Monumental Task: Liguori makes his mark with Southern Nevada sculptures

Thursday, July 1, 2004 | 8:14 a.m.

For someone who has planted a couple of large monuments in an area where monuments are scarce, you'd think everyone might know the name Steven Liguori.

The lifelong Nevadan, who lives in the neighborhood he grew up in, built the bronze "High Scaler" monument mounted on a boulder at Hoover Dam.

The flag-and-soldier monument saluting veterans at the Southern Nevada Veterans Memorial Cemetery is his. So is a small-scale sculpture of late trumpeter Tommy Nelson, a dam laborer whose music boosted morale during the early days of Boulder City.

Though his work is seen by millions of visitors to Southern Nevada, Liguori's name has largely escaped notoriety outside of art circles. Currently he is creating a sculpture to commemorate pioneer Mary Dutton and the artesian well that wrote her future.

The 14-foot steel structure of a plow and water will be installed this month in Mary Dutton Park on Eighth Street and Charleston Boulevard, which serves as a gateway to the historic John S. Park neighborhood.

Liguori, who lives across the street from the park, was selected out of four artists interviewed for the project.

"They wanted an artist from the neighborhood," Liguori said. "They wanted abstract, they wanted realism. They wanted a combination of both. It had to be something the neighborhood could look at, be pleased with, and also, it had to honor Mary Dutton Park.

"To me it's pretty important. But it's more important to our children's future. The Duttons, they wanted to have a farm here. They had an artesian well. They wanted to have tomatoes, apricots, peaches, flowers, chickens.

"How precious the water was to them. What a gift. Being in the desert, they needed it."

The Duttons' saga is a great American story: a plow and a wealth of water that gave two searching pioneers a fertile farm.

The way Liguori tells it, you'd think this fortune was his own family's legacy. In a way, Las Vegas' story has evolved into his story, one that the sculptor has embraced with his own hands.

Native land

Before Liguori was a sculptor he was a jeweler, and really the only difference between the two, he'll tell you, is how they're treated in the hands of the owner.

"Sculpture is something that people can look at, something that people don't put in a safe-deposit box," Liguori said while sitting in his Boulder City studio.

"When people look at jewelry they think of money. When they look at sculpture they look for meaning."

Liguori learned both. His father, a former Brooklynite of Sicilian descent, moved to Nevada to work in the mining industry and eventually opened a jewelry shop in Boulder City.

In his father's shop, the younger Liguori learned to carve. By his teens he was creating elaborate jewelry for such celebrities as Willie Nelson, Evander Holyfield, Kris Kristofferson and Johnny Cash. As the main designer, he worked in platinum, gold, diamonds and sapphire.

He was his father's son, engrossed in the family business.

"My dad gave me the ability to have (the shop) to do my work," Liguori said. "When I was 9 years old I would carve eagles out of turquoise. I sold them for $200. With the money I made I bought more tools.

"I had a good time. At 17 I wanted to be the best jeweler ever."

But Liguori's aspirations changed. When his father died in August 1987, Liguouri closed the shop.

"I was wondering what I would do. I thought, 'I want to be a sculptor,' " Liguori said. "The next day I get a call from Bert, 'You want to build a monument?'

"If you do what you like to do, people will come knocking on your door to get to you."

In Liguori's case, it was Bert Hansen.

Hansen owns the High Scaler Cafe (the former Hoover Dam Snacketeria) and is a history enthusiast. In 1990 he asked Liguori to create a sculpture to honor workers who built the Hoover Dam -- more specifically Joe Kine, the last living dam builder at the time who has since died.

Liguori agreed, but the plans sat on the table for five years before Hansen again called on Liguori to create the monument. This time they went ahead.

The mighty Kine

To create the "High Scaler," Ligouri had a black-and-white photo of Kine blown up to 3 feet by 5 feet for detail. In the photo, Kine is resting 600 feet above ground on a piece of lumber connected to ropes. His gloves are in his back pocket; he has a slight grin and a dreamy look in his eye.

When Liguori asked Kine what he was thinking at that moment, Kine simply responded, "Just resting."

The " '31er" had come to Southern Nevada in 1931 for the job that supported his family in poor economic times. But the rest of the experience, the idea that he was working on what would become an engineering wonder and national historic monument, wasn't at the foreground, Liguori said.

To Kine, Liguori said, "It was just a job. He raised his family."

In 1998 Hansen had Liguori create the same monument, only larger, to be mounted near Hoover Dam. The Committee of Blind Vendors, a group of blind vendors throughout the state to which Hansen belongs, paid for the monument. It was unveiled in October 2002.

"It's for visitors to see. Here's an actual person, someone who actually helped build the Hoover Dam," Liguori said, gesturing enthusiastically. "Joe's family is still alive. His grandchildren can say, 'Hey, I'm part of him.' "

Claiming their own

Liguori said the "High Scaler" monument helped him make his mark, and that it was personal to him because of all the time he spent in the area after mining with his father.

But now he has Dutton.

"When Mary Dutton gave the property, they said they were going to put a monument to her," Liguori said. "It took a little bit of time, but at least they're doing something to preserve the historical value."

According to the Nevada State Museum and Historical Society, the Duttons were looking for a hot, dry climate when they moved to Las Vegas from Nebraska in 1919.

The former sheep ranchers bought a cottage and 25 acres of land for farming in 1920 and raised chickens, grew produce and were the first commercial flower growers in town.

After her husband died in 1934, Mary Dutton donated land for John S. Park Elementary School and later donated the land that was her front yard, which became Mary Dutton Park.

Liguori's own house was built in 1946 by an engineer. He attributes the richness of his garden -- colored with tomatoes, bell peppers, almonds and pecan trees -- to the same groundwater that helped sustain the Duttons.

Bob Bellis, president of John S. Park Neighborhood Association, said the sculpture will cap the neighborhood project, which began with the city of Las Vegas designating the neighborhood as an historic district upon request of the association.

"The neighborhood went from having a high crime rate to having a lot of problems to really coming together," Bellis said. "The whole dedication of the plaque and sculpture is the last part of the plan. That piece of property was unique. We wanted to make sure the story wasn't lost. It references our history.

"We need things like that in our community, something that leaves a legacy and informs future generations."

Passion for work

Meanwhile, Liguori's work continues. He's in the midst of 12 projects, including a commissioned piece, a large-scale sculpture of Seminole Indian Moses Jumper Jr. of Florida, and a sculpture series on Hoover Dam for Hansen.

His studio is strewn with clay and wax figurines. Around his neck he wears a giant piece of turquoise carved in the shape of a lifesaver by one of his three daughters. He has a full beard and a ring of hair encircling his otherwise hairless scalp. When he speaks about history, sculpture, great men and women, he gets caught up in what he's saying.

According to Don Trippy, Desert Sculptors member and past president, Liguori is one of the best sculptors in the Las Vegas Valley and a strong proponent of finding a work space for the group (similar to the facility it had leased from the city of Las Vegas for five years at Lorenzi Park).

Despite lack of funding, when it comes to public art, Liguori is willing to get himself in the foreground.

"I could be a jeweler and make a lot more money," Liguori said. "I'm doing what I love, though.

"Most sculpture is only by hotels. But hotels come and go. Las Vegas has a short history. It's best to preserve it now before (we) forget."

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