THE SHOOTING OF DAN McGREW - PHASE 5

March 16, 2001

Sculpture is frozen motion. Determining which freeze-frame to choose when creating a sculpture is always a challenge. This particular sculpture was no exception. As you can see from the initial phase, the early decision was to choose a slice of action immediately following the shooting. After a careful rereading of the poem, though, I decided to change which scene was to be represented in the sculpture.

Robert Service declares that the lights went out before the shots, and only came on again to reveal McGrew 'pitched on his head' and the miner in the arms of Lou. So the shooting, as I have represented it initially, while dramatic, wasn't actually visible in the poem. Also, it could have been any shooting, in any bar, with nothing significant marking it as the Shooting of Dan McGrew. The distinguishing feature of this poem has to be the twist at the end, when the eminently practical Lou pinches the poke of gold from the miner in her arms.

While less dramatic, because two main characters are dead, it is the subtlety of Lou's marvelous move on the mortician-bound miner that will be represented best by this sculpture. Though it may be difficult to note in clay - you might pick out that she is holding the poke behind her back, with the cord, freshly trailing from the miner's waist.

On a technical note: very little solid mammoth ivory can be found - including the piece shown in the intro. It too has cracked in characteristic fashion around the cone lines. I have decided to make the characters out of a combination of ivory and mahogany. Thus, Lou's torso will be made from ivory and her dress from mahogany. The other two will also be a combination of ivory and mahogany.

Take care for now,

Shane