By Darin Helfend
If a picture is worth a thousand words, then a sculpture is worth a million.
After 20 years of research and six preliminary models, an LDS artist will unveil today at Mormon Art and Bronze the culmination of what some say is one of the most significant works to come from an LDS artist.
Dee Jay Bawden has finished The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saint''s first representation of God the Father and Jesus Christ as they appeared to Joseph Smith. It is titled 'Face to Face - 1820.'
'I envisioned a work that would allow the viewer to look into the faces of the Father and the Son from Joseph Smith''s perspective,' Bawden said.
Bawden''s personal experience with the sculpture started with a dream he had one night 20 years ago where he saw in vision the finished sculpture and thousands of people inspired by it.
A year after that dream the Church commissioned Bawden to reconstruct the death masks of Joseph and Hyrum Smith.
Since that time, Bawden has created works housed at the Carthage Visitors Center, the Joseph Smith Memorial Building, the Independence Visitors Center and the Conference Center''s Hall of Presidents.
His new statue, which is ten feet high, depicts Joseph kneeling and looking into the faces of God and Jesus Christ, was created to honor and commemorate the event that started the Restoration of the Gospel. It will be placed in the Nauvoo Legacy Gardens across the street from the Nauvoo Temple, Bawden said.
'When viewers look up at God the Father and Jesus Christ from behind the statue of Joseph they can really catch a glimpse of how loving and wonderful our Father in Heaven really is,' Bawden said.
In the sculpture, Joseph''s clothes are patterned after Hyrum Smith''s real clothes, owned by Eldred G. Smith, and Joseph''s face is patterned after his own death mask, Bawden said.
Bawden said the First Vision is what the Church represents because if what Joseph said he saw is true, then everything he restored is true.
Bowden said his sculpture can be a great missionary tool. He said he hopes people who come and see the sculpture can gain a stronger testimony of the truth of Joseph Smith''s First Vision. For those who may not have that testimony, he hopes the sculpture can bring them to that knowledge.
'Gaining a testimony of the First Vision is only the beginning of a mission that will last all the days of your life,' Bawden said.
Bawden and the Glenn family, owners of Mormon Art and Bronze, said they hope to place the finished bronze statue of 'Face to Face - 1820' at the Nauvoo Legacy Gardens next year.
'The Prophet in 1840 said that Nauvoo would be the greatest city in the world, and we want to help it along,' said Steve Glenn, owner of Mormon Art and Bronze.
Also on display at Mormon Art and Bronze are replicas of the sunstones that adorned the Nauvoo temple.
'Our replicas of the sunstones are accurate up to one-eighth of an inch,' said Matt Glenn, 29, a sculptor who works at Mormon Art and Bronze.
The sculpture display is free, and visitors are invited to see the works and talk with Dee Jay Bawden March 28-30 from 6 to 8 p.m. at Mormon Art and Bronze, 815 W. Columbia Lane in Provo.