The Story of the Kristina Statue

THIS POST WAS MOSTLY WRITTEN IN FALL 2019.

One day, while visiting my parents' house this past summer, they had a visitor drop by to wish my Nana a happy 90th birthday.   His name is Dennis Smith and somehow the conversation turned to the fact that he was an artist.  He was fascinating to talk to and drew my daughter, Ellie, right into the story of how he became an artist.   Though they are many decades apart in age, I felt like he and Ellie spoke the same language of creativity and expression.  

He told us how he loved to use his art to capture moments in time--especially those of families and children.   He is the artist that created this iconic statue called "In the Family Circle" that can be found at several LDS temples around the world.  We took this picture at the temple in Madrid, Spain.  

During the course of our conversation, it came up that we would be traveling to Copenhagen, Denmark soon (Fall 2019).   He excitedly told us that he'd served his mission in Denmark and that one of his sculptures could be found there.   

When we got there, we tracked down the location (right on the harbor) and were thrilled to be able to see it in person.  

It was fascinating to read the story and to see the incredible detail of his work up close.  

It was a wonderful experience and we loved being able to meet the artist in person and then see his works in real life.