At Long Last: Winged Victories Rising!

The clay model for the Winged Victories, re-created from a 1915 photograph by master sculptor Brad Taggart.

After three years in preparation, the final touch to complete the restoration of the 1915 façade of the Casino Star Theatre will be mounted above the windows on Tuesday, April 30th.  The Winged Victories, known in local lore as the "Angels," are finally finished and ready for permanent display.  3D Art of Kearns will strap each sculpture to Lynn Pickett's bucket-lift and raise it into position.

Working with funding from a CLG (Certified Local Government) Grant through the Division of State History and a matching grant from Rocky Mountain Power Foundation.

3D came to Ephraim in 2012 to make a mold from the sculpture by Snow College three-dimensional art professor Brad Taggart, who had sculpted the figure as a gift to the Casino Star Theatre Foundation.   3D then cast two Victories from the mold, reinforcing them with steel to withstand their exposure to wind and weather.

The mold-making exhausted the grant funds, with none remaining for casting and mounting.  3D housed the Victories until the next grant cycle came around in early 2013, so funds are now in hand to complete this long, long—but beautiful and worth it!—project.

The project began in 2010 when sculptor Brad Taggart, who teaches three-dimensional art at Snow College, climbed the scaffolding (erected for the stucco work on the façade) to measure the area above the windows.  Not a trace remains of the original Victories, though old stories mention an mid-century pick-up line, "Want me to show you some angels?"  So Brad had only old photographs and the dimensions he measured to re-create the sculpture as a gift to the Casino Star Theatre Foundation.

At the time, Brad had just completed his commissioned sculpture of Lorenzo and Erastus Snow for the Heritage Plaza at Snow College.  He had completed the preliminary model for the Winged Victories, built the supporting structure of the life-size model, and and begun applying clay when he received another commission, this time for the Veterans Memorial in Taylorsville, a nine-figure work representing all branches of the military and all 20th-century wars.

Brad continued work on the Victory model when he could, and when the final veteran statue went to the foundry, he worked double time to meet the deadline for the grant that included both sculpting and casting.  Brad's generosity comprised the in-kind match for the grant cash to fund the casting.  The grant was a Certified Local Government grant through the Utah Division of State History, limited to historic preservation efforts in governmental entities that are certified as having a fuctioning preservation council.

Tomorrow's raising of the Winged Victories is a tribute to our good friend Brad!