The Buzz: Sculpture fundraiser jump-starts project

Wednesday, March 03, 2010

By Ben Cannon

Jackson Hole, Wyo.-A plan to install a large bronze sculpture at the base of Snow King mountain got a jump-start Sunday, when friends of the project raised the first chunk of funding.

Sculptor Martin Hagen said supporters of installing his sculpture, titled Comin’ Up for Air, contributed about 20 percent of the project’s estimated cost. The money was raised during a kick-off party tied to viewing the Winter Olympics closing ceremony at the Calico restaurant.

Sometime in the early 90s, Hagen conceived the idea of sculpting a monument to Jackson Hole’s skiing and winter sports legacy. After tinkering with complicated designs that incorporated several disciplines of competitive skiing, Hagen decided to focus on the one form preferred by many Jackson residents: powder skiing.
“The powder skier actually speaks to more people across the board than just the racing events,” said Hagen, a lifelong valley resident.

He eventually completed Comin’ Up for Air, a 16-inch bronze sculpture that relies heavily on negative space –or what’s not there– to convey the way deep powder snow swirls around and nearly swallows the skier. A mottled white backdrop fills the various negative spaces with the color of snow.

Hagen’s skier, which is neither strongly male or female, is lopped off above the hips, evoking what a skier might describe as ‘waist-deep pow.’ Holes in the torso suggest the way powder flies up when it’s agitated by a skier’s turns. The inspiration for the sculpture’s title, Comin’ Up for Air, is apparent from the agape mouth.

“It’s a tribute to the heritage of skiing in Jackson Hole, the history of the pioneers and it also acknowledges present day skiers,” Hagen said.

Once enough money is raised, Hagen plans to have a Bozeman, Mont., foundry cast a much larger version of the sculpture.

The large sculpture is expected to be about 15 feet high, but the skier itself will be about six feet tall. Hagen got permission from Snow King Resort to install Comin’ Up for Air downhill from the ski area’s ticket office, near the base of the Summit chairlift. It will face north, or downhill, toward the parking area.

If it gets erected, the Hagen piece would add a new theme to the body of public artwork currently seen around the valley. According to a recent public art survey by the Center of Wonder, nearly all of the valley’s bronze sculptures depict wildlife or Old West characters. The survey uncovered no artwork commemorating Jackson’s skiing legacy.

Bland Hoke, a public art ambassador working with the Center of Wonder, said Hagen’s skier sculpture would pay homage to something that for decades has been an important part of the lives of many Jackson Hole residents and visitors.
“Commemorating something that is so dear to Jackson such as skiing is a positive thing for our little public art scene,” he said.

Hoke and others are currently drafting a public arts initiative that could greatly increase the amount artwork found in public throughout the valley. Though the Center of Wonder is more focused on promoting art that is more interactive than traditional sculptures, it all enriches the Jackson Hole experience, Hoke said.
“If somebody comes here they can see a ski mountain, but if you embody that in a sculpture, then it becomes so much more,” he said.

Yet the difficultty Hagen experienced when he looked locally for a group that could organize fundraising illustrates the obstacles facing a local artist with a public vision. Even the Center of Wonder, which favors more public installations like the skier sculpture, could not assist Hagen because it has its hands tied in other areas and isn’t setup to be a conduit for that kind of fundraising.

So Hoke directed Hagen to Fractured Atlas, a “slick” New York City-based nonprofit that helps artists raise money for projects. Because of Fractured Atlas’ tight rules about discussing project costs, however, Hagen said he was not able to disclose how much money he will need to create his sculpture at Snow King. A call to the organization’s CEO was not returned by Tuesday.

But it won’t take an absurd amount of money to complete the sculpture – perhaps less than $50,000, according to one person familiar with bronze casting.

If the skier sculpture moves forward according to plan, it could be up by next fall, Hagen said. The sculpture marks one of two proposed projects that would change the way people look at, think about and use the base area of Snow King Mountain.
Located only meters away from the sculpture site, the Teton Boulder Project, a park and memorial to those who contributed to Jackson Hole’s mountaineering legacy, could be completed around the same time as the skier sculpture. JHW

Courtesy Sculptor Martin Hagen
Artist wants to install 15-foot bronze at Snow King base.

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