Williston's John Andelin says the art of classical stone sculpture is dwindling in popularity, but he considers marble sculpture to have a timeless, historic quality that immortalizes the subject.

His reverence for former President George H.W. Bush led the Williston pathologist, who does sculpting as a hobby, to immortalize the former president in a marble sculpture that was unveiled at the George and Barbara Bush Center in Maine last week.

On Sept. 17, Andelin was in Biddeford, Maine, where his sculpture of the 41st president was unveiled in a ceremony at the University of New England.

For Andelin, labratory director at Williston's Mercy Medical Center, being able to construct artwork of a leader he admires and having it displayed prominently is an amazing and humbling experience.

"I'm still sort of taking in it right now," said Andelin. The sculpture of Bush weighs about 2,700 pounds and stands 9 feet 1 inch tall. It was carved from a block of Colorado Yule marble.

Andelin's journey from turning an idea to a completed sculpture of Bush took several years. It filled many long hours in his spare time, carving and chiseling away at the marble in his Williston home.

"I was working on it on and off for about four years. It was all in my spare time, since I have a full-time job at the hospital," said Andelin.

The project would have never come together in the first place if he hadn't offered to do it.

"The initial contact was made by me. I wrote a letter and submitted some photos, and they responded. Then I hired a professional agent and he negotiated an arrangement to do the sculpture," said Andelin.

In February 2003, Andelin met Bush and showed him some pictures and initial drawings. He said Bush and his people liked what they saw and gave him some suggestions of their own.

Andelin also performed a three-dimensional scan of Bush's face and hands to use for reference points. This was so he could put the information from the scan into his computer and create a 3D model of him to plot out the sculpture.

One of the first steps to the sculpture is getting the marble.

"It was trucked up here in 2004. I chose Colorado Yule marble from the town of Marble, Colo., because some of the best marble in the U.S. comes from there," said Andelin.

He took about two years to construct the sculpture. The reason two years of physical work took four years is because there were some periods where he was busy and unable to work on the piece.

The slab of marble originally was 19,000 pounds, said Andelin. He used the 3D scans of Bush to plot the design of the sculpture before he even touched a tool. This saved a lot of monotonous hours of measuring and plotting by hand, said Andelin.

"It was a lot of hard work, a lot of hard shaping. It was a challenging effort, to try to create something that he would like," he said.

Once it was finished, the sculpture was shipped to Maine. A small section of the Bush Center's roof was temporarily removed so the sculpture could be hoisted into place by a crane.

"The vice-president of the university spoke, then Bush spoke. Then he called me up to say a few words, impromptu. There was a really nice reception afterwards. They treated me very generously," said Andelin.

He said the unveiling was great, but his day became even more special while talking with Bush afterwards.

"We visited, and Bush asked me if I was doing anything else that afternoon. I said I didn't have much going on, maybe some sightseeing. He offered to have me come over to his summer compound in Kennebunkport, Maine," said Andelin.

He agreed, and traveled to the Bush summer home, where he visited for part of the afternoon outside while getting a tour of the grounds.

Andelin said it was an extremely satisfying trip and he was treated great by a man and president he admires.

"Every artist who does a sculpture is trying to make a statement. Hopefully it's a statement that he's a great man," said Andelin.

He considers Bush as a good leader with strong moral values who did a lot of good for the United States.

"I thought he was worthy of being immortalized in marble," said Andelin.

He said there are some early discussions for further work to be done in honor of the Bushes. He's been in contact with Texas A&M University at College Station to possibly do a sculpture of George and Barbara Bush for a health science center on campus. He's already done a 3D scan of Barbara Bush, but discussions are still in the beginning stages.

The overall experience is amazing for the sculptor who's always felt he was fairly talented with the medium and had the desire to do a prominent work of some kind.

"Meeting with them, them speaking highly of it and having it in a prominent place...it's going to take some getting used to," said Andelin.

Andelin has done woodcarving as a hobby since he was 15. He began carving marble in the mid-1990s.

He and his wife Cindy have seven children and eight grandchildren. He received his M.D. degree in 1981 from the University of Missouri-Columbia. Andelin has been practicing as a hospital-based pathologist since 1985.

For more information on John Andelin's art, visit his Web site at www.heroicmarble.com.