2 1/2-Ton Gift : 1st Cal Lutheran Grads Chipped Away for 22 Years to Finish Statue

The first graduating class of California Lutheran University in Thousand Oaks pondered donating a much needed Xerox machine to the small school as its parting gift 22 years ago, then decided on something very different. “There were a lot of practical needs during those first few years, but we wanted to give something that would be there a long time,” recalled Donald DeMars, who was class president.

So, with $45 in the bank and pledges of annual donations by each of its 54 members, the 1964 senior class commissioned the school’s art professor to design and build a larger-than-life statue of Martin Luther, the 16th-Century leader of the Protestant Reformation.

Today, the liberal arts college is scheduled to unveil the class gift--the largest bronze sculpture in Los Angeles or Ventura counties.

It took 20 years to raise the approximately $150,000 needed for the project and another two years to transform a four-inch-high design into the 16-foot high, 2 1/2-ton sculpture.

“What I have tried to do is to create the character of the man who dared to challenge the Catholic ways and rules, who decided to take on the biggest dignitaries of the world,” said Sir Bernardus Weber, 74, who designed the statue and supervised its creation. “Many discussions had taken place until I came up with my own idea that was based on the word enormous, so the forms are enormous.”

Weber, who has worked as a potter, sculptor and painter, taught at the school from 1961 until his retirement three years ago and remains an artist-in-residence there. He was knighted by Queen Juliana of the Netherlands, his native country, in 1977 for his work as an artist there.

One of Weber’s former students at the college, David Paul DeMars of Encino, collaborated on the statue’s construction. Weber watched over his former student as DeMars did the most physically demanding work.

“Not only is it an artistic statement, but the physics involved in creating something of this size are just incredible,” said DeMars, a professional artist and younger

brother of Donald DeMars. A crane had to be used to move the sculpture’s frame before casting, the younger DeMars said.

The 11 a.m. unveiling is part of Founder’s Day at the school, celebrating its 27th anniversary. The 200-acre, four-year university is one of 30 Lutheran colleges nationwide and one of only two on the West Coast.

Invited to Ceremony

All members of the first graduating class have been invited to attend the ceremony, Donald DeMars said.

Jerry H. Miller, president of the 2,400-student university, said the statue’s placement in front of the campus library will make it a focal point for conversation and “reflection about Christian life.”

Miller predicted, however, that the work may be somewhat controversial because of its modern design. The statue portrays a figure looking up toward the sky.

Not ‘Conventional’

“For people looking for a fairly conventional, realistic portrayal of Luther, this is not one,” Weber concurred.

Weber, who came to Thousand Oaks from Holland in 1953, said that he hopes the statue will convey to students the immensity of Luther’s accomplishments and inspire them during their time at the school.

“Whether it is sculpture or pottery, when you create with clay figures, you are doing just what the Good Lord did,” he said.