The town I live in is also home to one of Peter Wolf Toth's Whispering Giants.
Hungarian-born Toth began creating his Whispering Giants in 1972. His Trail of the Whispering Giants spans to at least one statue in every American state and two in Canada. Toth has carved 74 statues as of the writing of this post.
Toth uses wood that is native to the area he is working in and fashions his statues after the indigenous peoples of that area. He always donates his work and never charges for it. He does require that the log, living and lodging expenses be covered while he is working on the statue. It can take up to three months to complete a statue. His Whispering Giants have been appraised for as much as one quarter of a million dollars.
Toth mainly uses a hammer and chisel to create his giants. He will sometimes use a mallet and axe but he rarely ever uses any power tools. His giants can range from fifteen to forty feet tall.
The Whispering Giant in my town is twenty feet tall and is made from the wood of a Enterolobium Cyclocarpum or "Ear" tree. Toth claimed the wood was much like mahogany.
Image from the Internet
The name of the statue is "Calostimucu". It represents the Calusa and Timucuan Indians that used to live in this area. It was the 10th statue that Toth created in his Trail of Whispering Giants. The statue has the face of a woman on one side and that of a man on the other. On top of the statue is a dying bison and an eagle with a broken wing.
"The statue is not just to honor Native Americans; its to represent all people who have suffered injustices"-Peter Wolf Toth
The Colonel and I were driving in town not long ago and saw the statue. Someone had put a mask on the faces of the statue.
Woman's face
Man's face
Of all the times I've visited, I can't recall ever seeing this statue. It's on my list of "must see" list. Jenn
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