories will also be told about the discovery and development of this critical rendezvous
area, now called St. Feriole Island, in Prairie du Chien, Wisconsin.
The Twilight of the Living Sculptures event is a fundraiser for the sixth sculpture planned
for park. Marianne Labuche, a local healer, was also known by the locals in the early 1800s as
Aunt Mary Ann. Visitors' donations will help make Labuche's image a permanent part of the
park.
From four p.m. to six p.m. on May 5, visitors strolling around the park will encounter the
living sculptures, and be able to ask questions of them. A fire will be constantly burning in the
central Fire Circle, which is outlined with symbols of the ancient peoples who occupied this
rendezvous area over the past 10,000 years.
Visitors are invited to bring their own snacks or beverages so they can picnic in the
Sculpture Park while listening to live music and enjoying the vignettes.
Should May 5 prove to be too rainy for this outdoor event, the rain date will be Saturday,
May 11.
If the event has to be postponed, an e-mail will be sent on May 5.
For more information, contact Rogeta Halvorson at RAHalvorson@alpinecom.net or
563-880-9190.

Next Statue Update


The line on our graph hasn't moved much since the last
newsletter because the only new contribution came from
McGregor residents and Labuche descendants, Glen and
Janine DuCharme.
On the other hand, we're about a third of the way toward
paying for the bronze maquette.
The Mississippi River is rising in mid-April, but hopefully
the graph's line will rise in May, thanks to donations offered
during Night of the Living Sculptures.

Marilyn Leys
Mississippi River Sculpture Park
marl@centurytel.net
608-326-0862
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Mississippi River Sculpture Park | 1702 E. Parrish St. | Prairie du Chien | WI | 53821