A life-size bronze statue of the late Dame Lois Browne Evans is under construction for Bermuda's new court and police building according to its sculptor.

Government yesterday refused to comment on whether or not it had commissioned the work.

However US sculptor Zenos Frudakis told The Royal Gazette he'd been asked to produce the bronze for a new building on the Island.

His website identifies the building as "the Bermuda Federal Courthouse".

The piece is currently a full-size clay replica of Dame Lois, seated and dressed in judicial wig and gowns.

The artist e-mailed this newspaper in hopes of obtaining more photographs to reference before casting the statue.

Dame Lois was Bermuda's first female barrister and Attorney General.

She became the first female Opposition leader in any British Commonwealth country when she took charge of the Progressive Labour Party in 1968.

She died in 2007. The idea of a bronze statue to honour her at the new court and police building was first mooted that year.

In 2008 then Culture Minister Dale Butler said the economic downturn had caused the proposal to be shelved.

Government has yet to officially name the soon-to-be-finished police and court building. The facility is expected to be completed early in the new year.

Mr Frudakis lives in Glenside, Pennsylvania. Of Greek heritage, he describes classical Greek sculpture as a strong influence on his work.

A fine arts graduate of the University of Pennsylvania, he specialises in figure and portrait pieces.

Among other current works in progress are busts of Dante, Albert Einstein and Benjamin Franklin.