From Paper to Bronze
Jerome Meadows in his Savannah Studio
More than six months after being chosen as the artist to create the Ed Johnson Memorial, Jerome Meadows is excited and ready to tackle the challenge of sculpting the life-size bronze statues representing Ed Johnson, Noah Parden and Styles Hutchins.
Since being chosen for the task, Jerome and his team have finalized the memorial design, completed construction drawings and done a final budget. The artwork comes next.
“It’s a challenge, it’s an opportunity, it’s a fulfillment,” Jerome said recently. He stood in his Savanah studio, a cavernous room that once served as an ice house, but is now filled with art work in various stages of completion.
He talked about the steps of the long and complicated process – first building a platform and then making forms similar to skeletons to hold the clay. Once the clay forms are finished, the foundry he works with will come to his studio to cast molds and take them back to the foundry to cast the bronze figures. It is months of exacting and exhausting work, but he is ready.
The face of Ed Johnson will be the most difficult. The recently discovered photo of Ed Johnson doesn't show a lot of emotion, Jerome explained, saying, "It doesn't express what the sculpture needs to express by way of what Ed Johnson went through and therefore what he represents for us."
In between the sculpting process, Jerome will also return to Chattanooga to work on another piece of the project he considers just as important as the sculptures. That will be working with local Chattanooga students to engage them in the artistic process. He will take models of the sculptures into classrooms across the city, and discuss the story of Ed Johnson, Noah Parden and Styles Hutchins. He will then challenge the students to create their own artwork in response to the story. They can sketch, write poetry, or come up with their own unique way of telling the story. Some of the students’ work will be chosen to be displayed on the bronze plaques that will tell the story along the edge of the memorial. Others will be used at the unveiling of the memorial. Jerome has worked with other communities in similar ways, and said he believes it is critical to engage young people in the creation of the memorial, both to help them better understand the story and to teach the next generation about this history.
“That’s enough to consume one artist for a good long while,” he said. “I’m ready to devote all my time and I’m really looking forward to it.”