PARK RAPIDS, Minn. — After a 1,275-mile journey from Santa Fe, New Mexico, the “Not Afraid to Look” statue has arrived at its new home in Park Rapids.
“Not Afraid to Look” is one of 12 new sculptures in this year’s sculpture trail, which includes a variety of sculptures throughout the town and on the nearby Heartland Trail.
The replica was installed on the corner of U.S. 71 and Second Street W. on Friday morning as part of the city’s sculpture trail.
The “Not Afraid to Look” statue is a 4-foot replica of the larger sculpture at the Sacred Stone Camp on the Missouri River, where it was placed during the Standing Rock resistance gathering.
Both the original sculpture and the replica were created by artist Charles Rencountre of Santa Fe.
The corner lot where the sculpture sits is adjacent to the Giiwedinong Treaty and Culture Museum. The sculpture will be moved to a permanent location on the museum’s grounds next spring.
“It’s monumental how the city is supporting this sculpture,” said Sarah Littleredfeather, the Giiwedinong museum’s executive director. “It’s significant because it’s a tribute to the movement at Standing Rock and the protests at the Dakota Access pipeline. I was there, and the original ‘Not Afraid to Look’ is still standing there today.”
About the sculptor
Charles Rencountre said he created the original statue in 2016 on the Standing Rock Indian Reservation.
“I was inspired by the sculpture on a small pipe,” he said. “We are a nomadic people, so artists made small sculptures on their pipes dating back to the 19th and 20th centuries. I made the image large because I think our people need to remember and to see the sculptural heritage they come from.”
The carved pipes were gifted to officials in Washington, D.C., including President Andrew Jackson, during treaty negotiations.
It took about 2 1/2 months to create the replica of the original sculpture, which was built in the Santa Fe Community College art department.
“First, you make the armature using steel and rebar and styrofoam to make the basic shape or skeleton,” he said. “The concrete is mixed in small batches and applied in layers.”
Details like the facial features are added later.
“The original pipe that I took the idea from was only five or six inches tall,” he said. “It’s just a matter of using math to scale to enlarge all of your measurements.”
Rencountre has been a sculptor for more than 40 years.
“I’ve primarily done spiritual types of work,” he said, specifically mentioning Native American pipestone carvings. “I’ve also done large wood and bronze carvings. My work is often connected with Lakota creation stories.”
Rencountre says he’s done a 34 feet by 15 feet concrete sculpture with all kinds of animal and water features, including life-sized grizzly bears, eagles and ravens.
“In my creation story work, I’ve done a lot of bronze, usually depicting our gods as anatomically correct men,” he said. “Also, the white buffalo calf maiden from another one of our creation stories.”
The “Not Afraid to Look” sculpture is special to Rencountre because he says the piece called out to him.
“When I first saw ‘Not Afraid to Look White Man in the Face,’ I was very taken by it,” he said. “I had a dream when I was 17. I went to a big museum, and there were all of these pipes in cases. In the dream, I was trying to get the pipes out of the cases and out of the museum to free them. Based on that vision, I’ve tried to take the imagery that’s on our traditional pipes and make them into large sculptures for public viewing and public enjoyment so our people can remember our northern plains sculpture heritage.”
Journey to Minnesota
Rencountre and his wife, Alicia DaSilva, left Santa Fe on May 13. It took four days to reach Park Rapids. Along the way, many people asked about the sculpture.
“Whenever we stopped, people were very curious,” he said. “It’s the kind of piece that draws attention.”
The statue was painted in Piedmont, South Dakota, in his brother Craig Engel’s auto body shop. The museum contributed money toward the sculpture’s creations, Rencountre matched those funds, and the city of Park Rapids donated $500 towards the project.
“It was a beautiful day to come to Park Rapids for the first time,” he said. “All the trees blossoming, all the green. … Coming from the high desert, it’s refreshing. We’ve been walking around and taking in the town.”
Being part of the Park Rapids sculpture trail came about through Rencountre’s connections with Winona LaDuke and Sarah Littleredfearther, who have both been active in Honor the Earth and were present for the DAPL protests.
Recountre’s aunt, Ethel Lovelace, lives in Motley, Minn, a town of about 700 people in Morrison County, about 140 miles northwest of St. Paul and 60 miles south of Park Rapids.
“As a youngster, I came out to visit her on her dairy farm every year,” he said of his aunt who is now in her 80’s. “I think she’s very proud of the fact that my sculpture is here in Minnesota. It will be in the hands of the Anishinaabe people who are working to accomplish some environmental protection around the water. It belongs here.”
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