The seven bronze statues of historic women on the plaza of Voices from the Garden: The Virginia Women’s Monument, located on Capitol Square in Richmond, include (left to right): Virginia Randolph, an innovative educator; Anne Burras Laydon, a Jamestown colonist; Adele Clark, a suffragist and artist [she is holding a Votes for Women sign]; Mary Draper Ingles, a frontierswoman; Laura Copenhaver, an entrepreneurial business woman in the textile industry; Cockacoeske, a chief of the Pamunkey Indian Tribe; and Elizabeth Keckly, a talented dressmaker and confidante to Mary Todd Lincoln.
The first seven statues include a depiction of Mary Draper Ingles. A few more statues are still in the works and will be added when they are funded and commissioned to be sculpted by Ivan Schwartz and his team of artisans at StudioEIS in Brooklyn, NY.
The Virginia Women’s Monument is the first on the grounds of any state capitol to celebrate the range of contributions and achievements that women have made to a state’s history, in this case the 400-year history of the Commonwealth of Virginia.
The statues are not on pedestals or horses. Visitors can interact with them eye-to-eye. Many of the bronze women are not well-known to most people, and their stories have been lost to time. Now their voices will be heard and shared, providing inspiration to the next generation of young women who learn about them.
The seven statues include: Virginia Randolph, an innovative educator; Anne Burras Laydon, a Jamestown colonist; Adele Clark, a suffragist and artist [she is holding a Votes for Women sign]; Mary Draper Ingles, a frontierswoman; Laura Copenhaver, an entrepreneurial business woman in the textile industry; Cockacoeske, a chief of the Pamunkey Indian Tribe; and Elizabeth Keckly, a talented dressmaker and confidante to Mary Todd Lincoln.
Details about the monument and the women who are featured as statues, as well as the 230 names inscribed on the glass Wall of Honor on the monument’s plaza, can be found at http://womensmonumentcom.virginia.gov
