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Article courtesy of Sioux Falls Argus Leader and reporter Jay Kirschenmann

Arts

Local sculptor Scott Parsons' turtle sculptures win place in California

published: 12/20/07

Scott Parsons, Augustana College art teacher, is making four life-size bronze loggerhead turtles for the city of Berkeley, Calif. This is a Plasticine model of one of the turtles, before it is cast in bronze.

(Photo courtesy of Carl Grupp)

The Turtle Island Story, provided by the City of Berkeley, is inspiration for the city park fountain restoration for which Sioux Falls artist Scott Parsons is making bronze turtles:

Long, long, time ago, a great tree in the Sky world had been uprooted and an empty hole took it's place.

One day, Sky Woman was peeking into that empty hole to a place far below. She fell into the hole and tumbled rapidly down.
At the world below there was only water and water animals. The first to see her falling were the graceful geese. They spoke amongst themselves saying: "Why is she falling straight into the water so fast that she will surely die!"

So they flew beneath her and spread their wings that it might slow her descent; and it did.

Down upon the water, some animals called out to a Giant Turtle because his back was the strongest thing in the watery world.

The Giant Turtle placed himself directly beneath the falling being, and so ever so gently Sky Woman landed upon his back. But there was barely room for her long slender legs and arms, her feet and hands fell into the water.

The animals all knew that deep beneath the water was something firmer, brown and gloppy. So one by one, they dove deep beneath the water trying to bring mud up to the turtle to make more room for poor Sky Woman.

None were successful until finally Muskrat, with his dying breath, came out of the water with a tiny bit of mud in his tail. The animals spread this mud all around the turtle, it began to spread all on it's own, and then they brought up more.

And when Sky Woman had fallen from her lofty world, there had been seeds from the Great Tree which caught in her skirts; these seeds fell upon the mud and grew. And soon the world which had been just water, was very different; it was Turtle Island.

It grew and nurtured the native people for many generations.

After a three-year process, Scott Parsons' four life-size loggerhead turtle sculptures are being cast in bronze for the city of Berkeley, Calif.

Sculptors from across the nation wanted the commission. The California city's Public Art Committee whittled down submissions to three artists who flew out to meet with the group and show their proposals for the city's Turtle Island project.

"I beat out a couple of California artists," says Parsons, an Augustana College art teacher.

Parson's turtles will be installed as part of renovations at Berkeley's Martin Luther King Jr. Civic Center Park, which has more than a million visitors each year.

Alongside Parsons' turtles at the fountain will be eight stone medallions designed by Native American artists from across the nation - including South Dakota's Harley Zephier. The public art display is based on a Native American story involving turtles.

"I decided to do turtles with this Native American element - they suit each other," he says. "My work, like the Turtle Island story, represents the longevity of native cultures. But I'm not Native American, so I needed help."

Parsons was going to model his turtles after a carved Pawnee tomahawk with a snapping turtle on it. But the California committee thought snapping turtles might scare children, so he compromised and made them loggerheads.

"The turtles' heads are so much bigger than other sea turtles, so I went with loggerheads, which still are a powerful image," he says. Each bronze is life size, about 44 inches long, and about 200 pounds.

The second of the four sea turtles was being poured last week at the Sioux Falls foundry, BronzeAge Art Casting. Owner Rick Haugen says so far so good, and all four should be done by the end of the month.

"A lot of artists have their work cast in Colorado, but if an artist wants to be in on the process, it would mean several trips to the foundry," Haugen says. "I'm glad he wanted to have it done here, where he could follow the process, check on things and have

final approval."

Parsons said it's nice to be able to bring his Augustana students along to watch the castings.

"I think it's valuable for them to see that I'm a working artist, see the process of making the molds and how to work with foundries," Parsons says. "I have students down there for the pours."

Reach reporter Jay Kirschenmann at 331-2312, or e-mail jkirsch@argusleader.com.