Sculpture by artist, Veryl Goodnight
The massive bronze sculpture of five Thoroughbred horses - one stallion and four mares- running through the rubble of the collapsed Berlin Wall measures 1-1/4 lifesize, 30 feet long, 18 feet wide, 12 feet high, and weighs seven tons. The casting and assembly took a bronze foundry, Valley Bronze of Joseph, Oregon 18 months to complete, the result of 5 years of the artist's labor in tribute to this great moment in world history.
By using horses to represent people, artists can transcend ethnic, political, cultural and religious images. The horses simply represent humans and the sculpture represents a victory of the human spirit. The stallion in this sculpture is symbolic of man and has been placed entirely within what would have been East Berlin. The mares, symbolic of family, are passing the "death strip" and entering the West to a new life of freedom.
The artist, Veryl Goodnight of Santa Fe, New Mexico, was born and raised in Denver, Colorado where she honed her artistic talents because she loved horses. "I couldn't have a horse, so I would draw them, and in the winter I would sculpt them out of snow. That's how I became an artist."
She continues, "On November 9, 1989, the Berlin Wall fell. Early the next morning, I was awakened by a dream of horses jumping over the rubble of the fallen wall. For me, horses and freedom are one. I spend most of my spare time galloping in sandy arroyos or along ridges with 100 mile vistas. In my dream, horses were a symbol of the human spirit, so indomitable that it could not be walled in... This sculpture speaks to the freedom of the human spirit over oppression. The message is one of peaceful resolution."
The monumental work has two castings: The American casting will be unveiled at 10am on Monday, June 3, 1996 at Stone Mountain Park near Atlanta, Georgia for the Olympic Games. In 1997 it will be moved to its permanent location in the courtyard of the George Bush Presidential Library Center on the campus of Texas A&M University in College Station, Texas. The "sister" casting has been located in downtown Denver, Colorado since 1994. It is designated as a gift to the German people from the American people and will be placed in a reunited and free Berlin, Germany. Financial support for this gift is through individual donations to the Berlin Sculpture Fund, Inc., a non-profit corporation.
Photos and information for this article were supplied by Mrs. Doris Cook, Walla Walla, WA., by Texas A&M University, and by the courtesy of the sculptor, Veryl Goodnight. For more information and a brochure, contact: Berlin Sculpture Fund, Inc., 350 Indiana Street, Suite 400, Golden, CO 80401
