Sunday, May 15, 2022

The Duke Kahanamoku Statue Commission Contest

 


Next to his upright board
Last month I went to see the movie Waterman about the great surfer and swimmer Duke Kahanamoku. At the very end of the movie is a close up of the statue my teacher made of the Duke and a small tribute caption 'Dedicated to Jan Fisher.' I thought that was wonderful touch and bought back memories of that time when the sculpture was made because I was a student then and was actually in the running to get that commission. 

Not long into only my second semester of a sculpture student under Jan Fisher, he came into class one day and announced that a commission contest to create a sculpture of the great Duke Kahanamoku was underway. The statue would be placed on the beach at Waikiki. If any art student wanted to make a maquette (small model) and submit it, they could do so and it would count as class credit.  Jan was enthusiastic about it and it sounded like a fun challenge.

My maquette for the competition

In the end only two students took up the challenge, me and Calvin Stinger a senior sculpture student. We both made a maquette and submitted it. I did my sculpture in the open student Ceramics Studio while Jan and Calvin did theirs in secret. I had a Samoan friend, my room mate, model for it and Jan paid him out of the student modeling budget. On the day before we submitted I presented my piece to the class as did Calvin. It was all fun to learn how to vy for a commission.

As far as why I sculpted my maquette the way I did, there were plenty of pictures of the Duke standing next to his board so I decided to do it like that. I saw Jan's maquette before he submitted his and he did the Duke on a wave on a board. Calvin did his maquette of the Duke arms folded next to a upright board.

A proud Art Student at Waikiki (Kuhio) Beach

The competition was widely announced but I do not know how many entries they got and from where. When we dropped off the maquettes I remember taking it into a room with a few other entries but regretfully I was not nosy enough to look over the others.

They eventually announced Jan as the winner, Calvin second and me third! They normally don't say how the running order went only the winner, but I was happy to have placed in my first commission contest. I was over the moon, wow, third and I have just begun. How long before I get my own major commission! (6+ years).


A few weeks later they made a big on site announcement about the statue on Kuhio beach and they wanted to have the placers display their work on a table for the press etc. Calvin Stinger did not bring his. That day was March third 1990, I remember that because it was my fiancee's birthday.
 My Fiancee Kelly in Studio

You would think that Jan would have been congratulated for not only winning, but that two of his students taking the other two places. But not so, the fire of jealousy and resentment soon burned hot. The committee told Jan to make the Duke stand upright next to his board with his arms out stretched. Calvin became enraged because his Marquette (as was mine) was upright and that Jan was stealing his idea. It became so bitter that Jan went to the committee and said give it to Calvin. The committee refused and said the competition was to choose a sculptor then dictate how they wanted it. If Jan steps down we will throw out all the results.

During the summer of 1990 Jan worked on the sculpture. The ceramics studio was closed to students. I spent the summer on campus and sculpted Christ Healing the Blind Man up stairs in the deserted student painting area. I only knew he was working on the statue when I saw his car parked out front. One morning when he was there I crept around the side to the open covered area of the ceramics studio where all the kilns where to see the back of his head, working on the big Duke. 
Original Duke in clay waiting to be recycled

Later he told me that Calvin Stinger came in while he was working on it, stood near the door with his face all contorted saying 'I will have your job for this!' and stormed off. He did get Jan fired. He appealed and lobbied to the administration and had him terminated. I had no idea of all this drama. I came in one day to class and, just before it started Jan told me he had been fired. We all sat in chairs for instruction and as Jan spoke to the class, tears ran down my face. After class he said to me they would let him teach out the year and that he still had a few months of teaching left.

About one year later of the competition, I was there for the dedication and Jan spoke. It was a beautiful day with a special canoe landing on the beach as the conch shell sounded. 

Jan Fisher's ashes were spread here off this beach

When I saw the end of the movie Waterman, the statue and the dedication, I said Jan Fisher! Yes I know the whole story to that, he got fired for that. Now seeing it, learning more about the Duke, the legacy the statue is to Jan, his family...I can only say Jan did good it's all over now, he had the last word and that the struggle was well worth it.