In a solemn ceremony at 4 p.m., Veterans Day, Sunday, Nov. 11, the Twentieth Century Veterans Memorial in North Platte will dedicate two 7-foot-high bronze monuments by Nebraska artist Sondra L. Jonson. The sculptures, which represent the U. S. Air Force and the U. S. Coast Guard, will complete the Memorial, which has been nine years in the making.
Four of the monumental bronzes at the Twentieth Century Veterans Memorial were created by artist Ted Long, After Long's death in March 2007, his son Patrick, completed a fifth sculpture, and Jonson was hired to create the final two.
Jonson hired a student from MCC, Josh Keener, to model for her representation of the Air Force. She sculpted a WWII Army Air Corps Navigator, striding onto the tarmac to begin a mission. Her reference materials for the project were gathered from the Cambridge Museum, and the WWII Library and Museum in Greenwood. To represent the U.S. Coast Guard, Jonson created an enlisted man standing on deck, surveying the seas through a pair of binoculars.
Jonson's work exhibits a monumental sculptural style and extensive training in the human figure and portrait, abilities which qualified her to complete this project in seven months -- just in time for the Veterans Day dedication.
Since establishing her studio in Cambridge in 1994, Jonson has installed more than 44 life-size and larger sculptures in 15 states, and her small works appear in numerous collections, including the White House and the Vatican. She is currently working on a life-size bronze for St. Katharine Drexel Church in Hempstead, Texas, and planning a veterans monument for Sioux Falls, S.D. Information regarding the Twentieth Century Veterans Memorial Veterans Day Dedication is available from Jim Beckius of North Platte (308)-532-4179.
