LINCOLN, Neb. (KOLN) -A set of bronze bison sculptures made a stop outside Morrill Hall on the University of Nebraska-Lincoln campus Saturday, joining the university’s mammoth statue, Archie, before continuing a journey of more than 1,600 miles from Colorado to the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C.
The sculptures were created by Gary Staab, a Grand Island native. Staab said the process took a full year, beginning with a miniature scale model before moving to a 4,000-year-old technique of pouring hot metal into wax molds.
Staab said stopping in Nebraska carried personal significance.
“It gives me a huge amount of Nebraska pride, stopping here and the history I have with my whole family that lives here in Nebraska,” Staab said. “It’s really humbling.”
Before arriving at their permanent home at the Smithsonian, the statues are scheduled to make two additional stops — in Iowa City and Chicago.
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