Of Carving & Caulking

Wednesday, Sept 6…

Another Borglum work
(Standing, L would be 10')

Housekeeping first, then into town (Keystone, not Rapid City) to the Rushmore Borglum Museum. Gutzon Borglum, the master sculptor responsible for the Rushmore Monument, was quite an interesting fellow. His parents, well-to-do Mormon converts, emigrated to the U.S. from Denmark in 1864. Shortly thereafter, Papa Borglum married a 2nd wife (polygamy was OK then); later all 3 left the church (and wife #2 left the marriage). Papa, wife #2, and 4 kids (2 from each wife) moved to St. Louis. Young Gutzon showed early interest and talent for art, eventually marrying one of his instructors (19 years his senior). The couple spent the next 10 years traveling, studying & exhibiting in Europe. They divorced in 1903, and Gutzon married again a year later (3 children followed). By now he was well-known throughout both Europe and the U.S. 

In the 1930s, Borglum was invited to head up the Stone Mountain (GA) Memorial, but was later fired. However, he was on the project long enough to devise the strategy and tools that would enable him to carve Rushmore. (He apparently was also associated w/ the KKK at this time.) I’d never heard of Borglum before, but – beyond Rushmore – I am now familiar w/ several of his more famous works and his amazing artistic skill in depicting human character as well as anatomy. (His son Lincoln, from marriage #2, also played a major role in the Rushmore project and became a well-respected artist/sculptor in his own right.) The museum had a narrated walk-thru tour plus a movie and a 2-room gallery displaying several of Borglum and his son’s works.

(each head about 60' high, each nose 21')

Keystone's Main Street

Afterwards we checked out a couple lunch options in this tourism-on-steroids street but ultimately ended up back at the Elks Lodge where I suffered through probably the worst “wings” ever. Greg spent the rest of the afternoon chipping out old caulking along the perimeter of the RV roof. Not fun.

Funky bar stools, but nothing exciting on the menu.

BlogThoughts... The scale of this monument boggles my mind. It's one thing to draw the design and do the math to figure proportions for each feature. It's quite another to blast away 450,000 tons of rock and then carve the last 3-6" of detail with drills. (Borglum did invent a device that functioned like a giant laser pointer to help carvers shape the rock accurately.) In the museum, we stood next to a replica of Lincoln's eye. It was at least 6' tall (and a shoebox-shaped shaft of rock is left projecting from the iris, creating a shadow that adds dimension and a sense of motion). Check out more interesting details about the construction at www.nps.gov/moru/learn/historyculture/carving-history.htm.

Also, we've had very little interaction with other campers lately. Greg is good about meeting whomever we’re parked next to (usually b/c they're both doing some sort of maintenance), and whenever we’re at an Elks Club he will have his afternoon glass of wine at the bar. I’m sure if we were staying longer (like the 10 days we spent at Gulf Shores) or more often in state/national campgrounds (where I think folks walk around more), we’d have more opportunities. I'm not super social, but it is fun to share travel stories.

Parting chuckle...