Wildness : Chapter THREE
The Helper Statue
In December, the Trust Art gang proudly installed the Helper Statue at Marcy Green South in Bushwick as part of Chapter 3 of the Wildness Project. The Helper, which stands benevolently in a stone-ring filled with grass, will grace the park for three months. The journey to get him there, however, took eight.
Read the How To Put Art in a Park Post
Contents
1. Background
2. Preparation
3. Initial Plan and Proposal
4. Feedback and Modifications
5. Installation and Approval
6. Use of Funds and Accounting
7. References
8. External Links
The Helper is one of several smaller works based on 2000-year-old Native American Passamaquoddy tribe rock carvings from in the Bay of Fundy in the northernmost part of coastal Maine (photographed and sketched in Chapter 1 of the project). The ultimate vision of the Wildness Project is to attach 35 foot sculptures of the ancient figures to the bedrock in the Bay, where they will emerge from and submerge into the world’s highest tides, making their presence unequivocally felt once again.
Trust Art Directors Jose and Seth (also one of the artists in the Wildness project), were brainstorming how to build momentum for the large statues. They determined that one way to generate interest in New York would be to put one of the smaller figures in a public space to create awareness. To get things going, Seth began creating sketches and small models.
Seth and Jose’s first idea was to put the Helper on the water in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. They surveyed the shoreline and found many bricks in the area. Seth created some renderings which envisioned the statue being made of the same brick and sitting on the water.
Seth and Jose talked to the Parks Department and submitted an application for installing the Helper. The application was denied, however, because the area they had proposed was already marked for construction for Bushwick Inlet Park.
The next idea was to place the Helper in McCarren park, also in Williamsburg. Seth and Jose proposed several locations in the park, but none of them were accepted.
Wondering if location was the only problem, Seth and Jose asked the Parks Department for more feedback on their application. After some discussion, it came to light that the use of brick for the sculpture wasn’t desirable because it might not be sturdy enough. Seth and Jose proposed putting steel armature through the brick to reinforce the sculpture, but this proposal was also denied.
Admist the back and forth of the application process, Seth had also been working with the team from Trust Art’s Humanity Project. The Humanity Team had determined that the best base for the Humanity Fountain would be poured concrete because it would stand up to the requirements such as being unbreakable and resistant to weather. Additionally, the medium was highly affordable. Trust Art decided to borrow the idea and resources from that project’s chapter and apply it to the Helper Statue.
Trust Art re-proposed the statue, to be made of white concrete rather than brick. Seth created a wax mock-up of the statue, which would be made of brick, molded out of urethane rubber, and cast in the concrete. The Parks Department signed off on the construction.
After approving the sculpture from a material standpoint, the Parks Department suggested Marcy Green South as a potential location, as there wasn’t any current programming there. Seth, who lived near the park when he first moved into the neighborhood several years ago, thought it would be a good place to contribute art, and went to check out the space with Jose.
When they arrived upon the statue, Jose and Seth came upon a stone ring filled with grass. Perhaps once a garden bed or the beginings of one, it felt like the perfect home for the Helper.
Seth and Jose resubmitted the final application -- a concrete Helper Statue at Marcy Green South. Seth included plans for the method of instillation which would minimize disruption to the area after removal. Finally, the project received one more piece of help from the Humanity project -- the insurance policy required for the Humanity Fountain (obtained thanks to Fractured Atlas) would also cover the Helper. The statue was approved for installation December 12, 2010.
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Wildness Chapter 3 Photo Content
Wildness Overview Photo Content
How to Put Art in a Park Post
Helper Statue Installedt
Stone Ring to House Helper Statue
