Sister Rosaire Kopczenski starts with a miniature in clay.

The rebirth of Mother Marianne, in bronze

Sister Norise Kaiser tries a pose at a Kakaako location that was changed. Preparing for a digital scan. Clay model is transformed into computer pixels. Section sculpted in foam. Foam image covered with clay is assembled.  Photos courtesy of the Sisters of St. Francis Sculptor: Sister Rosaire Kopczenski, OSF Subject: Blessed Mother Marianne Cope Finished size: Six-feet tall Finished material: bronze Project began: Fall 2008 Completion date: Early 2010 Destination: Kewalo waterfront in Honolulu

A year ago, Hawaii’s Sisters of St. Francis picked Sister of St. Francis Rosaire Kopczenski, a New York artist and sculptor and fellow Franciscan, to create a public statue of Blessed Marianne Cope to grace the Honolulu waterfront near where the nun arrived more than a century ago from Syracuse, N.Y.

The sculpture will honor Hawaii’s first Franciscan and candidate for sainthood.

Here is an account, with photos, of how the statue is being created.

Sister Rosaire Kopczenski first spent weeks in research. She studied human anatomy, examined the life of Mother Marianne, and spent weeks in Hawaii visiting places Mother Marianne served and where her statue will eventually be erected.

Then she created numerous sketches of Mother Marianne in preparation for sculpting a small model of her proposed statue.

Sister Rosaire constructed a frame of wire and piping to support a secondary three-foot high clay model. She did this by first creating an anatomically correct woman’s figure which she then clothed with a Franciscan habit, veil and other details.

This model was brought to the Carolina Bronze Studio in Seagrove, N.C., where preparations were made for it to be scanned by a computer. The statue was separated into parts so that a digital camera could accurately record the sculpture’s dimensions.

Once the scanning was completed from every possible angle, the digital data allowed the parts to be recreated and reconnected digitally in a three dimensional format on the computer.

A computer program then directed a cutting machine that carved out a larger copy of the sculpture in parts, in white Styrofoam. The foam parts were then glued together, providing the base for Sister Rosaire to apply a thin coat of clay and the final sculptural details.

Non-carved elements are added — a waist cord stiffened with glue, a rosary and a breast crucifix. These parts are embedded in the clay. Their shapes will become part of the bronze statue when completed.

When finished, the statue will stand on a four-foot diameter circle of granite attached to a steel and concrete base.

As of April 3, when these photos were taken, the hands were made of rubber and still needed to be covered with clay and detailed.

The finished clay model will be cut into manageable pieces to make molds for the final casting into bronze.