Statues of Junípero Serra (Ventura, California)
Father Serra statue | |
---|---|
Artist | Uno John Palo Kangas |
Year | 1936 |
Medium | Clay, concrete, wood, and bronze |
Location | Garden of Mission San Buenaventura, Ventura, California |
34°16′52″N 119°17′51″W / 34.28111°N 119.29750°W |
The Father Serra statue at the
The public display of
Description
The statue, standing nine feet four inches (2.84 m) in height, shows Serra standing with his head facing to the left and wearing a Franciscan cassock with cowl, sandals, and a rope belt (or cincture), a rosary hanging from the belt, a book in his left hand, and a walking stick (or staff) in his right hand.
History
In 1935, Uno John Palo Kangas (1904–1957), a sculptor born in Finland and raised in Michigan, was commissioned by Ventura County and the Works Progress Administration to create a statue of Serra as part of the Federal Art Project.[2]: 2 Kangas was paid $5,000 for his work.[3] Kangas had gained some acclaim in 1935 for a heroic statue of a Civilian Conservation Corps worker titled "Conservation of Man and Nature" that was installed at Griffith Park in Los Angeles.[4]
The clay sculpture
Kangas began by visiting the Santa Barbara and Ventura missions to study images of Serra and to learn about his life and style of dress. He also made multiple sketches in preparation for the work.[5] The sculpting process began with the creation of a full-size clay model; the clay model took four months to complete and was built at Kangas's studio at 3929 Fountain Avenue in Los Angeles.[6] The clay sculpture was built around a frame of wood and chicken wire which Kangas then covered with layers of clay.[2]: 6 According to a contemporary of the artist, Kangas used Meiners Oak resident Gordon Douglas as a model for the face of Serra.[2]: 3 In August 1936, the Los Angeles Times published on its front page a large photograph of Kangas posing with the clay sculpture.[6]
The disposition of the original clay sculpture is unknown. A newspaper story from April 1938 suggests that the original clay model may have been loaned to a museum in Butte, Montana, for an exhibition on scale models of sculpture. The story announced: "'Fray Junipero Serra', by John Palo-Kangas, one of the scale models of sculpture to be shown at the Butte Art Center, beginning on April 21st, is in the original at the Ventura county courthouse at San Buenaventura, Calif."[7]
The concrete sculpture
Kangas built a breakaway mold of the clay sculpture using
On November 27, 1936, Kangas's concrete sculpture[8] was unveiled in prominent location in a small public park across the street from the Ventura County Courthouse. The unveiling ceremony was attended by Kangas, Governor Frank Merriam, Mayor George A. Newell Jr., and other notable persons. In his speech, Gov. Merriam said: "A beautiful statue is about to be made visible, exemplifying the spirit of this pioneering priest – noble, brave and holy – a patriot of patriots."[9] After the Courthouse was repurposed as Ventura City Hall, the small park was included in the property transfer. The concrete Father Serra statue was designated as City of Ventura Historic Landmark No. 3 in 1974.[10]
By the 1980s, the statue had deteriorated from years of exposure to Ventura's salt air and from the pooling of rainwater in the collar of the figure's robe, which formed a basin. In addition, the statue was vandalized with paint and the City sandblasted the statue, damaging its smooth outer layer and accelerating the decay.[3] The statue was removed from its pedestal in September 1989 to make room for installation of the bronze cast.[3] The City planned to store the concrete statue until the completion of a planned farm implements museum, where it was to be installed.[11] The inauguration of this museum was delayed when its chief proponent, Bob Pfeiler, became ill.[12] In 1996, the concrete statue was discovered by a reporter for the Los Angeles Times in an industrial storage yard operated by Oilfield Service & Trucking Company (OST) along Ventura Avenue.[13] A crane from OST had been used to remove the statue in 1989 and the statue was to have been temporarily stored at the OST yard.[13][2]: 53 As of April 2018[update], the concrete statue remained at the OST yard in a decaying wooden crate.[12][14]
The wooden replica
Ownership of the concrete statue passed from Ventura County to the City of Ventura in 1971.[2]: 11 In 1983, Ventura City Councilman Russell Burns, a mechanical engineer, presented a report to the city council describing the deterioration of the statue and concluding that the statue "in the not too distant future will fall apart."[2]: 12 The City in 1984 commissioned studies of the statue by an art conservator, an engineering firm, and a concrete expert.[2]: 13 The studies reached the conclusion that the statue should be moved inside and that it was too fragile to be copied by molding.[2]: 13 [15]
Based on the findings, Councilman Burns proposed the creation of a wood replica of the statue which could then be used as a model for a bronze cast to be put in place of the decaying concrete statue.[2]: 13 In 1986, Burns's proposal was unanimously adopted by the Ventura City Council. The City loaned an initial sum of $15,000 to begin the process to be repaid by local boosters who raised more than $100,000 through the sale of limited-edition 18-inch (46 cm) bronze replicas (hand-tooled by Charles Kubilos),[16][17] posters/lithographs,[18][19] and T-shirts, hats, and pins bearing the phrase "I Support the Serra Statue".[20][2]: 17–19 [21][22]
The reproduction process began by taking precise measurements of all aspects of the concrete statue, using 1,782 points of reference.
The carving took 14 months, from April 1987 to June 1988. In all, 10,000 man-hours were dedicated to creating the wood replica.[2]: 2 The city council voted to temporarily place the wood replica in the atrium of Ventura City Hall.[25] Installed on October 7, 1988, it remained there until it was removed in 2020.[26]
The bronze cast
In 1988, the City of Ventura accepted a $17,000 bid from a group of student artists at the California Sculpture Center at College of the Desert in Palm Desert to create a bronze cast of the sculpture using the wood replica.[27] A group of the student artists visited the wood statue at the old livery building and made latex molds in multiple sections.[2]: 57 The bronze figure was then cast in 20 pieces using the "lost wax" method.[28][29][2]: 58–59
The bronze cast
The bronze cast replaced the original concrete statue in 1989 in the small park at the top of California Street overlooking downtown Ventura and the Pacific Ocean. A plaque at the base of the statue states: "The citizens of the City of San Buenaventura gratefully recognize the extraordinary efforts of Councilman Russell Burns (1918–1994) and master carver Wilbur Rubottom (1914–1993) to replace the decaying concrete 1936 statue of Father Serra by John Palo-Kangas with this bronze copy dedicated on October 20, 1989."[31]
Reactions and disposition
The City's plan to display the wooden replica in the atrium of Ventura City Hall was met with objections from the city art committee and the Candelaria American Indian Council. Members of the art committee felt the statue was too large and not harmonious with the design of the atrium. The City had already commissioned through the art committee a series of murals reproducing local Chumash petroglyphs in the atrium. The Indian Council objected due to Father Serra's alleged abuse and enslavement of the Chumash people. Jessica M. Roybal, the executive director of the Indian Council, said “What a slap in the face to the Indian people.”[32] Members of the Padre Serra Parish in nearby Camarillo offered to display the wooden statue in a place of honor but were turned down.[20] The wooden Serra statue was placed in a corner of the atrium with explanatory plaques.[32][26]
In May 1980, primer paint was poured over the concrete statue; city workers sandblasted the paint from the statue.[33] In January 1991, four glass jars of orange and blue paint were thrown at the bronze cast; the words "Spirit of Crazy Horse" and an image of a clenched fist were also spray-painted on the sidewalk at the base of the statue.[34] In May 1992, the bronze cast's hand was painted with red paint, and a message was stenciled on the concrete below accusing Serra of having failed to honor God and claiming that Serra was a symbol of slavery to Native Americans.[35]
Serra was
In June 2020, as the national call for the removal of certain statues intensified, the mayor of Ventura, the pastor of Mission San Buenaventura and Julie Tumamait-Stenslie, the tribal chair of the Barbareño/Venureño Band of Mission Indians, issued a joint statement agreeing to take down the statue and have it "moved to a more appropriate non-public location".[38] Tumamait-Stenslie, reacting to defenders of Serra who say he protected and cared for indigenous people, said
"He did that because we were the free labor force, the slave labor for the missions. Of course he was going to protect us. What else would he do? Go out and actually pay somebody to do the work? He had free slave labor.”[39]
The removal proposal was overwhelmingly approved by the city council in July.[40] Since the bronze cast had never been officially designated a historic landmark after it replaced the concrete statue, the council found that the current statue was not a historic landmark for which a review under the California Environmental Quality Act would have been required.[41] The replica was not found to be potentially historically significant on its own.[14]
In the early morning of July 24, construction crews removed the statue from its plinth.[42] Organizers involved in the effort to bring down the Serra statue gathered on Juneteenth for the Solidarity Art Walk to acknowledge the involvement of several groups and what they went through.[43] The Coalition for Historical Integrity filed a lawsuit against the city in Ventura County Superior Court. The court ruled that the city acted within its legislative prerogative when removing the statue. The Second District Court of Appeal, Division 6, upheld the ruling in 2023.[44] The statue was installed in the Mission San Buenaventura garden in 2024.[45]
Widespread protests
Junípero Serra was a
The attention and damage to the
See also
References
- ^ "Ventura City Council Votes To Remove Junipero Serra Statue". losangeles.cbslocal.com. July 16, 2020. Retrieved July 18, 2020.
- ^ ISBN 1403309884.
- ^ a b c d e Bob Pool (October 19, 1989). "Father Serra's Statue Gets New Life – in Bronze". Los Angeles Times. pp. J1, J5. Retrieved July 25, 2020.
- Newspapers.com.
- ^ "Comparison of Three Statues", a paper by Shirley Week (Kangas's daughter), October 9, 1990, p. 3, contained in Serra Statue ephemera file at the Research Library of the Museum of Ventura County.
- ^ Newspapers.com.
- Newspapers.com.
- ^ a b "Historic Preservation Committee Agenda". City of Ventura. July 1, 2020. Retrieved July 6, 2020.
- Newspapers.com.
- ^ "City of San Buenaventura Historic Landmarks & Districts". City of Ventura. May 3, 2016. Retrieved April 15, 2018.
- ^ Jim McLain (July 2, 1989). "Father Serra ending tour of duty: 53-year-old Downtown statue being replaced". Ventura Star-Free Press.
- ^ a b Kim Lamb Gregory (June 1, 2001). "A tale of the three Father Serra statues". Oxnard Star. pp. E1, E6.
- ^ a b Hilary E. MacGregor (October 17, 1996). "Buried Treasure: Original Statue of Father Junipero Serra Found in Scrap Yard". Los Angeles Times. p. B1.
- ^ a b Wenner, Gretchen (June 28, 2020). "Two meetings on fate of Ventura's Father Serra statue slated as emotions run high". Ventura County Star. Retrieved June 29, 2020.
- ^ Newspapers.com.
- ^ Brett Pauly (November 3, 1989). "Former engineer creates Serra replicas". The Ventura County Star-Free Press.
- ^ "Serra statue stands tall". The Ventura County Star-Free Press. May 23, 1988. p. A1.
- ^ Michael Marlow (August 17, 1987). "Father Serra posters added to drive: $20 commemorative will help pay for statue repair". The Ventura County Star-Free Press.
- ^ "Lithographs available of Junipero Serra statue". The Ventura County Star-Free Press. October 14, 1989 – via The Museum of Ventura County ("Junipero Serra Statue" biographical file).
- ^ Newspapers.com.
- ^ Michael E. Hoffman (May 27, 1988). "Kids, corporations back Serra statue fund drive". The Ventura County Star-Free Press. p. A3.
- ^ "A City Treasures Its Serra Heritage". The Tidings. July 1, 1988. p. 1 – via The Museum of Ventura County (biographical file for "Junipero Serra statue").
- ^ John Krist (April 23, 1987). "Wooden Serra statue replica taking shape Downtown". The Ventura County Star-Free Press. p. D1.
- ^ Michael E. Hoffman (June 4, 1988). "Serra statue reborn sans fanfare". The Ventura County Star-Free Press. pp. A1, A6.
- ^ McKinnon, Lisa (November 23, 2013). "Statues, bells, missions connect Father Serra from past to present". Ventura County Star. Retrieved June 11, 2023.
- ^ a b Michael E. Hoffman (October 21, 1988). "New Serra no longer homeless: Dedication marks placement at City Hall". The Ventura County Star-Free Press. p. A5.
- ^ Jim Schultz (March 22, 1988). "Father Serra Pact OK'd". Oxnard Press Courier. pp. 1–2.
- Newspapers.com.
- ^ "Palm Desert Sculpture School to Cast Bronze Copy of Junipero Serra Statue". Los Angeles Times. March 24, 1988. p. IX-5. Retrieved July 25, 2020.
- ^ "Bronze statue of Fray Serra in place". The Ventura County Star-Free Press. October 21, 1989. p. A3.
- ^ Plaque displayed at the base of the statue.
- ^ a b Jesse Katz (September 29, 1988). "Serra Statue to Be Shown Over Protests of 2 Groups". Los Angeles Times. pp. IX-1, IX-14. Retrieved July 25, 2020.
- ^ "Fouled figure". unknown. May 22, 1980.
- ^ Jim McLain (January 16, 1991). "Vandalized statue of Serra unscathed". The Ventura County Star-Free Press. p. A4.
- ^ "Scarlet letters". The Ventura County Star-Free Press. May 24, 1992. p. A3.
- ^ Santos, Fernanda (September 15, 2015). "Latino Catholics See Reflection in a Friar Set for Sainthood". The New York Times. Retrieved June 25, 2020.
- ^ Rellis Smith (August 15, 2017). "Remove Serra statues". Ventura County Star.
- ^ Campa, Andrew J. (June 19, 2020). "Junipero Serra statue to be moved away from Ventura City Hall". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved June 19, 2020.
- ^ Skelton, George (July 11, 2020). "California is confronting its ugly, racist past. But how do we best do it?". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved July 30, 2020.
- ^ Harris, Mike (July 16, 2020). "Ventura City Council decides to remove controversial Junipero Serra statues at City Hall". Ventura County Star. Retrieved July 16, 2020.
- ^ Harris, Mike. "Grassroots group sues Ventura over removal of Serra statue from in front of City Hall". Ventura County Star. Retrieved July 29, 2020.
- ^ "Ventura Removes Controversial Junipero Serra Statue Following Protest". CBS LA. Retrieved July 24, 2020.
- ^ Frost, Chris (August 19, 2020). "Solidarity Art Walk Celebrates Revolutionary Love and Notes the Remaining Fight". Tri County Sentry. Oxnard, California. Archived from the original on July 19, 2021. Retrieved July 19, 2021.
- ^ Woods II, Wes (June 9, 2023). "Appeals court sides with Ventura over removal of Father Junípero Serra statue". Ventura County Star. Retrieved June 11, 2023.
- ^ Kisken, Tom (February 29, 2024). "Father Serra comes home: Controversial statue delivered to Mission San Buenaventura". Ventura County Star. Retrieved March 1, 2024.
- Newspapers.com.
- ^ James Herrera (February 28, 2017). "Head reattached to St. Junipero Serra statue in Monterey". The Mercury News.
- ^ "St. Junipero Serra statue vandalized in Mission Hills". Los Angeles Times. August 20, 2017.
- ^ "Decapitated and doused with red paint: Vandals target St. Junipero Serra statue at Santa Barbara mission". Los Angeles Times. September 24, 2017.
- ^ "Vandal damages Padre Serra statue in San Gabriel". Ventura County Star. Tribune Content Agency. November 3, 2017.
- ^ KABC (June 21, 2020). "Demonstrators topple statue of Junipero Serra, who helped found missions in California, in DTLA". ABC7 Los Angeles. Retrieved June 23, 2020.
- ^ "Serra statue removed in Carmel for safekeeping, local cities deciding fate of others". Monterey Herald. June 24, 2020. Retrieved June 25, 2020.
- ^ Avalos, Gina (June 24, 2020). "Junípero Serra statue removed from San Luis Obispo Mission". KSBY. Retrieved June 26, 2020.
External links
- Media related to Statues of Junípero Serra (Ventura, California) at Wikimedia Commons