Statue is symbol of a city's history, an artist's passion

Students heading through the main doors of Shakopee High School this fall will pass a new statue that embodies the school's history and future -- as well as the ultimate dream of its creator.

Bill Huber, a well-regarded sculptor who graduated from Shakopee High School in 1962, spent the last two years of his life crafting the statue, a life-sized bronze of Chief Shakopee and 19th-century missionary Samuel Pond. Huber died suddenly in December, less than a month after he delivered the sculpture to the foundry.

The seven-foot statue shows the chief, peace pipe in hand, reaching out to Pond, who published the first Dakota language dictionary and founded one of the first schools in the area.

To the local group that unveiled it last weekend, the statue represents the beginning of formal education in Shakopee and a fitting gift to the new high school, which opened last fall. To Huber and his family, it marks the end of a fruitful career.

Huber crafted a long line of bronzes that ranged from small cowboys and horses to the federal seals that show up on the podium at government press conferences. But until the Shakopee Educational Endowment Foundation called him to commission its work three years ago, he had never had the chance to design what his wife called the sculptor's "ultimate dream": a large statue with life-sized figures.

Before then, the biggest piece he had done was three feet tall. "We joked about it, because he kept going bigger and bigger over the years," said Nancy Huber, who lived in Shakopee and Jordan with Bill for many years before the couple moved to Colorado in 1985. "I kept encouraging miniatures, because they were easier to haul around."

The more daunting obstacle, she said, is money: Casting a large statue can cost more than $100,000 and take years to complete. The Shakopee foundation is close to its goal of raising $200,000 for its gift from high school alumni and businesses, according to a board member.

Her husband set aside other projects to focus on the statue for two years, starting out in his home studio and moving to the garage when he needed more room. He shaped the original work in clay and wax, which melted in summer and cracked with cold in winter. Huber's drive to finish the project picked up last summer, though no one guessed that he wouldn't live to see it dedicated. "I think he had some type of sense that he didn't have much time to finish it," Nancy said.

In November, he loaded his pickup truck and drove the finished work to a foundry in Minnesota. He returned on Nov. 15, relieved and satisfied with a job well done, Nancy said. He died on Dec. 9 at age 63.

As a Shakopee graduate, it's fitting, perhaps, that Huber made a special effort to include current students in his work. When students walk past the statue, they'll see their own faces mirrored in a slab of polished granite behind Chief Shakopee and Pond, said foundation president Jack Trimbo. It's an effect reminiscent of the Vietnam War Memorial, entwining young faces with a depiction of their community's history.

"Any student coming in there will be part of the sculpture," Trimbo said.

Sarah Lemagie • 952-882-9016