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| In
May 2005, The Texas Press Association will celebrate their 125th Anniversary.
To commemorate the date permanently, the TPA (headquartered in Austin)
commissioned Houston sculptor Bridgette Mongeon to design a
statue depicting an early newsboy hawking his papers. If everything
goes according to plan the scupture will be permanently installed
on the Capitol grounds this May. |
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One
view of the working model
Photo courtesy Bridgette Mongeon |
In
a simple newspaper story, the information might've ended with the
paragraph above; but being the Internet age, Ms. Mongeon, who also
writes and illustrates children's books, took the project a bit further.
She decided to share the entire process from start to finish, including
her thought process, her research and even her inspiration.
Her website's page on the newsboy statue http://www.creativesculpture.com/texaspress.html
is a lavishly illustrated artist's journal, with close-ups, vintage
photos of newsboys and the entire process of creating the statue from
armature to photographing the model to the final casting. Each page
includes teacher and student study questions, discussions and suggested
further reading.
Ms. Mongeon, who admits she likes to saturate herself with the subject
at hand, may be guilty of understatement. Her site is an education
on newsboys - a graduate school of papermongers. You can't help but
be drawn in. The twin themes of statues and newsboys sail off on their
own paths but always return to blend seamlessly together into the
single project. On top of that, you share in Ms. Mongeon's various
hunts - for model, costume, history and information.
There's information you never thought existed - like the year the
very first newsboy was hired (1833) and even his his name (Barney
Flaherty). There are discourses on knickers vs. long pants, types
of suspenders, buttons and whether of not to include coins in the
statue's pockets. The poignant stories of real-life newsboys are included
via another web source. |
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Another
view of the working model
Photo courtesy Bridgette Mongeon |
Her
model for the work was the eleven-year-old son of a family friend.
Equiped with the appropriate name of "Dusty," this young man will
someday be able to take his grandchildren to see him as he once was
"back in "04" - impersonating a nearly-forgotten part of our cultural
heritage. Dusty could actually be standing in for his own grandfather
- who was a newsboy in his youth.
While the event is the Anniversary of the TPA - the statue also belatedly
honors the newsboys (and sometimes newsgirls) that supported families,
simply made pocket money or perhaps even learned to read by delivering
the news of their day.
© John
Troesser
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