Haugen molded Abraham Lincoln into a "friendly guy."

A SCULPTOR'S WAY

Minneota native Haugen, 88, depicts Lincoln in different light in sculpture

Minneota native Don Haugen, one of the most renowned sculptors in the country, designed a unique statue showing Abraham Lincoln in what he might have looked like upon hearing news of the end of the Civil War.
In nearly every photograph and portrait done of the former president, Lincoln appears tired, stressed and morose. Few people, if any, back then were photographed with a smile on their face.
Haugen decided to change all that.
"I wanted him to appear as a friendly sort of guy," said Haugen, who lives with his wife, Teena Stern, also a sculptor, in Marietta, GA.
Because of the quality work he has done in the past, Haugen, who turned 88 on Aug. 10, is still being commissioned for six-figure statue requests.
"I still enjoy what I do," he said. "I like that I can do something that makes others happy.
It's a long and complicated process, though. It takes around nine months to a year to make a full-sized statue."
Many of the hundreds of statues and busts Haugen has created have been a collaboration with his wife. Some he has made alone, like this Lincoln head.
His work can be found all over the country and even in other countries such as Finland, Switzerland and France.Among his most famous items is a life-sized sculpture of former First Lady Rosalyn Carter seated on a bench and now sits in front of Georgia Southwestern State University where she attended in Americus, GA. The First Lady visited Haugen's home several times for sittings for the sculpture.
Haugen also created a bust of former President Ronald Reagan that can be seen in the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley, CA.
His favorite piece is "Faces of War", a Vietnam War Memorial he was commissioned to create in 1997 in Roswell. The large sculpture focuses on the agony of war.
Haugen was commissioned to sculpt a statue of former Georgia Tech Athletic Director Home Rice last year. He used that same body mold to create the smiling Lincoln statue.
"I was just playing around one day and I created the same body that I used for Homer Jones, but I made the clay head of Abraham Lincoln," said Haugen. "And I just decided to have him smiling." Haugen removed the clay body, but will keep the Lincoln head at his home.
Haugen sculpted a full-size statue of Lincoln a few years ago that now stands in a high school in Roswell, GA.
Haugen was born in Minneota and attended school here until his family moved to Illinois when he was six years old. The family eventually returned to southeastern Minnesota and Haugen graduated from Spring Valley in 1952. After serving in the U.S. Army, he went back to Minneota to live in 1956 and remained here until 1961 when he enrolled in school at the University of Minnesota.
Haugen still has relatives living in Minneota, including his brother Greg.

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