In a state where the cowboy culture of horses is almost a religion, it was fitting that two of the largest horses in the world were created here.

Artist Arturo Di Modica, one of the world’s greatest living sculptors, has been using the Eagle Bronze Foundry in Lander for many of his gigantic works.

The first efforts on this project started 13 years ago. In terms of all the projects undertaken by Eagle Bronze, this one might have set the record for its long time in their shop.

But first a person is impressed by the gigantic size of these horses. They are 26 feet tall. They dwarf the workmen who have been putting the finishing touches to the huge bronze work of art.

It is not certain how the horses will be placed in Di Modica’s native Sicily, but they will sure create a stir when installed.

Monte and Bev Paddleford founded Eagle Bronze in 1985 when Bev wanted to return to her hometown to sculpt and to create a small foundry to cast bronzes made by her late father, artist Bud Boller.

They formed the business with the vision of being a Christian company. In the next decades it exploded into the largest bronze foundry in the country specializing in huge bronze monuments.

Work from the foundry can be found all over the world. Some of the more famous include the huge black panthers at the Carolina Panthers football stadium in Charlotte, North Carolina.

The largest bronze monument in Texas was created in Lander — it shows a bronze cattle drive through Pioneer Park in downtown Dallas. It features 40 cows and three cowboys.

The Paddlefords worked with a local committee in Lander to use three of those steers plus a cowboy to create what is called The Bronze Roundup — which might be the largest bronze monument in all of Wyoming. It was the millennium project for the Lander community.

For years, Lander has been known as the City of Bronze because of all the bronze monuments that line the town’s Main Street. Most of this effort was spearheaded by the Paddlefords. The first bronze sculpture on Main Street was by Bev’s father, Bud Boller, sponsored by the local Ambassador’s Club in the 1980s.

In recent years, both Casper and Sheridan have placed beautiful bronze statues in their cities. But there are not so many smaller towns which have as many statues that are featured as in Lander. Buffalo and Thermopolis have lots of bronzes, too.

Monte and Bev Paddleford decided to move back to Lander so they could start a small foundry, and for Monte to pastor a Vineyard Church.

“I guess the Lord had slightly other plans,” Monte wrote on their website. “Having redesigned the way we build and engineer monuments, we have been told that we are the largest producer of monuments in the world, and can do them quicker than most, keeping the integrity that the artist had originally produced.”

He said Beverly “is a very gifted and talented artist.”

“Her ability to create softness and life in everything she sculpts is truly a gift from the Lord,” Monte wrote. “Her work has kept our vision of ministry going.”

Monte said he may not be the pastor he thought he was called to be, but he has been able to see the impact Bev’s art has had and been able to use this as a tool to minister to people along the way.

“We have rebranded Eagle Bronze to move in a direction that has made us more than just a fine art foundry,” Monte wrote. “We have become an art marketing group that can take conception to completion, help our artists find and place projects, and much more.

“Above all, it has always been about the relationships we have made over the years. It is about our everlasting friendships we have built and hope to continue to build.”

(Bill Sniffin has published six books. More stories by Sniffin are available at www.CowboyStateDaily.com.)