Seventy-one sculptures, an 18-foot statue of Jesus, 20 massive bronze panels depicting stories from the Book of Mormon: This is just a sampling of what visitors will find at the Monument of the Americas, a project celebrating patriotism and faith that will soon sit on a hillside above the Heber Valley.
Sculptor Steve Neal said he moved to Heber after retiring from his career as a plastic surgeon specifically so he could realize his vision of the sculpture garden.
He believes the inspiration for the art came from God.
“It was more than just a passing thing – it was a very strong image in my mind,” he said. “This is what you need to do. This is a worthy project to do.”
In fidelity to that vision, he’s been hard at work for 29 years and “tens of thousands of hours,” crafting models, painstakingly molding tiny plaster faces and fundraising to make the entire sculpture garden a reality.
His home in Red Ledges, a gated community east of Heber, is full to the brim with Neal’s paintings and sculptures. A massive painting of the Last Supper runs the full width of the home’s dining room; another room is full of angel models and a golden figure of Jesus several feet tall with a lamb in his arms. Upstairs, he’s refining a cast of an angel and a child, both looking up toward heaven. The angel is modeled after one of his daughters.
All six of his daughters, plus a few grandchildren, will be depicted somewhere in the sculpture garden. And Neal said the faces of especially generous donors will be incorporated into the bronze bas-relief panels showing scenes from the Book of Mormon.
The sculpture garden is an expensive project. Neal said over a million dollars have already gone towards casting sculptures in bronze, with another couple million dollars’ worth of bronze to go.
He said the project is intended, in part, to exalt the country’s founding.
“Lots of our young people feel like they’re being taught that the founding of America was flawed, and certainly in the scripture, in the Book of Mormon, it says it was inspired of God,” he said.
As part of his teachings, Joseph Smith, the founder of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, preached that the U.S. Constitution was divinely inspired.
Neal said he hopes visitors, whether members of the church or not, find spiritual inspiration in the sculpture garden too.
“You learn about the teachings of the prophet about Christ, live a Christ-centered life,” he said. “I think people will go who are not religious, because they’re curious, and I think they’ll feel something.”
The sculptures will be situated on 10 acres atop a hill near Utah Valley University’s Wasatch campus – including a towering 18-foot statue of Jesus that Neal thinks most Heber and Midway residents will be able to see.
“It’ll be able to be seen by most of the valley,” he said.
The park will open in phases. The first sculptures will be placed on the land next summer. Twenty-one of the sculptures are complete; Neal predicts all 71 will be finished in 2028.
