Billy Frank Jr. maquette on display at BIMA May 7-15
Bainbridge Island Museum of Art (BIMA) will host a clay model of Indigenous leader and activist Billy Frank Jr. from May 7-15, 2024. The model’s tenure at BIMA represents a…
Timeline: Creating the statue
Artist Haiying Wu’s design process begins with a drawing. He then moves through several phases of models before designing the full-scale statue. When the full-scale statue is complete, it will be cast in bronze and sent to Statuary Hall in Washington, D.C.
January, 2023
Haiying Wu presents his concept
Artist Haiying Wu presented a concept drawing (pictured) to the Billy Frank Jr. National Statuary Hall Selection Committee, who chose Haiying for the project on the strength of his concept.
The Committee felt that Haiying’s proposal captured Billy Frank Jr.’s warmth and personality through his smile and posture, in addition to important details such as regalia, leaping salmon, and his placement seated by the riverside.
May, 2023
Small-scale model
Haiying began by sculpting a small-scale model (above) to understand the proportions, gesture, and the arrangement of the different elements.
October, 2023
The maquette
Haiying next built a “maquette” (below, center), a larger model that can explore finer details in the statue. He used armature (below, left) to understand the figure’s gesture at a larger scale. The maquette must next be approved by the Architect of the Capitol before being developed into a full-scale clay statue, which will then be cast in bronze.
March 2024
The Architect of the Capitol approves the maquette design.
