Montana Tech team helps brings historic sculpture back to life through 3D printing

Photo: Dr. Nathan Huft and Daniel Topp assemble the replica of Death of Cleopatra by Edmonia Lewis.

A collaborative effort by Montana Technological University, Montana State University and the Smithsonian American Art Museum is bringing a 3D-printed replica of a groundbreaking 19th-century sculpture, once nearly lost to history, to the Museum of the Rockies.

Created in 1876 by Edmonia Lewis, one of the first Black and Native American women to achieve international recognition as a sculptor, The Death of Cleopatra depicts the Egyptian queen in the moments after her death. The monumental marble sculpture, weighing approximately 3,000 pounds, was first exhibited at the Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia, where its dramatic portrayal of Cleopatra drew both praise and criticism.

Following the exposition, the sculpture disappeared from the art world for more than a century. The statue was housed in a Chicago saloon, and eventually became a fixture at a Chicago racetrack, where it marked the grave of a racehorse, before being moved to a salvage yard. Rediscovered in the 1980s, the weathered sculpture was restored and ultimately acquired by the Smithsonian American Art Museum, where it remains part of the permanent collection.

Montana State University Professors Dr. Melissa Ragain and Dr. Regina Gee approached the Montana Tech Advanced Manufacturing (MTAM) Research Group about possibly recreating the sculpture with 3-D printers for a Museum of the Rockies exhibit. Scans of the sculpture were sent from the Smithsonian and Montana Tech researchers got to work.

Jadon Bingham (B.S. Mechanical Engineering, ’26) and Daniel Topp (B.S. Mechanical Engineering, ’26) assisted Dr. Nathan Huft in bringing the statue to life. After originally planning to use resin printers, the team switched to PLA filament and utilized five different printers  — two Elegoo Centauri Carbon printers, a Creatbot F430NX, a VisionMiner IDEX22, and a Creality Ender V3 Plus  — to complete the project. It took 1150 hours (nearly 48 full days) to print 115 pieces that were assembled in 30 hours.

“For me, the most challenging part was keeping the printers running — I spent a lot of time troubleshooting,” Huft said. “The rewarding part was seeing it all take shape as we were assembling it. I couldn't really tell what parts went where as I printed them.”

Bingham and Topp were strategic in their CAD design for the project and both worked after they graduated in May 2026 to make sure the statue printed as planned.

“They did an excellent job with how they sectioned the full statue into parts,” Huft said. “They didn't just blindly grid it off; they chose specific spots to make the cuts.”

Bingham estimates he spent 200-300 hours in front of the computer on the project. He said a lot of the project’s success is due not only to Montana Tech’s hard work, but also the team at the Smithsonian for providing a high-definition lidar model and MSU’s School of Art for painting and finishing the statute.

“It was a pretty unorthodox project, but I’m glad it turned out as well as it did,” Bingham said. “It’s not super conventional, or something you’d think of as engineering project, but it’s cool to have something I worked on that ended up in a museum. I don’t think most engineers can say that they’ve worked on anything that’s in a museum.”

Topp said he was most proud of finishing the statue and getting it to MSU for the museum opening.

“It required a bit of adaptability when we changed the material and the printing method, but we made it through,” Topp said. “Jadon and I both worked on this project even after graduating. I made a handful of trips back to Butte to help with printing progress and a weekend to assemble. I feel that is just a representation of Montana Tech students and our commitment to the school that put us on the path to success.”

The 3D-printed replica of The Death of Cleopatra will be on display as part of the Chisel and Razor exhibition at the Museum of the Rockies in Bozeman from October 17, 2026 to September 12, 2027. For exhibition dates and additional information, visit museumoftherockies.org/exhibitions/chisel-and-razor

Photos:

Photo:The replica of Death of Cleopatra by Edmonia Lewis is transported to Museum of the Rockies.

 Dr. Melissa Ragain

Photo: Dr. Nathan Huft assembles the replica of Death of Cleopatra by Edmonia Lewis.

Photo: Dr. Nathan Huft assembles the replica of Death of Cleopatra by Edmonia Lewis.