Sunday, September 23, 2012

Hagerman ID, Joseph, Schwarzeneger bronze

We left Vale, OR, this morning hoping to get away from the smoke a bit sooner......but that is not happening today at least.  It is, however, windy and rainy here in Hagerman, ID, and maybe that will clear up a good deal of the smoke.  I hope so because it looks like we have some hiking opportunities around here and I want to go do them!  We will be here for a week.

Pics today are from near Wallowa.  The town of Joseph (named after Chief Joseph of the Nez Perce) is known for their bronze statues lining the main street and the foundries in the area.  Hence the bronzes you see below.  We also visited a distillery there.  That was a first for us.  Did not taste the whiskey, but did taste the rum and some of the liqueurs.  The raspberry was quite yummy!

When we read about things in Joseph, there was an article about a bronze studio that had been contracted by Arnold Schwarzeneger to make 3 larger than life statues of him as Mr. Olympia (a title he won 7 times).  Sounded interesting that a small town bronze foundry would get this kind of job but we did not think much of it until we were driving through the town and there was a business with a big garage door open and what looked like a silhouette of a muscle man at the back of the garage.  I wondered if that could be Arnold and if the garage was the studio.  So Mike pulled over and I got out and stuck my head in the "garage" and met Tim Parks who made the bronze statues who then showed me his studio in the making and the whole "lost wax" process use to make the bronze!








this is what I saw, the arm sticking up in the air at the back


Tim is making his showroom but it takes time and the bronzes come first




Tim Parks next to the Arnold that is actually going in Arnolds home

Below is a link to the story about the bronzes if anyone is interested:

http://www.oregonbusiness.com/articles/107-december-2011/6207-arnold-schwarzenegger-cast-in-bronze-in-oregon

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