Explore the Creation and design of this artwork.
The Pioneer was a long time in the making. Proctor had completed sculptures of settler groups, but he searched for a model that would "typify the real spirit of the West." After a ten-year search, he found the image in J. C. Cravens, an "old trapper bewhiskered without a haircut heavy boots thick plants a buckskin coat carrying his rifle and leading a nag." Once he had this model, Proctor took the idea to Portland lawyer and businessman Joseph Teal, who commissioned the sculpture. It was the first statue placed on the University of Oregon campus.The Pioneer is about ruggedness and movement. In form, the sculpture follows attributes of the model, with him being portrayed in similar garb, with a full beard and a rifle slung over his shoulder. His body language is proud, as seen in the set of his shoulders and the level of his chin. Further, his open stance implies movement, with his eyes gazing forward and his weight seeming to be in the process of shifting from one foot to the next. The natural, hard organic sentiment flows all the way to his rock pedestal. The basalt was "one that had weathered many storms and had been tossed about by the river currents yet enduring ... [Proctor] thought it was in keeping with the ideals of the Pioneer who had weathered similar storms."
Portland University of Oregon basalt