The
Arefrie
I (Clockwise from top)
FRED HOPPE, the artist who started the Archie the
Mammoth project, makes some adjustments on the trunk of
the mammoth’s clay form.
THE HANDS OF RON PIKE shapes the clay that will become
Arche the Mammoth’s eye.
VARIOUS VOLUNTEERS work on the 3,000 pounds of clay
that will be used to shape the finalized bronze statue.
Story
and
photos
by
Daniel
Luedert
Thousands of years ago, mam
moths populated the area now occu
pied by Nebraska.
Three years ago, the creation of a
statue of Archie the Mammoth began.
And in November, Archie’s replica
will stand outside Morrill Hall.
Archie the Mammoth, just one of
the ten pachyderm skeletons held by
Morrill Hall, is a famous skeleton of
the now-extinct elephants that
roamed these fruited plains more than
23,000 years ago.
Fred Hoppe, a Lincoln Artist,
started construction on the life-size
bronze replica three years ago. He
wanted to draw “badly needed atten
tion to Morrill Hall.”
“Most Nebraskans have no idea
of the treasures we have there,”
Hoppe said.
In the last three years, Hoppe and
some friends, including Robin
McConnell, have done research on
exactly how they believed the
Mammoth looked as it grazed these
plains. Construction on the project
began in February of this year.
The casting of the sculpture will
cost $100,000, and will be cast in
Hoppe’s shop located Northwest of
Lincoln. To raise money for the pro
ject, Hoppe created 100 smaller repli
cas of the Mammoth sculpture. These
replicas were sold by the Friends of
the State Museum. They will be hon
ored by their names being placed on
the base of the statue. On the other
side of the base will be information
about Archie the Mammoth and the
other pachyderms that are exhibited
within Morrill Hall.
The casting of the mold will be
done in Hoppe’s shop, and then the
cast will be delivered to Wyoming to
be poured. The project began as a
small model. From that model a
wooden frame was built to hold the
three thousand pounds of clay and
Styrofoam that make up the statues
skin and muscles. The creation of the
wooden frame alone took five
months. In these last several weeks,
more than 15 volunteers have donated
their time and effort in texturing the
clay.
The statue of Archie the
Mammoth is expected to be complet
ed and installed in front of the
Museum in November.