Statue embodies spirit of Kesey
 |
 |
|
Statue embodies spirit of Kesey By Susan Palmer
Ken Kesey spun his magic again Friday in the heart of Eugene, this time with a little help from his friends. A statue of Oregon's most famous storyteller, unveiled at Broadway Plaza, put him squarely back in the community's midst two years and five days after his death from cancer at age 66. The sculpture shows Kesey sitting on a granite bench reading to his three grandchildren, who posed for the work. After friends and family pulled the rainbow-colored fabric back to reveal the statue, kids in the crowd of hundreds pressed in first.
People patted Kesey's back and touched his shoulder, ran their hands along his cheek, even stroked his nose. Before long, someone had draped a green necklace around his neck and tucked small flowers into it. Mayor Jim Torrey pulled out "Little Tricker the Squirrel Meets Big Double the Bear" and treated those gathered to an excerpt from Kesey's book for children, giving voice to a tale set on a fine autumn morning when "nothing was amove except one finger of sun." Other speakers reminded the audience that Kesey was more than just the guy who wrote two seminal works of fiction - "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest" and "Sometimes a Great Notion." He was the man who could have lived anywhere but chose to live in Pleasant Hill, who rallied to the cause of saving Oregon's wild places, who dreamed large and encouraged others to dream, too. "He was interested in calling our attention to the things in life worth embracing," said Pete Helzer, who created the sculpture of Kesey. On a sunny afternoon despite a dreary forecast, author Barry Lopez wondered what Kesey himself was doing just then.
Kesey's wife, Faye, put an arm around the likeness of her husband. "It was the most natural thing to do," she said. His son, Zane, slipped in and sat next to him, posing as he had for the sculptor to help get the drape of the fabric and other details right. "I'm glad I did it," he said. "It was such a thrill. And having the kids there, he delighted so much in the grandchildren." The grandchildren - Kate and Jordan Smith and Caleb Kesey - sat next to their bronze images and smiled as dozens of photographers clicked away. More than 150 groups and individuals helped pay for the artwork, with contributions from actor Paul Newman and authors Tom Wolfe and Tom Robbins, Lanker said. The cost of the statue will come to $125,000 - $25,000 less than anticipated, but supporters are still short by about $25,000. Organizers wanted to unveil the statue now even though not all the bills are paid because of the events honoring Kesey this weekend - a two-day symposium on his work at the University of Oregon, a staging of "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest" at the UO and the release of a collection of Kesey's journals. The unveiling drew youngsters on skateboards and old men with beards, young women in business suits and old women in tie-dye. Michael Connelly, a retired drug and alcohol counselor, said he came to honor Kesey's memory. A casual acquaintance who knew Kesey when he lived in California, Connelly said the author influenced his life. "He inspired me to move, explore, take risks," Connelly said.
The statue depicts Kesey in one of his more benign roles. But Connelly hasn't forgotten the man who led the Merry Pranksters, whose trip on the psychedelic bus Further became the stuff of Tom Wolfe's "The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test" and whose wild streak was as memorable as his literary genius. Yet the image unveiled on the Broadway Plaza seemed fitting, Connelly said. "You take the man as a whole. This is a calm part, not the rapids in the river that he chose to float," he said. Related: The quiet prankster: Statue depicts Ken Kesey reading to children Copyright © 2003 The Register-Guard |
|
|
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Original material ©1996-2024 Mr. Sharkey | All rights reserved