Plan for Christina-Taylor statue takes shape in sculptor's hands

A small clay model of the statue shows the Tucson third-grader lying on her stomach, reading a book. She's wearing a baseball uniform and smiling.

Dan Hickman, a 60-year-old Tucson sculptor, was on a trail ride in Saguaro National Park East on the morning of the Tucson shooting tragedy. He had just arrived back at his horse trailer when his wife called to tell him about the assassination attempt on then-U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords. As the news unfolded, he learned that a 9-year-old girl had been the youngest of the six killed and 13 injured that day.

"I just love children. My wife and I were lucky to have one child and now we have three grandchildren," he said. "I felt so bad for the Green family and for their loss. A little voice in my head just kept telling me, 'You've got to do this.' "

"This" was the statue, which will be about five feet long, cast bronze and more than four feet high.

Hickman wrote to the Greens immediately after the tragedy, but did not hear back until May. The family had been inundated with so many letters, postcards and packages that they'd had to get a post office box - their mailbox could not handle the volume. They were also busy answering phone calls, emails and media inquiries, and in the midst of heartbreak and grief.

"Several artists approached us, but it used to be so chaotic, back in the day," Christina-Taylor's mother, Roxanna Green said. "Dan Hickman was always our favorite. We always felt that someday we were going to call him."

Last May, Hickman had an art show near the Greens' northwest-side home and Roxanna and her son, Dallas, went to see his work. Hickman hadn't been expecting them, but he was wearing one of the Christina-Taylor Green Memorial Foundation's pink "CTG" pins.

"This was just meant to be," Green said.

"They are great people. You couldn't meet a nicer family," Hickman said.

Hickman spent the next eight to nine months on the petroleum-based clay sculpture, which is the model for the larger statue.

"I was not hurrying this piece," said Hickman, who spent the most time on Christina-Taylor's face, using photos provided by the family.

As part of his creation process Hickman learned as much as he could about the little girl, who loved politics, baseball and socializing. She also loved to read and devoured any book about horses, as well as the "Junie B. Jones" and "Ramona and Beezus" books.

"She loved to read and write songs and poems. She had great handwriting," her mother said. "She was a straight-A student and a storyteller."

She also was interested in government and was so excited to see Giffords on the morning of Jan. 8 that she downplayed a cough she had, telling her mother she was fine to go.

Putting the little girl in a baseball uniform was Hickman's idea, but one the family supported. The uniform has her Canyon del Oro Little League number 12 on the back. The only girl on her baseball team, Christina-Taylor had talked about being the first female to play major league ball.

"I truly believe she'd have made that goal," Hickman said.

Hickman would like to have the sculpture ready for Sept. 11, which would have been Christina-Taylor's 11th birthday. The Pima County Natural Resources and Parks and Recreation departments, as well as the Pima County Regional Flood Control District, have already signed off on the project. The only thing missing is funding. Hickman is donating his time, but the life-sized statue will cost $25,000 to make and install.

It's a project that Hickman hopes will have lasting appeal, not necessarily reminding park-goers of a horrible day, but serving as a loving memorial to those who were lost.

"They were all innocent and caring people," he said.

How to donate

To donate money toward the $25,000 needed for a cast-bronze sculpture that will be placed in the Pima County-owned Christina-Taylor Green Memorial Linear Park, go to christina-taylorgreen.org or write to The Christina-Taylor Green Memorial Foundation, P.O. Box 65000, Tucson 85728.

Contributions should be identified as being for the "monument project." All donations will be used exclusively for the sculpture project.