Sicilian Fishermen Tribute Planned at Long Wharf; Final Four Artist Submissions
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Four final artist concepts have been submitted for a planned public art tribute to the Sicilian Fishermen of Boston’s North End. The public art installation will be on the north side of Long Wharf near the location of the former T Wharf. Along with Commercial Wharf and the former Eastern Packard Pier, T Wharf was the center of commercial activity in the neighborhood. It was in the late 19th to early 20th century when Italian immigrants, largely from Sicily, settled in the North End bringing their traditions that continue today, including the famous Fisherman’s Feast. The Sicilian Fishermen established Boston’s role as a major fishing port and continued their profession into the 1970’s on the North End waterfront.
Forty applicants entered to design the Sicilian Fishermen Tribute and the Boston Art Commission posted the four finalists. Excerpts are shown below and the full submissions can be viewed on the BAC website. Public comments can be emailed to art@publicartboston.com. A final decision is expected in June 2013.
Morgan Faulds Pike – A Bronze Figure of Heroic Scale with a Link to Leslie Jones’s Historic Photographs from the Boston Public Library Collection. The photos show the 12-inch clay marquette for a free-standing 8-foot bronze figure of a Sicilian fisherman. The proud and dignified pose of the figure is contrasted by the large flounder he holds to his chest and by his apron, work shirt, and work boots.
Peter Diepenbrock – Fish or Man, A Tribute to the Sicilian Fishermen of Boston – This concept finds its allegorical inspiration in a whimsical, blended interpretation of Jonah and The Whale, The Old Man and the Sea, and the Anello Piscatorio or Ring of the Fisherman, warn by the Pope.
Pablo Eduardo – After studying many images of Fisherman’s memorials from around the world and living near the one here in Gloucester, it became clear that it would be hard to create a competing icon of a fisherman. Instead the design invokes a poetic allegorical sculpture of the symbiotic and intimate relationship that a fisherman has with the sea.
William Reimann, Sandro Carella, Elizabeth Ghiseline – Our proposal for this “Tribute” reflects the vitality of the lives, arduousness of work, and continued cultural presence of emigrated Sicilian fishermen and their families in the City of Boston.
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