Lens Artists Photo Challenge #261 – Work in Progress

Posted in Alaska, Photography, South DakotaTagged , , , , , ,

For this challenge Ann-Christine has asked us to focus on Work in Progress.

Crazy Horse Monument in the Black Hills of South Dakota has been a Work in Progress since the Memorial was dedicated on the day of the first blast, June 3, 1948. The monument honoring Lakota Chief Crazy Horse was the dream of Oglala Lakota Chief Henry Standing Bear and is the world’s largest mountain carving in progress. To learn more about the history of this amazing project please visit Crazy Horse Memorial.

Our mission is to protect and preserve the culture, tradition and living heritage of the North American Indians

Mission of Crazy Horse Memorial Foundation

We first visited the monument in the summer of 2006. We toured the museum, watched an interesting video about the the memorial, and bought some native made items in the gift shop.

Crazy Horse Monument in the summer of 2006
Scale Model of the Crazy Horse Monument
Horse Head of the Scale Model with the Monument in the background, 2006

We returned to the Black Hills of South Dakota in the spring of 2011. We chose not to tour the museum again but I captured this image from the highway. It doesn’t look much different than it did in 2006 but some progress was made during those five years.

Ketchikan, Alaska is famous for it totem poles hand carved by native carvers. At the Herring Bay Lumber Company we learned from a native master carver how the totems were made and how each totem tells a story. After learning about the totems and viewing his work in progress we wandered through the totem park to see some finished totems.

Many thanks to our host Ann-Christine for the challenge Lens-Artists Challenge #261 – Work in Progress

21 thoughts on “Lens Artists Photo Challenge #261 – Work in Progress”

    1. Tina, I hope they can continue to raise money and finish it. It’s hard to imagine how huge it is until you see it in person. It’s close to Mount Rushmore. We visited them both in one day.

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  5. This was very interesting! I’d heard about the Crazy Horse monument, but didn’t know a lot about it. Great pictures and nice to see that some progress has been made. Thanks for sharing them!

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  6. Very interesting, Beth, thank you for showing it – and hopefully it will be finished in the future. The scale model looks fantastic and it would make a great monument. I did not know about it before – thank you again!

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  7. Love your choices Beth. I have heard so much about the Crazy Horse memorial and you encourage me even more. The totem poles. Truly a work of art with so much meaning in all of them. Loved this.

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    1. Donna, thank you. So glad you enjoyed my choices. It’s hard to imagine how big Crazy shores is until you see it in person. We saw totems all around Alaska. I really enjoyed meeting the master carver and learning more about them.

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    1. Judy, it is close to Mount Rushmore so you can see both in the same trip. The museum at Crazy Horse was very interesting. There is a lot to see in the Black Hills. I hope you get to visit one day.

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  9. Really interesting choices, Beth. I am fascinated about the monument to Chief Crazy Horse. Incredible. I wonder why it’s taking so long to complete? I will check out your link!

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    1. Patti, I’m glad my post brought you interest in the Crazy Horse Monument. I really don’t know why it is taking so long to complete. My guess would be partly because of the size of the monument and getting the money needed to do the work.

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