Charlotte artist’s model of Billy Graham statue for Capitol earns congressional approval
A congressional committee has approved a Charlotte sculptor’s preliminary model of the Rev. Billy Graham statue that is to be placed in the U.S. Capitol — another step in the lengthy process of honoring the evangelist.
J. Brent Blanton, the architect of the Capitol, sent letters to the co-chairs of North Carolina’s Statuary Hall Selection Committee — Macon Newby and Dan Soucek — on July 30, informing them that the Joint Committee of Congress on the Library approved the maquette and “the sculptor may proceed with the next stage of preparing the full-size clay model and pedestal design.”
Charlotte artist Chas Fagan is designing and creating the statue, which will replace one of former Gov. Charles Aycock in the U.S. Capitol. North Carolina lawmakers passed legislation in 2015 calling for Graham to replace Aycock, a white supremacist.
Graham died in 2018 at age 99. Honorees must be deceased before their statutes can be placed in the Capitol. It may not be until 2023 that the Graham statue is unveiled.
“I look forward to reviewing images of the full-scale clay model, the pedestal design with the proposed inscription, the statue’s weight and dimensions, and engineer-certified structural drawings detailing the fabrication of the pedestal and statue mounting for the next approval stage,” Blanton wrote in his letter.
Each state has two statues in the U.S. Capitol which are displayed throughout the building. Statuary Hall — located in the south wing — holds the most at 35, including one of Zebulon B. Vance, a North Carolina governor and U.S. senator after the Civil War. Aycock’s statue is currently in the Crypt, which holds 13 statutes, one from each of the 13 original colonies.
The current plan is for the Aycock statute to be brought to his birthplace in Wayne County, where his home has been turned into a state historic site, according to Paul Coble, legislative services officer for the General Assembly.
Details on Graham statue
The North Carolina committee last September choose two Bible verses to include on the sides of the statute: John 3:16 and John 14:6, NC Insider previously reported.
John 3:16 reads “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life,” and John 14:6 reads “Jesus answered, ‘I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.’”
The statue will show Graham standing upright with a Bible in his hand and his left foot slightly ahead of him, The Charlotte Observer previously reported.
The Bible in his hand will include a quote from Galatians 6:14, which reads, “May I never boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world.”
The North Carolina committee also asked that Graham’s wife, Ruth, be represented on the base of the statute. She died in 2007.
The approved model is 2 feet tall, but the finished statue will be nearly 11 feet, including the base.
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