Wednesday, August 09, 2006

The American Statue

Last night I uncovered the website for the American statue. You can find it here. There don't appear to be any recent updates, so I decided to contact them.

I got this reply within just a few minutes:


Dear Mr. Wallace,

We are happy to advise that The American Project is alive and well. Yes, we have been very quiet for a number of months while we were completing research and addressing some design issues that we believed were necessary to ensure the success of the Project. Since last August, we have completed two focus group studies, an attendance study, and an economic impact study. The results of these studies all identified the Project as not only a sound Project, but one with great potential for Tulsa and the state. We also introduced The American to the art world at Art Expo in New York City in March of this year. Art Expo is the largest art show in the world. With regard to design, the artist and designer of the Project, Shan Gray, completed the 3.5 ft engineering prototype in February and has begun work on what will be called the Scan Master (a 6 ft engineering prototype of The American image) which will be the final image for enlargement to the over 200 ft monument. With the completion of the 3.5 ft image and the 6 ft Scan Master, certain design issues are being addressed by the Structural engineers (i.e. fitting of the elevator shaft and stairwell inside the statue, etc.). While all of this work is very exciting and important to the Project, we realize it is not very tangible to the public.

While we work on different aspects of the design, we continue to raise funds. When the funding is completed, we will have about a six-month start-up and then the public will be able to begin to see construction on the monument itself. Our goal is to have the monument and support facilities complete by January 2010.

Thank you so much for your interest in the Project. And if you have additional questions, please feel free to contact us.

Best regards,

Melanie Gray

The American Project


I'm still very excited about this project, and it's encouraging to know the project is still very much alive.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Howard Keith West Vallejo CA

I'm very happy to hear that the project is still "ON" going the AMERICAN will be one of TULSA Three World Class Iconic FEATURES
1.Tulsa Channel Islands
2.The American
3.The Bank Of Oklahoma Arena

Anonymous said...

Wikipedia says it has been canceled. They dont cite the article though. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_American_(statue)

Anonymous said...

I Googled (Tulsa Oklahoma The American Statue) and it is not canceled as the poster says that posted just after me. I am wondering if the builders of this potential icon for the Tulsa area should just build it as the "funding" comes in as the Native American builders in South Dakota are doing for the Crazy Horse Memorail for the (Last 60 Years They Started Construction In 1948. Native American with deep pockets should get more involved with the free fall profits that Native Americans are making from Gambling these days. I have seen both (Mount Rushmore and The Crazy Horse Memorial) in South Dakota and the Tulsa Area Economy could bring in Hundreds Of Millions of dollars with this Statue The American.

Anonymous said...

I am a resident of Tulsa, OK, and was very excited about this project for some time, but As of 9/28/2009 www.theamerican.com Cannot be found and I can't seem to find any information about this project anymore. Is the project at this time a 'failed dream'? Guess I could drive over and take a look at the proposed site where it was going to be built, but I just havn't heard a single thing locally about it lately. I'd love to see this brought back to the public's attention, as the BOK Center has been completed for some time, and if "The American" could get some publicity, nationally, it might receive some funding from donations, etc., because in addition to its awesome symbolic message, if created, it would greatly help put Tulsa, OK back on the map nationally, for tourism, local economy, etc., and help this city and state and Native Americans everywhere greatly.