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More Smithsonian Searches     Who else has...     Bickler, Wendelin,     Buechler, Joseph,     Allegory -- Arts & Sciences     Architecture -- Religious     Allegory -- Place     Religion -- New Testament     Religion -- New Testament     Outdoor Sculpture -- North Dakota -- Orrin     Sculpture

Mary the Center of America, (sculpture). Artist:  Bickler, Wendelin, sculptor. Buechler, Joseph, sculptor. Title:  Mary the Center of America, (sculpture). Dates:  1935-1952.; Dedicated 1952. Digital Reference:  Medium:  Ceramic, concrete, glass, metal, plastic, stone, water, wood, paint, found objects and other undetermined media, with a cast metal plaque. Dimensions:  Cairn: approx. H. 18 ft. Shrine site: approx. 3 to 5 acres. Inscription:  (Plaque on cairn:) Geographical Center of North America (Base of cairn below "Mary" alcove:) Mary the Center of America unsigned Description:  The shrine consists of many devotional constructions spread amongst a symmetrically landscaped grove of trees. The main construction and focal point of the site is an 18 ft. high cairn with alcoves containing, on the south side, a statue of the Virgin Mary, and on the north side, Christ. Near the top of the cairn there is a cast metal plaque of a map of the western hemisphere, noting this site as the geographical center of North America. Subject:  Allegory -- Arts & Sciences -- Geography Architecture -- Religious -- Shrine Allegory -- Place -- North America Religion -- New Testament -- Mary Religion -- New Testament -- Christ Object Type:  Outdoor Sculpture -- North Dakota -- Orrin Sculpture Owner:  Administered by Weigel, Emil & Rose, Orrin, North Dakota 58359 Located One to two miles north of Orrin, Orrin, North Dakota Remarks:  IAS files contain a photocopy of postcard (made by Bickler) with details on geographic center as determined in 1928 by the U. S. Geodetic Survey Office, Washington, D. C. Per SOS surveyor, the Bicklers obtained broken, discarded statuary from churches, and rock from tombstone cutters to include in the shrine. It took Wendelin Bicker over fifteen years to complete this shrine which is now, after his death, maintained by his neighbors, Emil and Rose Weigel. References:  Save Outdoor Sculpture, North Dakota survey, 1992. Illustration:  Image on file. Note:  The information provided about this artwork was compiled as part of the Smithsonian American Art Museum's Inventories of American Painting and Sculpture database, designed to provide descriptive and location information on artworks by American artists in public and private collections worldwide. Repository:  Inventories of American Painting and Sculpture, Smithsonian American Art Museum, P.O. Box 37012, MRC 970, Washington, D.C. 20013-7012 Control Number:  IAS ND000067   Copy/Holding information Smithsonian AmericanArt Museum Control Number   Inventory of American Sculpture ND000067 Add Copy to MyList Format: HTMLPlain textDelimited Subject:   Email to:

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