Dobson & Dault

The Save

We created this life-size bronze cast sculpture at the Anchorage Downtown Fire Station #1. A firefighter’s arm reaches out to a child’s hand framed in a burning doorway. The names of all of the emergency personnel who perished in 9/11 in New York City are sealed in the arm of the firefighter. This sculpture was cast at Arizona Bronze (now Bollinger Atelier) in Tempe, Arizona.

Award Category
1% For Public Art Award
Commission Year
2002
Client
Anchorage Fire Station #1

Anchorage Fire Station #1 was completed and a 1% for Public Art call for proposals went out to artists. We responded with two ideas for two different areas for potential art sites.  Both were exterior sculptures.  Station 1 is a very modern design building and is headquarters for much of the Fire Department and also includes a small museum on the west side.  We decided to use traditional material of a bronze sculpture but with an abstracted twist.  We spoke to firefighters at various stations and one “probie” summed up the goal of their job in two words “The Save”.  “The Save” is what firefighters strive for when approaching an emergency fire situation involving people.  The title of our sculpture was suggested by these two words and our challenge was to manifest the precious moment of “The Save” in bronze.  An abstracted hallway is suggested by two facing doorjambs, one of which has smoke rolling out of the top.  The two facing jambs represent the precious distance of critical time that firefighter’s constantly encounter.  The moment of grasping the hand is anticipated by the viewer and is somewhat informed by Michelangelo’s Sistine Chapel image of God and man (Adam) and the spark of life.

Visitors to the sculpture can place themselves in the role of the young child or the firefighter as they walk around and interact with the sculpture.  A low light illuminates the arms and smoke of the door jamb at night and gives it an atmospheric look.

September 11 occurred and we decided to commemorate the First Responders by including the 343 names on a scroll with a velvet heart and place it in the firefighter’s arm before welding it in place. The placement of the scroll and heart was filmed by a television crew in Tempe Arizona at Arizona Bronze Foundry.

The sculpture took on new meaning when we noticed our design was an abstracted resemblance to the twin towers that came down on 9/11.  This aspect solidified for us the importance of this sculpture for a memorial to First Responders.