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TOMBSTONE — Tombstone’s favorite lawman and one of the most iconic figures of the American West returned to town Friday with the unveiling of a new 8-foot-tall bronze sculpture.
Weighing in a 600 pounds, the newly cast sculpture of Wyatt Earp was on display for the first time in front of dozens of onlookers gathered in the front yard of the Wyatt Earp House and Gallery.
Created by Tim Trask, owner of the Gallery of Dreams art gallery in St. David, the sculpture features Earp gazing intently forward, shotgun resting on his shoulder, and his long coat swaying in the breeze.
“We call it ‘Stepping Into Legend,’ ” Trask said.
  
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The idea for the statue began a year ago, when Jim Allen, owner of the Wyatt Earp House and Gallery, visited Trask’s gallery.
“Mrs. Trask saw me walk in and started to talk to me,” Allen said.
He told her he liked a number of bronze sculptures he noticed while looking around.
“I started asking her about that and she just stopped everything,” he said. “Her husband was getting in the car outside … and she pulled him out and brought him into the gallery.”
With that, the two men met and, after a few initial conversations, the project was under way.
“The more we talked about it, the more we wanted to do it,” Trask said.
In order to learn more about the man they were recreating, Allen lent Trask books on Earp.
To get as accurate a likeness as possible, Trask collected every photograph of Earp he could find, gaining most of his inspiration for a photograph taken of him along with Bat Masterson in Dodge City, Kan., just a few years before he arrived in Tombstone.
Allen praised Trask for his efforts.
“Tim Trask is just amazing,” he said. “He’s an amazing person and artist.”
The two men consulted each other for the entire yearlong process, with Allen dressing up in western clothes to find the right pose for the piece.
Any disagreements were easily rectified.
“Tim really wanted a nine-footer, and I was kind of leaning towards a seven, so we compromised on an eight,” Allen said.
The sculpture, when molded, was actually comprised of 53 separate pieces that had to then be welded together, Trask said.
“It’s very hands on,” he said.
Trask has been making art for nearly 40 years.
“I cast my first bronze in 1971,” he said.
His talents extended to other mediums, but sculpting is his passion.
“I prefer sculpture just because of its permanence,” he said. “If you think about it, what we know about history, before the written language, is mostly derived from the sculptures that we have that people made.”
Allen’s wife, Liz, said they wanted to honor not only the famous lawman with the sculpture, but also highlight the abilities of local artists.
“We wanted a way to pay a tribute to the man that kind of put Tombstone on the map,” she said, “but also a way to pay a tribute to all the fine artists we have out here.”
She and her husband have owned the Wyatt Earp House five years ago and spent another year and a half restoring it before opening it up as an art gallery.
“We decided the best way to show off the house was to make it a gallery, that way you wouldn’t have to charge admission,” she said.
The sculpture is a fine addition to the collection of original artwork within the home, she said.
“It’s kind of giving history some tangibility.”
HERALD/REVIEW reporter Derek Jordan can be reached at 515-4680 or by e-mail at derek.jordan@svherald.com.
Jim E. Apa wrote on Nov 16, 2008 12:14 PM: