Within the museum is the original plaster bust used to cast two bronzes of Kennedy, one of which is mounted at the John F. Kennedy Pavilion at Gonzaga University in Spokane, WA, the other being at Kennedy Commons on Main Street in Anaconda.
About the Artist.
Lawrence James Calnan
Sculptor of the John F. Kennedy Bronze Bust at Pavilion
Lawrence James Calnan was born in Anaconda. Mont., January 16, 1942. He lives at 511 Willow Street, Anaconda, with his parents. Mr. and Mrs. Joseph F. Calnan. His father is a former mayor of Anaconda. Larry is the second oldest of seven children.
He is now (1965) a third year student at Montana State University at Bozeman, majoring in industrial design.
Larry attended St. Paul's grade school and was graduated from Anaconda Central High School where he studied art under the direction of Sister Peter Faber and Robert Vine, former teacher now employed as an artist for the Anaconda Company. He studied sculpturing under Associate Professors John Guiser (University of Washington graduate) and the late G. K. Conkey at Montana State University.
Facts about the Kennedy Bust
Calnan began saving photographs of Kennedy while a freshman at Weber College in Utah in 1961. He started the sculptured bust, in clay, in January, 1963, before the assassination of the President. It was transferred into plaster in June, 1963, and completed one year later. The bronze casting was done by the Roman Bronze Company of Corona, New York.
Under the sponsorship of the V.F.W. #1876 of Anaconda, and the sculptor, a similar bust will be erected on Kennedy Commons, previously City Commons, in Anaconda.
The original Kennedy bust was installed at the entrance of the John F. Kennedy Pavilion on the Gonzaga University campus, Spokane, Washington, on November 20, 1965, the day before the pavilion was formally dedicated by the President’s brother, Senator Edward M. Kennedy. D-Mass.