Making a Statue for Bob's Red Mill | Natural Foods of Milwaukie, OR

On February 15, 2019, Bob Moore had his 90th birthday celebration. He did not have to go out to a restaurant in order to celebrate with his friends and family because birthday Bob is the founder of Bob’s Red Mill Whole Grain Store. This is a healthy grocery store with its own restaurant and bakery that is located in the small town of Milwaukie, Oregon. The place was packed because for Bob’s birthday he gave gifts to the first 500 that he invited from the community to the 90th birthday celebration. “Come celebrate my birthday,” Bob told everyone. He has lots of friends.

Bob started his business, with his wife Charlee, over 40 years ago. It was a time when the fashion in America was to use white bread for everything. Bob knew that the nutritious part of the grain was being discarded. For white bread, only the inner portion called the endosperm of the wheat kernel was being used and then the flour was being processed with bleach. To Bob, this seemed like a terrible waste. The discarded parts of the kernel that are not used for making bleached white flour are where most of the nutrients are found.

Bob was literally “going against the grain” so to speak when he launched his business based on stone-ground whole grains. His early efforts got a boost when interest increased in healthier eating. Since then, the public continued to seek out more natural foods that are not subjected to harsh commercial processing.

https://www.bobsredmill.com/blog/featured-articles/bobs-big-birthday-news/

Birthday Bob

Birthday Bob is now over nine decades old. On the occasion of his 90th birthday celebration, Bob has become a living legacy and proof of his life’s work. Bob's birthday was another occasion for Bob to teach about nutrition, how to eat healthy food, and how to live well. We hope Bob can say, “Come celebrate my birthday” when he hits the age of 100 and more. We will be there to say, “Happy Birthday Bob.”

The birthday party was a huge success. Live music was provided by John Bennett’s Ragtime Band. Bob came with his wife Charlee. In 1952, Bob met Charlee on a blind date. After being married for 26 years, they founded Bob’s Red Mill together in 1978.

The idea to create a mill for stone ground whole grains came from Charlee’s love of wholesome natural foods. Since the 1960s, Charlee served her family a very healthy diet of natural foods that were delicious and wholesome. There were plenty of fresh fruits, vegetables, beans, whole grains in the meals that she made.

Charlee quickly became a local personality known for her efforts at the Whole Grain Store that was the retail part of Bob’s Red Mill. She would be found there everyday packing products for sale by hand with loving care. Everybody was impressed with her dedication and Bob’s enthusiastic efforts. The local community supported the business, which helped it grow into the big success it is today.

Bob and Charlee have been together for over 60 years and for 40 of those years they worked alongside each other at Bob’s Red Mill. They still enjoy hanging out at the store and chatting with customers.

Bob’s Red Mill is Employee-Owned

Nine years ago on his 81st birthday, Bob Moore announced the Employee Stock Ownership Program giving the company to its employees. For that day until now, the company has been owned by its employees. Some employees worked with Bob for over 30 years. Even so, they did not expect such generosity. Nevertheless, Bob’s philosophy is that the things that we make in this word should be a good thing and we should help one another by making people a little happier and a little healthier.

By giving his company away, Bob is not sure it will live on long past his time with us. He has already seen almost a decade of successful operations after the employees became the owners. What a terrific example he sets for all other business owners to follow.

The Statue of Bob Moore

As a way to honor Bob Moore’s work, his employee-owned company commissioned the creation of a life-size sculpture of its founder Bob Moore. For this project, they called upon Big Statues, an accomplished set of artists, whose work takes place at an art studio in Provo, Utah.

Before his personal likeness was made into a statue, Bob Moore previously worked with master sculptor Matt Glenn of Big Statues to create a 14-inch-high, realistic bronze sculpture of a wheat kernel. This beautiful piece shows the anatomy of the seed. Bob Moore uses this artwork as a visual aid when he explains the nutritious value of different parts of the kernel.

Matt Glenn, The CEO of Big Statues, created the life-size sculpture of Bob Moore with the help of Bob visiting the artist studio twice to give his measurements and work with them on the design. While at the studio, Bob and Matt got to know each other well. This helped Bob learn more about the sculpting process and helped Matt make a very realistic rendition of Bob as a life-size statue.

Ultimately, four copies of the statue of Bob were made. One was placed at the company’s corporate offices and another was placed at the mill. The other two are used to send out to locations around the world to go on display in order to promote the company’s brand, increase brand awareness, and gain more attention on social media.

About Big Statues

Big Statues makes memorial statues, celebrity statues, custom statues, and statues of famous people from all around the world. They will happily create almost anything to meet their clients’ needs. This includes custom designs for many large companies. Leaders in different industries, are beginning commissioning statues that set their company apart from others.

The Process of Making a Masterpiece

Making a life-size statue is a very long and arduous process involving many steps and many hours of work by the sculptor. The process may take up to a year or longer. For a living person, it begins with taking measurements and photos of the subject and then making many drawings. A scaled miniature statue is made first.

After the client approves the design of the smaller statue, a life-sized version is created in molded clay. The clay version is used to create a mold from polyurethane and silicone rubber. This mold is used to make a wax replica of the statue and then every detail is checked to make sure the wax version is perfect. This wax replica is covered with a ceramic liquid that hardens in its shape. Once the ceramic hardens, the wax is removed. The ceramic can handle the high temperature of the molten bronze that is poured into the ceramic mold.

Large statues are made in smaller pieces that are then welded together. All the assembled pieces are finished with a patina that results in a beautiful masterpiece.

Summary

Organizations who have the benefit of having their founder(s) still being alive should strongly consider making a life-sized statue of the founder(s) as part of their legacy. It is very rewarding for the company to have such a masterpiece to remind everyone of how it all got started. Contact Big Statues to discuss your project and learn more about the process and the cost.