Bust of David Hudson……1998

Sometime in 1998 I was approached by Marty Hills to do a bust of David Hudson, the founder of Hudson Ohio. The commission was to celebrate the bicentennial of the city that was in 1999. Marty was co-chair of the bicentennial commission. Marty is one of the nicest people that God put on this planet, so it would have been impossible to say no to her.

This piece proved challenging for many reasons. David Hudson died before cameras were used widely for portraits so there were no photos to work from. It turned out; the only reference to work from was a primitive painting of he and his wife that hung in the library. “Primitive” is a style that was widely used that deliberately distorts perspective. My son had a direct descendant of David Hudson’s as a substitute teacher while I was working on this. Surely, he would have some other paintings or drawings of this famous man. Nope!

I finished the piece and fired it so it would be semi permanent. When I presented it to the commission they seemed pleased with the result. I assured them that no one could ever say it didn’t look like him because it was at least faithful to the primitive painting. I also requested that they pay for a mold and one bronze edition so it could never truly be lost or broken.

This piece sits on top of a time capsule that is not to be opened for another hundred years. My friend, Rich Grell, made the cabinet for the time capsule. You could say we collaborated on this project, but we only spoke about it once. The sculpture and time capsule can be seen in the Hudson Public Library.

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