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Memorial Makers Ply Enduring Art Carving Memories on Stone

April 14, 2001

Memorial makers pursue a special mission: to craft a memorial that draws emotions from memories brought to life through pictures etched and carved on stone.

"Whether it is a small marker or a grandiose monument, what piques my interest is the originality, uniqueness, artwork and the challenge in meeting people's preferences while creating a permanent feeling on stone so people can get that special feeling every time they see it," says Jeff Anderson, owner of Minn.-based Anderson Memorials. "It's not about simply marking graves. It's art, no different from paintings or sculptures, except that our pieces are made to last for hundreds of years."

Sometimes a memorial takes on a life all its own beyond the normal scope of a project. Take Anderson, a fourth-generation owner of a family business currently working on the largest project of his career. He has spent more than 6,000 hours on the Soldiers Field Veteran's Memorial in Rochester, Minn. It has consumed the same amount of time Anderson has spent on all his other jobs combined for the past five years. The memorial to him is what the Sistine Chapel was to Michelangelo - the summit of his art and craftsmanship.

Honoring veterans from all wars that were fought since Minnesota became a state, The Soldiers Field Veterans Memorial is not your average "piece." Twenty tons of curved California Academy Black granite panels stand side by side, each at a slight angle, to form a sloping circular wall. Nine trucks were needed to deliver the granite, which was manufactured by Royal Melrose Granites, a division of Cold Spring Granite Co., the country's largest quarrier and manufacturer. Casting vivid reflections, the highly polished panels depict intricate etchings of battle scenes covering the Civil War, Spanish-American War, World War I, World War II, Korean War, Vietnam War and the Persian Gulf War.

Walking along this "Wall of Remembrance" on "pavers" - blocks of Minnesota Iridian granite engraved with names of veterans - visitors take in a chronological and panoramic sweep of stunning graphics in a participatory monument that evokes an outdoor museum. Initially budgeted at $650,000 to honor local veterans, the memorial has turned into a $5 million project. Funded solely with private money and in-kind contributions, it will be completed next year.

Anderson, who designed the graphics and granite work, developed all the battle scenes into a series of montage-stencils. These were placed on the outside panels that were sandblasted with pencil- and garden hose-sized tools shooting fine grains of abrasives in a stream of compressed air or etched with fine-tipped diamond tools. Anderson and his workers spent two weeks of 10- to 14-hour days during the Minnesota winter to complete the Civil War scene. The Confederate and Union soldiers on horses, officers rallying troops and riflemen firing volleys before heaps of fallen men brings to life the horror of war. For the World War II segment, Anderson recently completed the Pearl Harbor scene showing a Japanese Zero up close, wings spanning over bombed American ships billowing fire and smoke.

Since the majority of the blasting for the project was done during the winter, Anderson's crew worked in a tent-shed that covered portions of the granite being sandblasted. A home furnace was installed to keep moisture out of the granite. Anderson also will carve a timeline of key events, such as Abraham Lincoln's Gettysburg address, on the inside panels. "If you stand in the center of the circle around the walls, you can hear your voice echo," Anderson says.

For all his efforts, Anderson is not making a cent in profit on this project. A Rochester native, he has undertaken the project at cost. "I may not be making money on this but that's irrelevant. I grew up playing on this very site as a kid," says Anderson. "Both my father and uncle are veterans whose names are on pavers in the walkway. When people come and see the memorial, they will know it's first class work, a work of art."

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