SEALs in bronze
Even if you don’t recognize his name, you have seen W. Stanley “Sandy” Proctor’s art.
The larger-than-life bronze statue of legendary football coach Bobby Bowden that stands outside Doak Campbell Stadium? That’s a Proctor. The dramatic statues of the three black students who broke down racial barriers at Florida State that keep watch near the FSU Student Union? All are Proctor’s works. Those frolicking bronze children near the front lawn of the Governor’s Mansion? Yep, they are Proctor creations, too.
If you ask Proctor to pick his favorite piece of sculpture, though, he answers immediately with “The Guardians.”
It’s a 2007 statue in Cupertino, Calif., that memorializes two Navy SEALs who were killed in action in Afghanistan during 2005. They inspired the current, hit war movie “Lone Survivor.”
“It is my best work,” Proctor, 74, said. “It’s the most gratifying thing I’ve ever done.”
“The Guardians” depicts fallen warriors Matthew Axelson and James Suh as they are calmly crouched in a ready position, holding weapons and decked out in full battle gear. Every detail, from the boots they were wearing to the types of watches on their wrists, was painstakingly researched for complete accuracy.
“We really did our homework on this one,” Proctor, who is a member of the Florida Artists Hall of Fame, said as he stood in his studio in East Tallahassee. “The Navy doesn’t issue Oakley boots but that is what they were wearing because they used gear they bought themselves. They used what was most practical for what they had to do.”
“They survive on their tools and what they carry, so Sandy wanted to get it right,” Peggy Woodham said. She is Proctor’s daughter as well as his manager on large-scale, public art projects such as “The Guardians.”
Two Navy SEALs modeled for Proctor and brought along the special types of of high-powered rifles that the SEALs carry into battle.
“The weapons were never out of their sight,” Proctor said.
At first, Proctor had them pose like standing sentinels. The models were not comfortable with that position because a standing Navy SEAL in the field is an easy target. They suggested that they should crouch, back to back, which is more authentic.
“They became way more helpful with suggestions the more we got to know each other,” Proctor said.
“They were some of the most impressive people I have ever met,” Woodham said.
During the making of “Guardians,” Proctor also got to know Donna Axelson, the mother of Matthew Axelson. She first ran across Proctor’s work in an art gallery in Sedona, Ariz., and gave him a phone call from her home in California.
“When she called, she said, ‘This is not about Bush, this is not about the war, this is about a kid who went to war. I just don’t want them forgotten,’” Proctor said.
When the mother visited the Proctor studio and saw the likeness of her son for the first time, “she was blown away,” Proctor said. “She would get to where she couldn’t talk and just walk away.”
Axelson and Proctor were also on hand when “The Guardians” was dedicated at the Cupertino Veterans Memorial park in California on Nov. 11, 2007. One noticeable absence at the dedication ceremony, which included the Secretary of the Navy, was Navy SEAL Marcus Luttrell, who survived the vicious firefight with the Taliban warriors in 2005.
“I used to think Audie Murphy was the ultimate American warrior,” Luttrell wrote in his best-selling book “Lone Survivor.” “Not now. Not anymore. There are not many like Matthew Axelson.”
“I think he was coming to the dedication and backed out at the last minute because he just couldn’t take it,” Proctor said of Luttrell. “As he said in his book, ‘I died on that mountain, too.’”
When “Lone Survivor” hit theaters at Christmas time, Proctor was one of the first people in line. The R-rated movie, which contains harsh language and brutal violence, has made nearly $120 million at the box office since its release. It is playing at the AMC 20 in the the Tallahassee Mall.
Woodham, however, decided not to buy a movie ticket.
“They’re like my brothers, I don’t want to watch them get killed,” Woodham said. “It’s not entertainment to me. It’s real. It’s too close.”
Sandy Proctor’s sculptures on public view in Tallahassee:
• “The Bobby Bowden Statue,” bronze, 2005. Northwest side of Doak Campbell Stadium, FSU campus.
• “Florida's Finest,” bronze, 1998. Florida Governor's Mansion.
• “Integration,” bronze, 2003. Woodward Plaza, FSU campus.
• “Law Enforcement Memorial,” bronze and granite, 2000. The Florida Sheriffs Association, 2617 Mahan Drive.
• Manatee sculpture, bronze. Tallahassee Memorial Hospital, atrium.
• “Once Upon a Summertime,” bronze. LeRoy Collins Leon County Public Library (indoors).
• “The Sunday Paper,” bronze, 2005. Kleman Plaza.
• “Trojan,” bronze. Lincoln High School.
• “World War II Veterans' Memorial,” bronze, 2001. Leon County Courthouse.
Information courtesy of the Council on Culture & Arts’ Outdoor Public Art Directory at www.cocanet.org and www.proctorbronzes.com.