Title: Gentle Giant

Medium: Bronze

Description:
Embodied in the powerful Gentle Giant are the timeless qualities of strength, perseverance, gentleness and the ability to pull together. Those qualities enabled the pioneers to overcome obstacles that threatened their survival. Those same qualities empowered our community to convert the dream of Cosa Mikiska into a reality - the dream of a monument dedicated to our pioneering heritage.

This public art project symbolizes the spirit of California's pioneers and provides a tribute to the work horse which played a major role in the development of the gold country and the Sierra Nevada. It stands for a time when California's rivers, mountains and forests provided plentiful resources - a time to remember, respect and preserve.

This huge bronze was modeled primarily after a local Belgian draft horse named Kate. The sculptor (Todd Andrews) employed extensive research to create an authentic representation of the early 1900's tack for the monument. The log load pulled by the Gentle Giant was furnished by saving an ailing Sugar Pine from the Nevada County Fairgrounds.

Perseverance and teamwork, qualities innate in the work horse and the pioneers, were crucial to making the Gentle Giant monument a reality. It was developed through the efforts of community volunteers and will be funded almost entirely by public funds raised through contributions commemorated on the attached plaques.

Russell apprenticed under sculptor Todd Andrews for this magnificent sculpture of the Gentle Giant.

Size: 12'h x 5'w x 40'L