Dobson & Dault

Homewaters

We created this low relief cast bronze and resin sculpture depicting the life cycle of the salmon. The sculpture shows red salmon after they have returned to their spawning grounds in the river where they were born. The sculpture is 3 feet by 4 feet. It is the first in a suite of seven created for the State Veterinarian at the Department of Environmental Conservation in Anchorage. Each sculpture details a significant occurrence in the lives of wild animals in Alaska. Each of the animal sculptures contains a visual/verbal clue to their significance.

Award Category
1% Percent for Public Art
Commission Year
2008
Client
Department of Environmental Conservation

In the clear, shallow waters of a cool, spring fed lake in Alaska, two Sockeye salmon create and protect their spawning grounds in fulfillment of the arc of their lives.

This scene plays out each summer from the deck of our lake studio in Meadow Lakes, Alaska.

For the D.E.C. Food Safety Lab in Anchorage, Alaska, one of the missions for the facility is the safeguarding of the food sources for Alaskans across the state.  The importance of salmon in the culture of Alaska is indisputable and the artistic inspiration is endless.

The large format of this sculpture is the focal point inside the lobby of this world class facility.  Visited by Health Safety Professionals from around the world, the unique mission of the laboratory and its home for the State Veterinarian provided us, as artists, a rich vernacular to create our artwork.

After our bas-relief sculpture panel “HOMEWATERS” was installed, the facility staff was interested in a “suite” of smaller panels which could show uniquely Alaskan animal borne maladies and the laboratory’s mission to identify them.  Each sculpted panel has a visual clue or written clue in the title which gives the sleuthing viewer a chance to discover the message of the artwork. The panels included images of buffalo, arctic fox, grouse, whale, beaver, chickadees and sandhill cranes.

Photo Credit: Daryl Pederson