Fishing Sculptures

Can anything new be said about the controversial public art (see photo) that was installed this month at the intersection of Fourth and Pacific in downtown Bremerton? The sculptures, of a fish and a fisherman, have been criticized in blog entries, in letters to the editor, and in hundreds of online comments on the Kitsap Sun web site. The answer is probably no, but that didn’t stop me from writing about them.

First a few details, mostly courtesy of articles in the Kitsap Sun. The statues are 14 feet tall, weigh 5000 pounds each, and cost $250,000. They were designed by Communication Arts of Boulder, Colorado. A local company, Dillon Works of Mukilteo, manufactured them. Funding came from a state grant that was originally intended for the nearby Puget Sound Naval Shipyard Memorial Plaza. City officials hope they will attract tourists and beautify downtown. Whether they do remains to be seen, but they did help make a couple of blocks of Pacific Avenue more pedestrian friendly. New sidewalks and plantings were added as part of the project, although the money for the street improvements came from a different source.

The general criticism is that the statues cost too much, won’t draw people to the downtown, and aren’t symbolic of Bremerton. One person simply stated: “I would like to put a sign on them that said: ‘These sculptures are a tribute to wasteful government spending.'” Others found fault with the city council’s funding method, observing that grant money isn’t free and is ultimately paid for by taxpayers.

R.B. and I went to see the sculptures today. So maybe city officials are correct. We did go downtown to see them and spent money while doing so (on two plates of fish tacos at the Boat Shed restaurant in Manette). I just hope we weren’t considered to be tourists. I have three quick observations after viewing them in person.

They are difficult to photograph, at least as a pair. The sculptures are about 50 feet apart and at opposite corners of the intersection. Short of shooting from the roof of the Amy Burnett gallery or with a special wide-angle lens, there is no way to get them in the same picture. Back off a block or so to frame your shot and the sculptures will be too small and possibly obscured by cars and the hordes of tourists drawn to the site. ;) I combined two photos using PhotoDraw, but maybe I missed the point.

The actual sculptures look better than their photos. That doesn’t mean I like or dislike them, just that in photos they look cheap, almost like the medium is glass or plastic. Up close they are substantial—made mostly of powder-coated stainless steel, with metal mesh forming the torso of the fisherman and much of the body of the fish. I suppose “sculpture” is the operative word.

I think they will look dated quickly. True they are bright and colorful and having the fish trying to catch the fisherman adds a certain whimsy to the pair. But without knowing much about art, the design seems more faddish than something the public will want on a downtown street for the next 75 years. I hope I’m wrong. We do have a lot of gloomy days in the winter. Maybe all that color will help then.