Children want to be
this statue's neighbor
By Anya Sostek
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
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| Joanne Rogers hugs a well-wisher after the unveiling of a statue of her late husband, Fred Rogers, who delighted children across the nation on “Mr. Roger’s Neighborhood.” (Scripps Howard News Service) |
PITTSBURGH – Amy Mee wasn’t standing in front of the new Fred Rogers statue for long before she was interrupted by her 6-year-old daughter, Sarah.
“Take a picture of me sitting on his lap,” said Sarah, bouncing with excitement. “I can fit there.”
In the days since its unveiling last week, the bronzed Rogers has been mobbed with children climbing over his arms, legs and lap. Older “children” in their 20s, 30s and 40s have stopped by, too, smiling for cell-phone pictures in front of the statue and immediately e-mailing them to friends.
But the statue has also drawn its share of attention that’s considerably less neighborly.
On an episode of “Jimmy Kimmel Live,” the host first professed his love for the “Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood” television show and then quipped that the statue “made the nicest man in the world look like a mud monster.”
The nearly 11-foot-high, 7,000-pound statue is crafted in the distinctive, choppy style of sculptor Robert Berks. Rogers was an admirer of Berks’ work, said his wife, Joanne, and frequently visited his statue of Albert Einstein in Washington.
Joanne Rogers said that she was extremely pleased with the statue and the memorial, and felt that her husband would be as well. “I love it,” she said, noting that her only regret was that Berks, 87, was not well enough to attend the unveiling.
Michael Strueber, executive director of the Colcom Foundation and director emeritus of the Southern Alleghenies Museum of Art, called the Rogers memorial “daring, difficult and just dazzling” in his remarks during the unveiling ceremony.
The Colcom Foundation is funding the maintenance of the statue, which was commissioned by the late philanthropist and Rogers family friend Cordelia May.
But others in Pittsburgh’s art world haven’t been so charitable.
A robust discussion has broken out on the Facebook page of Pittsburgh Filmmakers Executive Director Charlie Humphrey, who harshly criticized the statue.
Tom Sokolowski, director of the Warhol Museum, also expressed dismay over the statue. “More than anything else, it doesn’t look beckoning and warm,” he said. “I don’t think this bespeaks him. The statue doesn’t resemble him at all.”
Nearly every public art project brings with it some degree of criticism, of course, as experts and everyday onlookers give their opinions. Some projects, such as the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, initially received considerable criticism before being accepted and even beloved over time.
And for visitors to the Tribute to Children site this week, enthusiasm far outweighed skepticism.
Megan Howard, 30, grew up watching “Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood” every day, she said, and excitedly sent a picture of the statue to her brother via cell phone. “It looks just like him,” she said, pausing as her brother texted back.
“He said he likes it,” she said, smiling.
Nancy Mehalic, owner and director of a Montessori school, wasn’t so sure. “You have to look really hard to see his image in the sculpture,” she said, as two 5-year-olds from her school climbed onto the lap.
Still, she praised it as inviting to children and called Kimmel’s criticism “rude – he’s not from here.”
Mee didn’t see much resemblance, either. But watching her four children and two nephews immediately run to the statue, running their hands over the rough bronze and hanging onto Rogers’ hands and feet, it didn’t really matter.
“I’m glad they did something to remember him,” she said. “It’s so kid-friendly.”
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