This is why you shouldn’t put 74 statues on a windy coast

Thursday, November 26, 2015, 3:17 PM - Last year, a group of artists in Alaska began creating sculptures for an art project called 100Stone.

The initiative, according to a statement on the 100Stone website, is a "statewide creative civic engagement and social art project that facilitated the capture of hundreds of Alaskans' personal stories of  wellness management in sculptural form."

The stone sculptures were modeled from body casts taken of locals. The installation has spent the past few months touring the state, and it was most recently placed along Point Woronzof, an area known for high tides and strong winds.

Seventy-four statues, which have a concrete covering over white plaster and mesh, were anchored on Saturday using rebar stakes -- metal rods that are commonly used to install tents.

By Wednesday, less than a dozen remained standing after being on the beach, according to Alaska Dispatch News. The only statues that survived the area's strong winds and 9-metre waves were placed high on the shoreline.

At first, it was thought the statutes had been vandalized the Dispatch news reports.

Witnesses report most of the statutes were completely uprooted and their rod tethers bent. The soil surrounding many of the statutes was dampened by the tide.

The collective plans to move the statutes that can be salvaged to higher ground and re-install them using stronger posts. According to the Dispatch, they plan to have the statues back in place by December 5.

Sources: Alaska Dispatch News | 100Stone