BANGOR, Maine — In a tie vote Thursday, Bangor’s Commission on Cultural Development denied a request that it recommend the city provide funding to create a model of Babe the Blue Ox.
The model was to serve as a template for a proposed 20-foot-long statue of Paul Bunyan’s trusty companion to be erected adjacent to the existing 31-foot-tall Bunyan statue that has stood on Main Street for 56 years.
The Babe model is slated to be sculpted by 89-year-old J. Normand Martin, who designed the original Bunyan statue to commemorate the city’s 125th anniversary in 1959 when he was an artist and partner at Tom Cain Advertising in Hampden.
“Some people might argue that Paul Bunyan is not art. I would disagree,” said Gerry Palmer, a former city councilor who is working with Martin on the project.
“Paul Bunyan is the most photographed of all of our art in the city,” he said.
Despite the commission’s decision, Palmer said they remain “very encouraged” and still plan to present the sculpture during the northeastern logger expo on May 16 at the Cross Insurance Center. They will use the model in a private campaign to raise funds for the full-size Babe statue.
“New concepts take time,” Palmer said of the commission’s decision, adding that he and Martin plan to seek a City Council endorsement and hope to install the full-size Babe in July 2016.
He told the commission Thursday the city’s support of the project would be important in the fundraising campaign.
During discussion, some committee members expressed concern about recommending funding for the model when the city has not granted approval to install the statue at the site and fundraising is not complete.
“I hesitate to give funds to a statue when there’s no guarantee yet that it will be built, especially if the funds that we would recommend to the Business and Economic Development Committee and [City] Council are from taxpayer pockets,” said Vice Chairwoman Kiersten Piccininni.
Palmer and Martin presented Thursday an amendment to their original request for $1,000, instead seeking $550 for modeling clay, metal supports, a handmade wooden case, artists modeling tools, model paint, two tents for the unveiling ceremony and a $50 contingency for cost overruns.
Palmer said their initial request included compensation for Martin’s time and that Martin was not well compensated for his design of Bunyan.
“My understanding is that whatever meager commission there was got turned back into the project itself,” he said. “I don’t want that to happen this time.”
With just $1,033 left in its annual $10,000 budget for the promotion of regional art, the commission considered a motion to recommend that the city appropriate $160 for the model.
That motion failed with members Thomas Avila, Judy Boothby, Emily Burnham and Ulrike Guthrie voting in favor. Commission members Mary Budd, Kat Johnson, Piccininni and Elisabeth Young dissented. Burnham is an employee of the Bangor Daily News.
“I just frankly didn’t find the proposal that compelling given the commission’s limits and the types of project that we fund are limited to underwriting the costs of materials,” Budd said.
On the other side, Avila argued there should should be some sort of financial contribution by the city toward making the model “if nothing other than a good-faith gesture and an expression of support of the project.”
Commission Chairman Jamie Ballinger and member Chris Roberts were absent from the meeting.
Meanwhile, Martin told the committee he has scrubbed his initial rendering presented to the commission in February, aiming instead to design a blue oxen that is “friendly and still rugged” with a soft spot of white on his chest in the shape of a heart.
“What I would like to do, especially for the kids, is to have him look pleasant, just put a little bit of a smile on his face and have nice big blue eyes,” he said.
Palmer projected the oxen statue would cost less than $100,000 to complete and said they have already raised $3,000 privately with fundraising efforts being managed by the Bangor Lions Club and People United Bank.
According to Martin, the original Bunyan statue cost $20,000 to build in 1959. Adjusted for inflation that’s $162,705, according to the Consumer Price Index, a measure of inflation.
Palmer said they hope to replicate the babe model as gifts to large donors and to place one in each public school in Bangor.
Follow Evan Belanger on Twitter at @evanbelanger.