George Lundeen

George Wayne Lundeen was born in 1948,{{cite web |title=Amelia Earhart Statue |url=https://www.aoc.gov/explore-capitol-campus/art/amelia-earhart-statue |website=Architect of the Capitol |access-date=23 April 2025}}{{cite news |title=Join 'Ben Franklin' sculpture on a bench |url=https://eu.hollandsentinel.com/story/news/local/2015/06/20/join-ben-franklin-sculpture-on/34112444007/ |access-date=23 April 2025 |work=The Holland Sentinel |date=20 June 2015}} and is a native of Holdrege, Nebraska.{{cite book |last1=McCord |first1=Monty |title=Hastings: The Queen City of the Plains |date=2001 |publisher=Arcadia Publishing |isbn=978-1-4396-1324-5 |page=128 |url=https://www.google.se/books/edition/Hastings/W3olv5LyiywC?hl=sv&gbpv=1&dq=%22George+Lundeen%22+holdrege&pg=PA128&printsec=frontcover |language=en}} He is one of six children. He has degrees in art from Hastings College, Nebraska and the University of Illinois, and was a Fulbright-Hayes Scholar at the Accademia di Belle Arti di Firenze in Italy.

As of 2024, he lives and works in Loveland, Colorado, and is married to Cammie, also a sculptor, since 1988.{{cite web |title=George |url=https://lundeensculpture.com/bio-george/ |website=Lundeen Sculpture |access-date=23 April 2025}}{{cite news |last1=Grenz |first1=Angeline |title=Generational Artistry – Learn about Lundeen Sculpture in Loveland & Vilona Studios in Berthoud |url=https://nocostyle.com/2024/08/26/generational-artistry/ |access-date=23 April 2025 |work=NOCO Style |date=26 August 2024}}

Lundeen founded a company, Lundeen Sculptures, in Loveland in 1976. He previously worked as a teacher and at foundries abroad and in the US. His younger brother Mark, also a sculptor, joined the company in 1981. As of 2022, it had around 30 employees.

As of 2024, George and Mark own the company, and several employees are family members: Cammie, George's wife; Nelson, the company's accountant and brother of George and Mark; and Nelson's wife Bets, a sculptor. Four more family members are also employed. Along with traditional methods, the company also use 3D scanning and 3D printing to create artworks.{{cite news |last1=Nick |first1=Stacy |title=Loveland Sculptors And Michelangelo Get A Hand From 3D Printing |url=https://www.kunc.org/arts-life/2017-11-10/loveland-sculptors-and-michelangelo-get-a-hand-from-3d-printing |access-date=23 April 2025 |work=KUNC |date=10 November 2017 |language=en}}

Southwest Art said in 2011 that George Lundeen was "instrumental in turning Loveland into the sculpture capital of the West."{{cite journal |title=40 Prominent People |journal=Southwest Art |date=May 2011 |volume=40 |issue=12 |page=94 |issn=01924214}} According to the Denver Gazette, Lundeen Sculptures is one of the top bronze sculpture studios in the US. Many pieces by George, sometimes made together with Mark or the company's other sculptors, are displayed as public art or in museums, colleges, libraries and other places, for example at the John Deere World Headquarters.{{cite news |work=The Rock Island Argus |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/699688924/?match=1&clipping_id=170916941 |date=25 Jan 1998 |page=11 |via=newspapers.com |title=Deere deer dear |last=Pearson |first=Rita}} Two statues by George and Mark are included in the American National Statuary Hall Collection, representing Kansas and Colorado. Since the 2000s, the company has supplied bronzes to all the Scheels All Sports stores.{{cite news |last1=Young |first1=Craig |title=Scheels store in Johnstown prepares for opening day |url=https://www.reporterherald.com/2017/09/06/scheels-store-in-johnstown-prepares-for-opening-day/ |work=Reporter-Herald |date=6 September 2017}}

{{Blockquote

|text="Well, you have to realize that [bronze sculptures] aren't necessarily permanent. For instance, years ago I made a Thomas Jefferson and it ended up in quite a number of public places and universities. Now, a number of those have been taken out because Thomas Jefferson has come to be not quite as respected, you might say, as he once was. ... We had a Thomas Jefferson and a Ben Franklin taken out of a school in Kansas, and we called up a school in North Dakota and they said, 'Sure, we'll take them.'"

|author=George Lundeen, 2022

}}

• Amelia Earhart at the National Statuary Hall Collection and the Amelia Earhart Hangar Museum. Amelia Earhart (born 1897, disappeared 1937) was an American aviation pioneer. The statue replaced one of Kansas senator John J. Ingalls.{{cite news |last1=Kunkle |first1=Fredrick |title=Amelia Earhart statue alights in Capitol after long journey |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/history/2022/07/27/amelia-earhart-statue-capitol/ |access-date=23 April 2025 |work=The Washington Post |date=27 July 2022}}

• Benjamin Franklin (on a bench) at the University of Pennsylvania{{cite web |title=Benjamin Franklin (on a bench) |url=https://www.associationforpublicart.org/artwork/benjamin-franklin-on-a-bench/ |publisher=Association for Public Art |access-date=24 April 2025}} and other places.{{cite news |last1=Behnke |first1=Duke |title=Benjamin Franklin finds place at Neenah Public Library — without input from the Neenah Arts Council |url=https://eu.postcrescent.com/story/news/local/2021/05/28/ben-franklin-finds-place-neenah-public-library-could-fdr-next/5042293001/ |access-date=24 April 2025 |work=The Post-Crescent |date=21 May 2021}} It has become a tradition of students at the University of Pennsylvania to urinate on the statue, known as "Ben on a bench". The act is illegal and students have been fined for it.{{cite news |last1=Li |first1=Joe |last2=Washington |first2=Jessica |title=Golden Tradition |url=https://www.thedp.com/article/2014/11/golden-tradition |access-date=24 April 2025 |work=The Daily Pennsylvanian |date=6 November 2014 |language=en-us}}{{cite web |last1=Burgmann |first1=Kai |title=Interactive and Irreverent Traditions at Penn’s Campus Monuments |url=https://web.sas.upenn.edu/philamonuments/built-monuments/interactive-and-irreverent-traditions-at-penns-campus-monuments/ |publisher=University of Pennsylvania |access-date=24 April 2025}}

• The Defiance Monument at the Trump International Golf Club in West Palm Beach, Florida. The statue depicts Donald Trump, 45th and 47th president of the United States. Its pose, with a raised fist, was inspired by pictures taken just after the attempted assassination of Trump in Pennsylvania in 2024.{{cite news |last1=Rowley |first1=Jocelyn |title=Lundeen Sculpture in Loveland creates bronze Trump statue |url=https://www.reporterherald.com/2025/02/04/lundeen-sculpture-in-loveland-creates-bronze-trump-statue/ |access-date=23 April 2025 |work=Reporter-Herald |date=5 February 2025}}{{cite news |title=Sticker Mule CEO presents Trump with ‘Defiance’ statue at president’s West Palm Beach golf course |url=https://thepostmillennial.com/trump-honored-with-defiance-statue-by-sticker-mule-ceo-at-west-palm-beach-golf-course |access-date=23 April 2025 |work=The Post Millennial |date=12 April 2025 |language=en}}

• Departure in Greenwood Village, Colorado and other places. George Lundeen drew a sketch of a couple in an Italian train station, and the statue is based on this drawing. According to the Museum of Outdoor Arts, "The inclination towards travel is a universal instinct, and this sculpture nonetheless communicates the physical and emotional drive to move, grow, and inevitably change."{{cite web |last1=Vacca |first1=Tim |title=Departure by George Lundeen |url=https://moaonline.org/departure-by-george-lundeen/ |website=Museum of Outdoor Arts |access-date=23 April 2025 |language=en |date=6 October 2020}}{{cite web |title=New 'Departure' Sculpture to Live in Place of the Beloved 'Valentine' |url=https://www.isu.edu/news/2023-fall/new-departure-sculpture-to-live-in-place-of-the-beloved-valentine.html |publisher=Idaho State University |access-date=23 April 2025 |language=en |date=28 September 2023}}{{cite web |title=Departure |url=https://covapp.vancouver.ca/PublicArtRegistry/ArtworkDetail.aspx?ArtworkId=607 |website=vancouver.ca |access-date=24 April 2025}}

• The Eagle Has Landed in Brevard County, Florida, in the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex. It depicts the Apollo 11 crew members.{{cite news |title='Why Was That Not Done': Colorado Family Sculpts Apollo 11 Monument – CBS Colorado |url=https://www.cbsnews.com/colorado/news/loveland-apollo-11-monument/ |access-date=23 April 2025 |work=CBS News |date=16 July 2019}}

• Jack Swigert at the National Statuary Hall Collection and Denver International Airport. Jack Swigert (1931–1982) was an Apollo 13 astronaut, known for reporting "Okay, Houston ... we've had a problem here."{{cite web |title=Jack Swigert Jr. Statue |url=https://www.aoc.gov/explore-capitol-campus/art/jack-swigert-jr-statue |website=Architect of the Capitol |access-date=23 April 2025}}{{cite news |title=Jack Swigert, the astronaut commemorated at DIA, did an amazing thing 47 years ago today |url=https://denverite.com/2017/04/17/jack-swigert-astronaut-commemorated-dia-amazing-thing-45-years-ago/ |access-date=23 April 2025 |work=Denverite |date=17 April 2017 |language=en}}

• The Player at Coors Field, Denver. The statue is a tribute to baseball player and sports executive Branch Rickey (1881 – 1965), known for breaching the baseball color line in 1945 by signing player Jackie Robinson. A miniature of the statue is given to recipients of the Branch Rickey Award.{{cite book |last1=DeMichael |first1=Tom |title=Baseball FAQ: All That's Left to Know About America's Pastime |date=2016 |publisher=Hal Leonard Corporation |isbn=978-1-61713-658-0 |page=283 |url=https://www.google.se/books/edition/Baseball_FAQ/ze4fDAAAQBAJ?hl=sv&gbpv=1&dq=%22Branch+Rickey%22+lundeen&pg=PT283&printsec=frontcover |language=en}}{{cite news |last1=Shapley |first1=Linda |title=Play ball! A Coors Field guide |url=https://www.denverpost.com/2006/04/01/play-ball-a-coors-field-guide/ |access-date=25 April 2025 |work=The Denver Post |date=1 April 2006}}

• Robert Frost Sitting on a Park Bench at Hastings College. Robert Frost (1874–1963) was an American poet, the only poet to receive four Pulitzer Prizes for Poetry.

• The Rose Monument in Denver, Lincoln Veterans Memorial Park. Maurice Rose (1899–1945) was an American major general who was killed in WWII.{{cite news |last1=Simpson |first1=Kevin |title=A Colorado hero died fighting the Nazis. He's finally been recognized back home. |url=https://coloradosun.com/2023/04/17/major-general-maurice-rose-statue-denver/ |access-date=23 April 2025 |work=The Colorado Sun |date=17 April 2023}}{{cite web |title=The Story of the Monument |url=https://www.rosemonument.org/about |publisher=Rose Monument Foundation |access-date=23 April 2025 |language=en |date=2022}}

• Sally Ride at the Cradle of Aviation Museum in Garden City, New York. Sally Ride (1951–2012) was the first American woman in space.{{cite news |last1=Weiser |first1=Scott |title=Sculpture of astronaut Sally Ride, created in Colorado, headed to museum |url=https://denvergazette.com/premium/sculpture-of-astronaut-sally-ride-created-in-colorado-headed-to-museum/article_299ec918-de11-11ec-9b17-7b6aae2f5619.html |access-date=23 April 2025 |work=Denver Gazette |date=27 May 2022 |language=en}}

• Stations of the Cross at Cloisters on the Platte near Omaha, Nebraska. Sculptors from Lundeen Sculptures worked with several other studios on this artwork, consisting of several sculptures depicting the last days of Jesus' life, placed along a 2,500-foot-long walkway.{{cite news |last1=Jessen |first1=Kenneth |title=Sacred Sculptures |url=https://nocostyle.com/2018/11/30/sacred-sculptures/ |access-date=23 April 2025 |work=NOCO Style |date=1 December 2018}}{{cite web |last1=O’Donnell |first1=Alicia |title=Lundeen sculpts larger-than-life Stations of the Cross – Hastings College |url=https://www.hastings.edu/success-stories/lundeen-sculpts-larger-than-life-stations-of-the-cross/ |publisher=Hastings College |access-date=23 April 2025 |date=3 December 2018}} The company also made similar sculptures for a church garden in Michigan.{{cite news |last1=Costello |first1=Will |title=Lundeen studio, collaborators, complete work on massive stations of the cross sculpture project |url=https://www.reporterherald.com/2024/08/16/lundeen-studio-collaborators-complete-work-on-massive-stations-of-the-cross-sculpture-project/amp/ |access-date=23 April 2025 |work=Reporter-Herald |date=16 August 2024}}

• Storybooks at the Laramie County Library in Cheyenne, Wyoming, the Wagner College, Staten Island, New York and other places. It depicts a woman, a girl and a boy, sitting on a bench reading books.{{cite journal |title=News Fronts |journal=American Libraries |date=1993 |volume=24 |issue=7 |page=601 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/25632956 |issn=0002-9769}}{{cite web |title=New sculpture installed on campus is gift from Spiro family |url=https://wagner.edu/newsroom/new-sculpture-installed-on-campus-is-gift-from-spiro-family/ |publisher=Wagner College |access-date=23 April 2025 |date=27 August 2014}}

{{gallery

|align=center

|File:Amelia Earhart Statue by Mark and George Lundeen.jpg |Amelia Earhart at the National Statuary Hall Collection, by George and Mark Lundeen

|File:Statue of Benjamin Franklin (2642421169).jpg|Benjamin Franklin (on a bench) at the University of Pennsylvania

|File:Departure-GeorgeLundeen.jpg|Departure in the VanDusen Botanical Garden, Vancouver, Canada

|File:Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex in February 2022 (83).jpeg |The Eagle Has Landed at the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex, by George Lundeen, Mark Lundeen and Joey Bainer

|File:John L. "Jack" Swigert, Jr.jpg |Jack Swigert at the National Statuary Hall Collection, by George and Mark Lundeen

}}

• Jane DeDecker, former apprentice

{{reflist}}

{{commons}}

• {{official|https://lundeensculpture.com/}}
• [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1p1ShxhrqVM Friends of Western Art presents First Tuesday with George Lundeen 5.2.23], 2023 video
• {{cite book |last1=Kinghorn |first1=Harriet |last2=Ticknor |first2=Wendy |title=From Clay to Bronze: Creating the Jack Swigert Sculpture |date=1998 |publisher=Spice of Life Educational Pub. |isbn=978-1-891178-01-6 |url=https://www.google.se/books/edition/From_Clay_to_Bronze/z2uzAAAACAAJ?hl=sv |language=en}}

{{George Lundeen}}

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Category:Living people

Category:1948 births

Category:20th-century American sculptors

Category:21st-century American sculptors

Category:Accademia di Belle Arti di Firenze alumni

Category:Hastings College alumni

Category:People from Holdrege, Nebraska

Category:People from Loveland, Colorado

Category:Sculptors from Colorado

Category:Sculptors from Nebraska

Category:University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign alumni