The Mustangs of Las Colinas

Williams Square, a stark, pink-granite plaza in the Las Colinas Urban Center, is home to a breathtakingly realistic bronze sculpture of nine wild mustangs crossing a Texas stream. This monumental piece of public art was the culmination of one man's vision to bring the idea of the untamed Texas frontier to his modern real estate development. This is the story of the eight-year process of creating this engaging work of art.

Las Colinas Development

During the late 1960s and early 1970s, Dallas businessman Ben H. Carpenter undertook the task of converting his family ranch land into a world-class residential and business development called "Las Colinas."

To commemorate the state's natural, untamed past, Carpenter commissioned a larger-than-life sculpture of a group of wild mustangs crossing a stream. The work would serve as the focal point of the new development.

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Ben Carpenter

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Ben Carpenter addresses a group at the Las Colinas Country Club.

Ben H. Carpenter

Ben Carpenter was born in Highland Park, Texas, in 1924. His father John Carpenter was head of Texas Power & Light from 1927-1949 and founder of what became Southland Life Insurance Company.

Ben was attending the University of Texas when WWII began, and he joined the U.S. Army. He was stationed in Burma and China. After the war, he finished his degree at the University of Texas. In 1948, he married Elizabeth (Betty) Dupree. They had five children.

In the late 1960s, he began a plan to develop his family's ranch near Irving into a world-class business and residential community named Las Colinas.

Today Las Colinas is home to many Fortune 500 businesses from around the world. Ben Carpenter passed away in 2006.

Designing the Mustangs of Las Colinas

In 1976, Carpenter approached African wildlife artist Robert Glen to bring his vision to reality. Glen spent a year researching and studying the history of wild mustangs to better understand his subject.

He discovered that modern mustangs in the United States showed elements of crossbreeding, but in southern Spain, he found a line of horses with the same pure bloodlines as the horses that the Spanish brought to American centuries ago. He used these horses as the models for his sculpture.

Ben Carpenter (left) discusses the layout of the mustang sculpture with artist Robert Glen.

Creating the Mustangs of Las Colinas

Working from his studio in Nairobi, Kenya, Glen made small-scale models of mustangs in various poses to help him work out the design of the entire sculpture. He then made half-life-sized models of the horses in plasticine (a clay-like substance). He created molds of these models and used those molds to cast the figures in lightweight, durable fiberglass. These figures were shipped to a foundry in England, where the final full-scale models would be created.

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Robert Glen studying miniatures of the mustangs.

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A fiberglass version of the half life-sized model of one of the mustangs. The final product would be one-and-a-half times life-sized, or three times larger than the figure in this photo.

Creation of the Mustangs of Las Colinas in Detail 1

Robert Glen works on one of the half life-sized figures during the early phases of the creation of the Mustangs of Las Colinas sculpture.

Creation of the Mustangs of Las Colinas in Detail 2

Glen removes the mold used to create the fiberglass version of one of the half-sized figures.

Creation of the Mustangs of Las Colinas in Detail 3

Creating of the Mustangs of Las Colinas

The foundry used the half-life-sized models for measurements when scaling up the figures to create full-size (one-and-a-half times life-sized) mustangs. A full-sized model was created out of foam, to which Glen applied plasticine and sculpted the details of the figure.

The half-life-sized model sits beneath the one-and-a-half times life-sized foam model.

Creating the Mustangs of Las Colinas

The artist applied plasticine to the foam figures to sculpt the final details of the mustangs' bodies, such as their manes, tails, and definition of muscles. Glen then coated the figures with resin to harden the plasticine so that it could withstand the rigors of the final mold-making process.

Robert Glen etches in the details of one of the mustangs.

Finishing the Mustangs of Las Colinas

After creating the molds of the larger-than-life models, the foundry completed the bronze castings in November 1981.

A completed bronze casting of one of the mustangs outside the foundry in England.

The Mustangs of Colinas in Williams Square

The mustangs were shipped by air from England to Irving, Texas. After the intricate procedure of mounting the figures in the plaza, and eight years after the project was begun, the Mustangs of Las Colinas sculpture was dedicated on September 25, 1984. Today, tourists from around the world visit the plaza to view the impressive, larger-than-life depiction that serves as its centerpiece.

The Mustangs of Las Colinas crossing a stream. Small fountains at the horses' hooves make it appear as if they are splashing through the water.