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Story Summary:


At the age of six, Glen Tutterrow found an arrowhead in his father’s Missouri farm field. Ever since he has felt a spiritual connection and a burden to American Indians. As an Evangelical Christian, Glen is using his taxidermy and sculpting craft to complete a 35-foot tall monument to honor Cuba’s Native Osage Nation.

See more stories from the 68th Missouri Photo Workshop at: http://mophotoworkshop.org/mpw-68-cuba/

And learn more about Glen's sculpture at: http://www.osagetraillegacy.com/

Glen’s son and grandson stop by his house to see the progress of the four-piece Osage Trail Legacy Monument.

Glen mounts an elk at his taxidermy shop Wildlife Unlimited. Glen, now 63, has been practicing the art of taxidermy since he was 11.

A dead wild cat hangs on the wall at Glen’s taxidermy shop.

Glen’s grandson plays in a metal basket near the feet of the Osage mother sculpture. Glen sketched the monument after the figures appeared to him in a dream.

Glen positions a cradleboard into the hands of a clay model he made of the Osage Mother, one of the four figures he is sculpting. He found renewed confidence to finish the project after reading the Bible passage Exodus 31-6, “I have given skill to all the craftsmen to make everything I commanded you.” Glen spent months communicating with the chief of the Osage Nation before getting approval.

After creating molds from his clay models, Glen scales layers to keep the final cold–rolled steel sculpture in proportion. Glen says that Osage women would rub paste made from the local red rock into the parts of their hair to have the sun bless them throughout the day. The color of that paste mimics the oxidized finish of Glen’s monument.

Glen creates a paper pattern from the molded model for the next layer of steel on the sculpture.

With an expert eye, Glen determines measurements and angles to translate the models to the final sculpture.
Glen puts his mask on before beginning to weld on the sculpture.

Glen walks in his metal working shop.

After speaking to two interested tourists about the monument, Glen takes their portrait with their cell phone.

Glen plays with his grandson outside of his metal working shop.

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