UMPI carpenter goes a step farther
in preserving work by famed sculptor
PRESQUE ISLE — When the University of Maine at Presque Isle went through a six-month project to preserve its four-ton, 30-foot-tall sculpture, “Owls,” by renowned Maine artist Bernard Langlais, officials didn’t realize it would result in two separate pieces that will allow people to appreciate and enjoy Langlais’ work for generations to come.
Photo courtesy of UMPI
Owls Sculpture — Al Levesque, UMPI physical plant staffer and woodcarver, presents the scale model replica he carved of the Owls sculpture by Bernard Langlais to UMPI President Linda Schott. Nearby, the four-ton, 30-foot-tall original sculpture stands in the middle of campus.
The main goal of that project was to restore and preserve the 35-year-old outdoor wooden sculpture, which was seriously weathered, eroded and deteriorated, and then move it to the center of campus. The sculpture was one of the very last Langlais produced before his unexpected death in December 1977. Work on the project began in March 2012 and the restored and preserved sculpture was unveiled in September 2012. The surprise second work that resulted from the project is an exact scale model replica created out of some of the residual wood from the original sculpture by one of the UMPI sculpture preservation crew members.
Al Levesque, a member of UMPI’s physical plant staff, carved a miniature version of Langlais’ Owls (it’s a 1:12 scale model, with one inch on the model equaling one foot on the actual sculpture) from lumber salvaged during the restoration process. The base of the sculpture was so deteriorated, due to exposure to decades of harsh Aroostook County winters, that when crew members removed it from its location near Emerson Hall, they had to cut nearly six feet of the base off. Workers were able to save healthy wood from those pieces and some of it was pulverized and used to patch holes that existed in Langlais’ sculpture. As well, some wooden sheets from that salvaged wood were used as veneer to smooth out the finished sculpture. After all that work, just an armful of residual wood remained.
Levesque, who has done antique restoration and reproduction work for 35 years, said he knew right from the start of the preservation project if there was any residual wood left, he wanted to make a scale model both to pay tribute to Langlais’ work and provide the campus with a piece of the sculpture that could be kept indoors, out of the elements.
“We were going to throw that leftover wood away,” he remembered. “But I knew I could carve a miniature version of Owls from those residual pieces.”
He started the carving process just after Thanksgiving 2012 and the replica took about 70 hours to complete, from the think time and ensuring he got the scale right to etching out the details and the carving itself.
UMPI’s Owls sculpture features five owls ranging in height from 18 to 30 feet, originally painted in shades of brown, gray, white and rust. The sculpture is carved out of huge timbers salvaged from the nineteenth century Portland Grand Trunk Railroad Grain Elevator that was demolished in 1974.
It was no small feat for UMPI to secure this sculpture for campus. The university was awarded a $7,500 grant in 1976 by the Maine State Commission on the Arts and Humanities, through a federal grant from the National Endowment for the Arts, for the 1976 Bicentennial Community Sculpture Program. Officials used that funding to commission the Owls sculpture. The owl is the university’s mascot and symbol. At the time it was commissioned, Owls was Aroostook County’s only public sculpture.
Securing Langlais for this commissioned work was an equally impressive feat. Born in Old Town, Langlais (1921-77) was an internationally-renowned artist, who received many of the art world’s top honors, including a Fulbright grant, Guggenheim fellowship and Ford Foundation prize, and whose work has been featured in museums throughout the country, including the Whitney Museum, the Museum of Modern Art and the Art Institute of Chicago.
After experiencing both commercial and critical success in New York City, Langlais returned to Maine with his wife Helen in the late 1960s. “Blackie,” as he was affectionately called, was quite prolific in his artistic career — particularly in the last 10 years of his life — creating many works at his farm and studios in Cushing. He became known as an “animalier” with works that included large figurative outdoor wooden sculptures. Langlais became ill during the construction of UMPI’s Owls sculpture and passed away two weeks prior to its installation on campus in January 1978.
In the years since, the wooden sculpture was proudly displayed on campus, though exposure to decades of harsh Aroostook County winters took its toll. It was in 2011 that then UMPI President Don Zillman reached out to Andres Verzosa, director and owner of Aucocisco Galleries in Portland, to collaborate on the restoration project. Verzosa has worked for years to preserve Langlais’ work.
Through Verzosa, UMPI learned about the Maine Community Foundation’s “Bernard Langlais Fund.” The University applied for and received a $5,000 matching grant from the fund to help pay for the preservation work. Verzosa created the donor-advised fund for the preservation and conservation of public outdoor sculptures by Langlais. The UMPI project was the very first to receive monies from this fund. Officials estimate that the restoration work will allow the Owls to be displayed for another 50 or more years.
Levesque’s replica will ensure generations beyond that are able to appreciate Langlais’ work. Precisely because of that, Levesque spent a lot of time ensuring his was a faithful copy.
“As I was working on this project, I was thinking, ‘What was the artist thinking about when he was carving it?’” Levesque said. “As part of the restoration project, I had seen some details, but it was when I started to carve that I really saw what the artist was seeing in this sculpture of five figures. There’s the life cycle of an owl in the sculpture from the smallest figure with its fluffy feathers to the tallest one, a fully matured owl with long feathers. That’s similar to the evolution of our students from freshman to sophomore to junior to senior to alum.”
Levesque’s carving was completed by the end of December and now is proudly displayed in the President’s Office. Lots of options are being discussed about how to permanently display it.
“We are absolutely delighted to have this additional piece honoring the work of Bernard Langlais,” UMPI President Linda Schott said. “Because it can be kept inside, we’re hoping this replica of Owls will last us for many generations to come. Al did an amazing job getting each detail right, down to the last feather, and we are so pleased to have this piece to further Langlais’ legacy.”
For Levesque, taking the initiative on a project like this was the only thing to do.
“It doesn’t matter where I have worked, doing a little extra, there’s nothing wrong with that. And taking a little pride in what you do, there’s absolutely nothing wrong with that, either,” he said. “The Owls were not accessible where they were [by Emerson Hall]. And even where they’re at right now in the center of campus, it’s not the easiest thing to get close to in the wintertime. This scale model makes for a highly accessible version that people can easily see, and it won’t be exposed to the elements. Hopefully, if Bernard Langlais were here, he’d get a kick out of the version I made.”
