Judith McConkie, Curator of the Utah State Capitol Building, was our guest speaker at the November 2009 dinner meeting. She has a MFA degree and a PhD. Dr. McConkie jokingly remarked that at least twice a week someone walks into her office asking for information. The most common questions are, “Where is the Mormon Meteor?” and “Where is the image of Jake Garn, the astronaut senator?”
Judith devoted most of her presentation to Cyrus Dallin, the Utah born artist who sculpted Massasoit (shown on the “For Members” page of this web site) the friendly chief of the Wampanoags who greeted the Pilgrim colonists at Plymouth Rock. Cyrus Dallin, who was reared in the small Utah town of Springville, had Ute Indian boyhood friends. As a boy Cyrus sculpted heads of clay, showing his artistic talents at an early age. Dallin studied with the famous sculptor Truman Bartlett in Boston. After opening his own studio a few years later, he saved enough money to travel to the art capitol of the world, Paris, where he developed into a world class artist in the classical style. His most famous piece, Appeal to the Great Spirit, sits in front of the Boston Museum of Fine Arts. After a few years of renovation at the Utah State Capitol, the replica of Massasoit stands again at the seat of Utah government.
Other pieces of Dallin can be found in Chicago’s Lincoln Park, the Library of Congress and around Utah. But perhaps the most notable work of Dallin is the Angel Moroni that sits atop temples of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
For further information, go to the web site www.utahstatecapitol.utah.gov. Our thanks go to Judith McConkie for an informative presentation.