Sabin Howard calls for Americans to reclaim liberty through new bronze arch

National World War I Memorial sculptor Sabin Howard used a speech in Beaver Creek, Colorado, to argue that liberty must be actively preserved as the United States nears its 250th anniversary. His next project, the planned Grand Liberty Arch, is designed to carry that message into a new civic monument and teaching tool.

Why it matters: - Howard is tying a major new public artwork to a broader argument about civic responsibility and the future of American liberty. - The Grand Liberty Arch is meant to connect the nation’s 250th anniversary with the next 250 years, making the project both symbolic and educational.

What happened: - Sabin Howard spoke Thursday at the Steamboat Institute’s 18th Annual Freedom Conference in Beaver Creek, Colorado. - Howard, the sculptor of A Soldier’s Journey at the National World War I Memorial in Washington, D.C., urged Americans to treat liberty as something that must be practiced and passed on. - Howard said, “No society inherits liberty automatically.” - Howard said liberty must be “cultivated, protected, practiced, and played forward.”

The details: - A Soldier’s Journey is a 58-foot, 38-figure bronze composition at the National World War I Memorial. - Howard received the commission in 2015 and spent more than nine years bringing the work from concept to completion. - The project moved through a federal approval process and required the physical work of producing one of the largest figurative bronze compositions of its kind. - A Soldier’s Journey was unveiled in Washington in September 2024. - Howard described the memorial as an homage to sacrifice, courage and the “heroic nature of the American spirit.” - Howard said societies depend on the stories they choose to preserve. - The Grand Liberty Arch is a planned 60-foot-long, 38-foot-tall bronze monument with 56 figures. - The 56 figures symbolically honor the 56 signers of the Declaration of Independence. - Howard said the monument is also about the Americans who inherit the freedoms those signers helped establish. - Lady Liberty is reimagined as an active presence moving through the monument rather than standing on a pedestal. - Howard said the arch is intended as an educational project. - His vision includes young people from across the country serving as docents and using primary sources to interpret the monument’s themes. - Howard said the project is meant to make history participatory.

Between the lines: - Howard is extending the themes of his World War I memorial work into a larger argument about civic memory, national identity and personal responsibility. - The Grand Liberty Arch appears designed to be both a monument and a narrative device, with the docent model signaling an emphasis on public interpretation rather than passive viewing. - The speech frames liberty less as a political abstraction and more as a lived choice that depends on individual action.

What's next: - Howard said the Grand Liberty Arch is his next major undertaking. - The project is being presented as a tribute to 250 years of American liberty and a bridge to the future. - Howard said he wants Americans to “stand with me” and “take ownership of this mission.” - The Steamboat Institute says its work centers on defending liberty and promoting America’s founding principles.

The bottom line: - Howard is using his next monument to argue that America’s founding ideals survive only if each generation actively carries them forward.