1:00 Program "Wax Portraits to Bronze Medals"
Speaker: Donna L. Weaver, Sculptor-Engraver, United States Mint

Donna Weaver explained and demonstrated wax portraiture, popular at the time of Lewis and Clark, as well as describing her work at the Mint. She spoke about Joseph Wright, the first die sinker at the Mint. "Wright's mother Patience and aunt Rachel worked in wax so there is a neat tie-in with wax, the Mint and myself,” she says.

The U.S. Mint employs an elite team of five sculptor-engravers who are entrusted with creating designs and sculptural models for the production of the Nation’s coins and medals. All the U.S. Mint sculptor-engravers work at the Philadelphia Mint Facility, the only Mint facility that engraves the designs of United States coins and medals.

In July 2000, Donna Weaver was selected as Sculptor-Engraver at the United States Mint in Philadelphia. She joined the Mint with years of sculpting experience. She majored in Fine Arts at the Art Academy of Cincinnati where she studied sculpting, painting, and printmaking, graduating in 1966.

Mrs. Weaver and her husband have revived the art of miniature bas-relief wax portraiture popular in the United States from 1750 until 1840. These works are produced by sculpting shallow relief portraits in wax and applying them to reverse painted glass.

Representative Coin Sculpting Credits
* 2001 U.S. Capitol Visitor Center Commemorative Half Dollar -- obverse
* 2001 American Buffalo Commemorative Silver Dollar - adaptation from original artwork for the reverse
* 2002 Olympic Winter Games Dollar -- reverse
* 2002 Olympic Winter Games Five Dollar -- obverse
* 2002 Tennessee Quarter -- reverse
* 2002 Ohio Quarter -- reverse
* 2002 Indiana Quarter -- reverse
* 2002 Mississippi Quarter -- reverseRepresentative Medal Sculpting Credits
* U.S. Mint Director Jay Johnson -- reverse
* Secretary of the Treasury Lawrence H. Summers -- reverse
* Charles Schulz -- obverse & reverse
* President Ronald and Nancy Reagan – reverse