VICTORY

The original thirteen foot high "Victory" sculpture of 1869 that was on the Civil War Soldier's Monument adjacent to the Stephenson County Courthouse in Freeport was destroyed by lightening in 1960. After years of effort by various committees a replacement "Victory" sculpture was created.

The Civil War Monument Fund led by Jon Staben, Don Diestelmeier, and Don Kraft  contracted with V&CL Tolpo LLC to create the new "Victory". Just like the original statue that used new technology for its creation, so too is the new statue using new technology for its creation.  The latest technology back in the late 1860's was electro-plating. The original "Victory" was first sculpted in ceramics and then electro-plated with copper to achieve the appearance of bronze. The latest technology today in 2015 is digital technology. The replacement "Victory" used a digital scan of a live Freeport woman, Marlene Kleckler, costumed like the original "Victory". The digital scan produced a small-scale working statuette that was 3-D printed. This statuette, corrected by the artist, was then digitally sent to California for the milling of the full scale "Victory" in high-density foam. This final full scale sculpture was hand-refined by the artist and then cast in bronze.

The bronze casting was done by Art Casting of Illinois in Oregon, Illinois. The bronze "Victory" was installed December 2015. The artists of V&CL Tolpo LLC are Vincent Tolpo and Carolyn Lee Tolpo of Shawnee, Colorado.  Both artists have longtime connections to Freeport and have assisted the efforts of the various committees through the years. At the beginning of the project, some thirty years ago, Vincent's mother, the late Lily Tolpo, was assisting the committee. Lily Tolpo has served Freeport as an artist through the years creating various paintings and sculptures. Vincent helped to found the Freeport Art Museum forty years ago and also made sculptures and paintings. Carolyn Lee was the art teacher for Freeport Catholic Schools for many years and also was a painter member of Gallery Thirteen group.

The new "Victory" for Freeport has the same inspired posture and universal appearance as the original of 1869.  The search for old photographs of the original "Victory" was assisted by the Stephenson County Historical Society. These photographs were used to recreate the costume and pose of the new "Victory". V&CL Tolpo LLC was charged with the difficult challenge of replacing the destroyed "Victory" with a new "Victory" while maintaining the artistic integrity of a contemporary work of art. The new "Victory" has been approved by the State of Illinois Historic Preservation office since the Soldier's Monument has National Historic Designation. Chief Architect and Deputy State Historic Preservation  Officer, Carol J. Dyson, congratulated Freeport, Illinois, for the plans to reconstruct the sculpture and went on the say, "Your many years of planning and research are going to make a wonderful contribution to the monument, the setting, and the community." 

The sculpture has a decidedly contemporary visage that does not glorify the horrors of war but rather shares in the feeling of loss and despair. There is a certain cynicism in “Victory”.