Sculptor Rides Out of Town--With Bronze Horse

In the end, the artist rode off into the sunset with his 2.5-ton bronze horse.

But artist David Huenergardt would have preferred leaving the horse behind and helping the Thousand Oaks Civic Arts Plaza raise the $1 million it sought to finish the sculpture and to support an endowment fund.

A year passed, and no donor was found. So Huenergardt recently packed up his horse and left town. The sculpture now sits in a storage yard in Ventura.

“It was out there for a year,” Huenergardt said. “That’s a lot of time to have a major piece of sculpture sitting somewhere and not have anything happen.”

The original plan called for Huenergardt to construct and donate the first of three horses that would be part of a sculpture called “Running Free.” The estimated cost to build the other two horses was $300,000.

A benefactor would have to be found to pay for the sculpture, and $700,000 more was sought to support an endowment fund for the Civic Arts Plaza.

But a donor never came forward. “I was disappointed,” said Huenergardt, of Los Angeles. “It just seemed like it didn’t capture people’s imagination.”

Arts officials aren’t giving up, though. They have already spent hours giving private viewings of the sculpture, sending brochures to scores of arts supporters and wining and dining more than two dozen potential donors.

“I’m still optimistic that we’re going to be able to make it happen,” said attorney Chuck Cohen, who has helped lead the Alliance of the Arts’ effort to find a benefactor. “I haven’t given up. I think having it here . . . would make our effort easier because it sells itself to somebody that has a special interest in it. But now we have to do more of an oral sell rather than a visual sell.”

Cohen has good reason to believe a donor will be found. Fred Kavli donated $2.5 million, and Ray and Janet Scherr gave $1 million to the Civic Arts Plaza two years ago (theaters were named in their honor). And William and Beverly Dallas gave $1.5 million (the plaza’s cross-street was named for them), Cohen said.

“It’s clear when you look at institutions that have fund-raising, naming opportunities have an appeal,” Cohen said. “The people feel like it makes them a part of the venue and the bricks and mortar for all time.”

But if a benefactor is not found soon, Huenergardt’s artwork may find a new home. The artist said his piece has garnered interest from other places, including the operators of a sculpture garden in downtown Los Angeles.

Susan Malchicoff, a city resident who along with her husband has pledged at least $50,000 to the Alliance, the fund-raising arm of the Civic Arts Plaza, says the $1-million price tag is hefty.

“You only have two or three that have given that type of money,” she said. “I think with the size of the donation, you’re just going to get a certain number of people donating.”

Cohen doesn’t believe the Alliance would lower the $1-million request, which could be paid out over five years.

“I don’t think price is the issue,” he said. “I think it’s finding . . . somebody that wants to do something for the arts and finds this to be the most attractive vehicle.”