Scuba Salmo Salar
Ξ July 8th, 2009 | → 3 Comments | ∇ Sculpture |
Scuba Salmo Salar 2009
Now here was a project that caught my attention. An announcement was made earlier this year by Gallery Connexion in Fredericton, NB that a competition was being held for Fredericton and area artists to submit designs for Salmon Run. There were to be 25 salmon distributed to the artists chosen so that each could be worked into their respective visions. The exhibit opening was held at the Hugh John Flemming Forestry Centre on June 4, 2009. It was a well attended event and a great venue to exhibit three dimensional work. The fish then were moved to their homes for the rest of the summer in the downtown area of Fredericton. In September Gallery Connexion will be holding an auction for all of the salmon and the funds raised will be used to assist with the galleries new digs. It should be a great auction. Scuba Salmo Salar can be viewed at Bejewel, a great jewellery store on Queen Street.
I received no less than three notices about this project from various people that knew I would be interested in this opportunity. I was very quick to put together three separate designs and submit them. As there was a limit to one fish per artist I decided, after speaking to the organizer, that Scuba Salmo Salar would be the one I would do.
Each of the fish were created in fibreglass by a fabricator in Fredericton and given out to the artists. They were white primed with glass eyes. This was the constant for all of the artists. After viewing all of the finished pieces it is hard to believe that they all started out the same.
My concept was to relay a message to all that we are moving in the wrong direction with the impact on the environment and that we need to be careful so that we do not reach the stage where fish will need SCUBA gear to be able to survive in our freshwater rivers. The perseverance of the Atlantic Salmon and it’s incredible ability to adapt has made it a successful species. It has undergone some very dramatic declines in population over the last 30-40 yrs and has recovered somewhat in some areas. There is still an uphill battle to keep the numbers growing and clean rivers and healthy watersheds are the most crucial point to their survival. My sculpture has the decal on it ” Warning - contents under pressure” nuff said.
My salmon has undergone a huge transformation as you can well imagine. It arrived all white on a steel pole. This pole needed to become part of the piece so it presented itself as a challenge in the beginning. I settled upon the idea of making it a Aquifer Link Sub-station where the salmon could swim up and engage the bottom of it’s gear to fill up it’s smaller tanks with fresh underground well water. The mask and straps for the salmon were created using an epoxy putty that was later painted black. The small scuba tanks are hairspray cans emptied and sanded then fitted with some dollar store corkscrews adapted to fit the hosing. The large aluminium canister is an old funnel upside down and a sonotube wrapped in aluminium sheet. The base is carved styrofoam and acrylic stucco painted. The sole of an old shoe which I had found a few weeks earlier while fishing was dried and glued to the base. The human footprint if you will.
Painting the fish to look like a real salmon was a lot of fun as well as a challenge. It’s body glistens as though it is wet and makes a nice finish.
Being involved in this project was exciting and reminded me of the Bears on Broadway project that I was a part of in 2005 while still in Winnipeg. Check it out if you like. I did three bears for that project.
