What they’re thinking: 13-year-old youngest to design, paint Herky statue

IOWA CITY — At first blush, 13-year-old Archie Damschen wasn’t so sure.

His dad had come home with the news that artists were being sought to design and then execute their plan on a 6-foot-tall fiberglass statue of University of Iowa mascot Herky the Hawkeye.

“My dad was the one who found out, ‘Oh, anyone can apply’,” said Archie, who is home-schooled with his two brothers in Iowa City and long has shown an affinity for art.

“But mainly I draw,” he said. "I've never painted anything that big — even remotely that big.“

So the call for artists that Archie’s dad printed out just sat there in the family home for “a long time.” It wasn’t until a couple days before proposals were due that Archie started bouncing around some ideas. With the help of his parents and their family vacations, they collectively conceived of a Herky covered in national parks.

“Dad was the one who came up with ‘America's best idea’ — because that's what it's officially called,” Archie said of the proposal for a national park motif. “And then we sent it in. I think it was the day of the deadline.”

About a month later, Archie learned he'd been chosen as the youngest artist ever commissioned to design and execute an entry for “Herky on Parade.” In its third iteration this year, nearly 260 statues have brightened the community over the span of 20 years — including the 100 unveiled Wednesday morning.

During the first Herky on Parade in 2004, Archie wasn’t born yet. For the second in 2014, he was just 3 — but still has some memories. “We visited all the Herkys and took pictures,” he said. "It was really fun.”

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Q: For the 2024 parade, when and how did you learn you had been chosen as an artist?

A: I was in my room, and dad called me downstairs. And I sat on our couch. And he and Mom were sitting on opposite sides of the room. And Dad was like, “I have some exciting news, Archie. You got picked.” And I was like, “Oh my goodness. Really?” And my parents came over and hugged me. It was it was so fun.

Q: Was there any part of you that felt nervous or pressure in that moment about the task before you?

A: Not really. Because I was just thinking, “Oh, my goodness. I got picked. This is so cool.” That kind of set in when we had the actual blank (Herky) in our garage.

Q: Tell us about your process. Did you draw out some ideas on paper first? Or sketch it onto the Herky with a pencil?

A: The day we got it, I kind of felt the need to get started. So I took my little pencil stub, and I just like roughly sketched out where everything was going to be on the statue.

Q: Did you know all of the parks you wanted to include?

A: It was funny. We just went to the Iowa City library, and me and my mom just flipped through a bunch of national parks books to see if there were any good pictures that we could use. And I ended up using quite a few, and I used some from our phone, too — from trips that we've taken to them.

Q: So are all 63 U.S. national parks represented on the Herky?

A: “There are a lot on there,” Archie said, reaching out to his mom, Erika Damschen, for help. “Mom, how many did we count?” “I think we counted 27,” she said.

Q: Name a few you included and that you especially liked doing or how they turned out.

A: A couple that are on there are Arches, Rocky Mountain, Mount Rushmore, Joshua Tree, Acadia. I had a bison from Teddy Roosevelt National Park on his shoulder. … That one, I’m super happy with how the eye looks.

Q: Were there any parks that you found particularly challenging to depict on a giant Herky statue?

A: The ones in weird places … (My mom) had a wonderful idea of doing a dark sky park on the under side of his legs. I was like, “Oh man, that is a great idea.” Because I only have to do black and a couple of other colors and white stars. I also ended up doing Everglades on the bottom of his right arm, and that was a little difficult for the positioning of keeping my hand steady and keeping the brush steady.

Q: How tall are you?

A: “I am like 5’11,” Archie said. “He’s a very tall 13-year-old,” his mom added. “So he had maybe an advantage there.”

Q: Unless you’re stooped. Did you find yourself in some pretty weird positions for long periods of time?

A: I did. I also had to lay down. I did a little prairie dog on the back of his left foot, and that was a weird position for my neck. … But the prairie dog ended up looking really nice.

Q: How does it feel to be the youngest artist to ever design and create a Herky for the parade? Was that ever intimidating?

A: No, not really. I was like, let’s just paint it.

Q: How long did it take you? Did you work on it every day?

A: It was funny. So I had only put on the first layer of the National Park logo, the arrowhead, and I left that for a couple of weeks. And I was kind of getting tired because my brothers were like, “Oh, why don't you work on Herky?” And I was like, “Yeah, I will. I will.” And then finally, I still had like two months, but I was like, “Geez I better get down to it. I need to start working.” So then I did like an hour to two hours pretty much every day for the rest of the time. … So it took two and a half months.”

Q: How many national parks have you been to? And do you have a favorite?

A: “Arches was really fun,” Archie said of the Utah desert landscape, from among the 16 his family has visited. “And the Grand Canyon was so pretty.”

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Q: When you were done and delivered your finished product to Think Iowa City, how did that feel?

A: It was so satisfying. We took a little video of when I finished it, which — technically — I didn’t finish it.

Q: What do you mean?

A: Me and my mom ended up going out there that night, in our garage, and were like, “OK, is there anything you want to change?” We looked over everything … and I ended up changing Arches and Canyon Lands just a little bit.

Q: How do you feel about sharing your art with the entire community for an entire summer?

A: That’ll be so fun.

Q: And where is your Herky located?

A: It’s going to be in University Heights, right across from Stella.

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Vanessa Miller covers higher education for The Gazette.

Comments: (319) 339-3158; vanessa.miller@thegazette.com