The completed clay model of "Courage" by Michael Tieman

“In July 2008, after a courageous six-year battle with breast cancer, my younger sister died, one week shy of her 50th birthday and the day before her 25th wedding anniversary,” Tieman says. “Since then, I have had the same re-occurring dream. I am on a scaffold built around a piece of white marble 15 feet tall, and I am carving a figure titled ‘Courage’; she has a bald head wrapped in cloth, piercing eyes, a firm jaw, taunt body and feet apart yet firmly planted. The people battling cancer have an inner strength and courage as they not only face an uncertain future, but also have to take their treatments knowing it will make them feel worse. Week after week, they look forward to this pain in hopes to eventually find it gone. There is a look of courage in their eyes I cannot describe with words; it’s not entirely defiant, but has grace and a quiet determination. That is the courage I need to capture.    
 
“In the dream, I can only sense the figure; all I can really see is the head. I am carving with a chisel and hammer, no power tools, and I can see my scarred, swollen hands and feel the pain in them as I continuously strike the chisel. Yet, there are many unanswered questions. Why is the stone exactly 15 feet tall? Why can’t I see the entire figure? I am carving the stone by looking at a maquette of the piece, but why do I know it is exactly 36 inches tall (since I can only see the head)? 

The Promise

“People who saw me building the clay sculpture of ‘Courage’ during my demo at the 2008 Stormy Weather Arts Festival expressed a need for the piece to be seen and touched…now,” Tieman says. “So, I am casting ‘Courage’ in a limited-edition bronze available in three sizes: 9-foot high heroic size, 36-inch-high and 18-inch-high maquettes. Up to half the sale price is being donated directly to a local hospital or cancer center’s Cancer Support Services, the daily support and comfort services for those who come to these facilities to battle cancer. The book “The Building of Courage,” which originally was to be made to accompany each sculpture, will now be published in a larger edition for people who want the book, so they can be connected to ‘Courage.’ The book will also raise money, up to half the sale price, for local Cancer Support Services. ‘Courage’ has found her destiny, and the book is the story of the journey she has taken for all of us.”

“‘Courage’ is all that I dreamed of and more,” Tieman says. “It was a struggle, it was emotionally and physically painful, and it was a celebration of the lives of Muzzy and Connie. When I finished, I took a long walk on the beach in the sun and the warmth and the solitude. The only sounds were those of the gently rolling surf and the seagulls. I retuned to the house, sat on the deck, looked out over the sand and water, smoked a cigar I have been saving for this moment, drank a scotch from a crystal glass and said a prayer of thanks to Muzzy and Connie: