Squalicum Harbor Fishermen's Memorial
Dedication Ceremony
May 31, 1999
Transcribed by Jerri Williams
Artistic Symbolism Speaker: Doctor Eugene Fairbanks
Doctor Eugene
Fairbanks:
Thank you very
much.
It is a pleasure to meet with all of you here and a pleasure to have this come to a successful conclusion. I would like to tell you about this monument and give some explanation. Although if an artistic piece is really well done there should not be any explanation needed. But to give a little bit more to a meaning of it, I will read what I have planned to tell you. And if I am not speaking loud enough just raise your hand and I will shout.
All right. When seeking an inspiration for honoring fisherman an artist needs to seek a portrayal, which renders action. And it also renders emotions and characteristic presentation. Such a concept could present a central figure of a fisherman on a pedestal in some action appropriate to commercial fishing.
Now, the present time of commercial fishing a lot of the action is done with levers with hydraulic power and this doesn’t give much of a dramatic moment. So, I had to think some idea for some action and I needed to have some input from someone in the fishing industry. Fortunately, I had a son who is a commercial fisherman. My son, John Fairbanks, over here… Raise your hand, John….
And, so, I talked to him about it and he gave me some ideas. And one of them was casting a line. So I had taken some pictures of him casting a line. And that gave me something to work on.
Now John was a very good friend of Greg Schwindt. So that this was very important to him also. The significance of casting a line is that of security at the end of a successful voyage. It is an abstract concept of safe return and the ultimate hope of all seafaring persons. It is a traditional action that is centuries old. And yet it will continue long into the future.
The central figure needs to be at least more than life size. This is called heroic size. It is four-thirds life size about 8 or 9 feet tall. If you get something that is above eye level and it is life size it looks too small. So it had to be heroic size.
Now the statue is cast in bronze, which weathers very well. And it also has a beauty, when it has a fine patina added to it. They use chemicals to apply a patina. They have to heat it up very hot and then they put chemicals on it and then they polish it off so that the highlights show up.
The pedestal is of red granite. It was quarried in South Dakota five feet square and eight feet tall. And it weighs about 38,000 pounds. The names of those to be honored will be incised below the panel and hopefully, we won’t need to use the other three sides but they are available if some disaster or several disasters do occur.
Now, the bas-relief panels were also cast using the lost wax process that are cast down in Sultan, Washington. And the bronze is quarter inch thick and it is attached with threaded stainless steel bolts embedded in epoxy resin.
The Native American fishermen I felt should certainly be honored and so this panel is honoring the Native American fishermen that have suffered casualties from many centuries. And they have been providing their people with sustenance salmon and other harvest from the sea.
In the distant
part you can see a small village. They had stoneware and they had
willowwares where they were able to keep the salmon until they could catch
them more easily by having them concentrated. In addition to that is the
Native American technology of using reef netting. Indians developed and
invented the reef nets and fishermen are using reef nets now. But their
traditional system they had reef nets. So in the middle zone are the reef
netting. And there are war canoes out there. And these are traditional
motifs of the images that the Native American artists would carve on their
totem poles and other areas. And we have included those too.
In the foreground, we have the representation of the Indians using modern technology and some of them in the part you will see have inscribed a painted images of traditional images. And so, I used those with the permission of the boat owners and included them on the boats.
On another panel right on the
opposite side, I have modeled a wheelhouse interior. You will see that in
the distance
there
are some other ships as many of the ships go north why they go in groups.
And so there is a group of fishing vessels on their way to a distant fishing
area. And in the wheelhouse you see representation of the electronic
gear that is necessary in the modern technology of fishing. Both for their
own safety so that they have better navigational systems
and also precision for reaping the harvest.
The ship is responding to the wave action so that you feel the pitch and the roll of the sea.
The third
panel portrays a deck of a purse seiner as they are closing the net to catch
the salmon and store it in the hold. The scene is a location west of Lummi
Island and near Legoe Bay. And by that we have some of the modern type of
reef netters that pictured in the middle ground of the bas-relief. And in
the distance you can see Mt Baker.
The fourth panel is a portrayal of a harbor scene. And it is essentially as if you were a low flying plane or a helicopter and you were looking down over gate 5. Down here. And so that this way we get representation of the different fishing vessels that are important to the fishing industry.
I have tried
to include purse seiners, gill netters; both bow pickers and
stern pickers,
there are
other crabbers,
trawlers, trollers, fish buyers, long liners, and
even some pleasure boaters. So, this is for representation. An effort has
been for as much representation as I can include.
Included, also in the background, are buildings containing web lockers and business services that service the fishing industry. In bas relief sculpture, one tries to get as much in the bas relief so you try to fill up as many blank spaces so that it gives you a lot more feeling, a lot more representation.
Now an important consideration in this project was to involve many people. Not only the committee members but we did involve the community so that there would be many people that have a pride in the accomplishment of the final product.
There were many time consuming activities requiring ordinary and special skills of which many interested persons assisted.
In the recognition of their assistance if it should be inadvertently omitted let me thank them now thrice so that many peoples deserve a lot of thanks.
The central figure is heroic statue modeled in Gene Vitalich web locker. We called it the water front studio. And we appreciate his generosity.
And as others came by to watch, they were asked to put on a little clay. As a matter of fact, the first ones to be asked to put on the clay was a cadre of the future sculptures of Bellingham. These were the sons and daughters, the small children of Bellingham fishermen.
And so if you
look down on the display table you will see pictures of these young people
starting to model the monument. They started in modeling the boots to the
monument. Look at the boots and they are the ones that started modeling the
boots.
Now, there have been a lot of people then who had the opportunity to put a little clay on and say I had a help in it.
Since commercial fishermen seek the finest of equipment for their vessels this monument deserves to be created in the finest method we can create it.
There is excellent talent in our community and consultations have been utilized in preference of seeking distant famous names in distant cities.
I have consulted with both Steve Mao and James Williamson leading maritime artists and I have appreciated their input and ideas for the bas-relief panels.
Now there has been an advantage by using those consulting, those in the fishing industry to get as accurate representation as possible.
Now I would like to introduce my brother Justin Fairbanks.
Justin
Fairbanks is a professional sculptor and has taught sculpture at the Eastern
Arizona College and he has been inestimateable help in finishing this. I
called to him and he said sure I would be happy to help you. And so that’s
great. I put some of my grandchildren to work, too. And, so, we appreciate
all of those.
And now a college student by the name of Eugene Broadgate. If he is in the crowd right now I would like to introduce him. I think he is in Seattle but he was a student up at Western Washington and he joined the team and he was a great help too.
If there is anyone I haven’t mentioned, I want to thank them now.
Clapping as he leave podium. Tom Glenn steps back.
Tom Glenn: I now present to you the reverend Donald McClellan of Bellingham’s First Congregational church who will start the dedicatory part of our ceremony. Pastor McClellan…. Invocation