Whale of a Tale
The Juneau Arts and Humanities is sponsoring a project to help bring awareness to the support of a large bronze whale’s tail to be created by local artist Skip Wallen. 10 polyuerothane foam resin whale tails are being embellished by 10 selected local artists. Lily Hope submitted a proposal; we were selected as one of the 10. We were going to create a modern Tlingit-influenced stylized form line design painting, however, that would require at least three days of sunshine, and by this Summer’s lousy weather pattern we’ve been experiencing in Juneau, we decided to create something a bit simpler yet elegant.
Each whale tail is being sponsored by a local business – Thank you to Huna Totem Corporation for sponsoring ours!
All 10 whale tails must be completed by July 1st; 3 will be in Juneau’s Fourth of July parade. In September, the whale tails will be auctioned.
We had to wait for a couple of hours for the paint to be completely dry before attempting to move it and begin gluing buttons.
Please tell your friends, neighbors and co-workers about the big auction on Saturday, September 15th at the JACC (Juneau Arts & Culture Center, i.e. the Old Armory), where all the wonderful creations will be auctioned off to the highest bidder!
Thanks to all who are volunteering and participating in the Animal Parade and supporting this Whale Project, which will place a spectacular life-scale bronze humpback whale and fountain on Juneau’s waterfront, in recognition of Alaska’s 50th anniversary of Statehood. This will be an icon for Juneau, and the third sculpture of Skip Wallen in Juneau.
Many thanks to Kathy Ruddy for coordinating this event; thanks again to Huna Totem Corporation for sponsoring our particular whale tail!