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Joe Beeler's tribute to Barry Goldwater sits on the corner of one of Scottsdale's busiest intersections.   Video: Dial Up | Cable/DSL Transporting and erecting monument. Unveiling ceremony.   Get FREE player

PARADISE VALLEY , AZ - “It was a great honor for me to do this sculpture,” said Joe Beeler, founding Cowboy Artists of America member. “I consider Barry Goldwater one of the great Americans and great Arizonans.”

Beeler said the success of the heroic bronze is not only due to his efforts, “there were many who helped me through the process of creating it.” Beeler said his wife; family and friends played an important role, “and the Bronzesmith Foundry was particularly helpful.” Bronzesmith served as a workplace for Beeler as he created the sculpture.

Beeler was commissioned by The Town of Paradise Valley to create the nine-foot bronze, the first major work of art to celebrate the life of Arizona’s best-known native. Goldwater retired to Paradise Valley after serving three decades in the United States Senate.

The monument, unveiled in February 2004, is the centerpiece of the Goldwater Memorial located in Paradise Valley. The memorial sits just below the hilltop house where Goldwater lived until his death in 1989.

Beeler said creating the heroic bronze was a challenge. “I’m not a portrait artist. I’ve always worked from images in my memory, and the people in my work are people I make up myself. They are a mixture of different things I’ve seen or thought about.”

Beeler said his greatest challenge was to “come up with a likeness and image that was not only acceptable to myself, but to a much larger audience. Barry belongs to the world and everyone has their own picture of him in their mind.”

Beeler, a long-time friend of Goldwater, worked on the sculpture for six months, and used photos; memories and videos to help him accurately portray Goldwater’s likeness. The Goldwater family provided personal items that belonged to Goldwater for Beeler to study. These items included articles of clothing and the Rolliflex camera Goldwater used to photograph his “beloved Arizona”, Beeler said.

Beeler said of Barry Goldwater, “My friendship with Barry Goldwater lasted more than 25 years. It began when we moved to Arizona 45 years ago. Barry Goldwater came to an early show I had at the Heard Museum and liked my work. Later, after a few of us formed the Cowboy Artists of America, he agreed to be Master of Ceremonies of our banquet. He lent credibility to our young organization. He wrote the forward to our first Cowboy Artists of America book, and later became an Honorary CAA.”