WHITE ROCK — WHITE ROCK — Think about the town of Nelson and what comes to mind? Skiing? Mountains? Beer? Skiing on the mountains then drinking beer? The 1986 Steve Martin flick Roxanne?

Well, sure. But how about a new White Rock landmark?

The southeast B.C. town is home to noted sculptor Denis Kleine, who dabbles in abstract materials such as snow and ice. Indeed, he recently spent time in Kuwait, working with several dozen other artists to produce one of the largest exhibitions of sand sculptures on the planet.

Yet when it comes time for more permanent mediums, Kleine goes all old-school with… bronze.

And that brings us to White Rock.

In early 2014, says Claire Halpern, the city’s cultural development manager, a public art task force was formed. The goal: To commission a sculpture for the waterfront, on the plaza near the museum, that celebrated White Rock’s history with the rail system. It would be “interactive,” and it would involve a figure and a public bench.

The call, given a budget of $80,000, went out to a variety of respected B.C.-based sculptors, and soon enough the responses were received. One of those responses came from Kleine, who veered from the typical suggestion by proposing the figure stand beside, rather than sit upon, the bench.

“I’d just seen a lot of sculptures sitting on benches and I thought I’d do something different. Plus, it wouldn’t take up a seat on the bench.”

The White Rock folk loved the idea, and Kleine snapped into action. Today, “The Passenger” – a bronze depiction of a nattily attired middle-aged man, suitcase at his side, clearly waiting for a train – leans stoically against a bench directly in front of White Rock Museum & Archives. It is, inarguably, stunning.

How “The Passenger” got there was a journey in itself.

For starters, Kleine, who plies his trade in a studio on the shore of Kootenay Lake, needed a human prototype. He began, as all good sculptors do, in the produce department of the local Safeway.

“It’s a small town,” laughed Kleine. “I’d seen this guy many a time over the years. He had a handsome face and he looked the part. He thought about it a bit and said, ‘Yeah.’”

And the process began. A process that, for the sculptee at least, involved a whole bunch of patience – patience and stillness.

“We started by taking a lot of measurements and photos. Then he would come in every now and then to pose. Sometimes he would stand, and he’d sit in a chair when we got to work on the head.”

Fortunately, Kleine’s model had actually been a model earlier in life, so doing the living mannequin thing wasn’t a big issue.

Bronze statues, however, are.

For the making of “The Passenger,” Kleine’s first step – and it was a big one – was to create the full-blown image in clay. Most everything that appears today in the finished product standing outside the museum came about in the early clay stage.

But that was only the tip of the proverbial iceberg. Next, a latex rubber compound was “painted” onto the clay image. A harder plaster layer was then applied atop the rubber.

With the figure’s rubber/plaster “shell” in place, Kleine painstakingly separated said shell from its clay interior and disposed of the clay. The major body parts were then disconnected, wax poured into all of them, and the result was sent to the Pyramid Bronze Works foundry in Kelowna.

There, among other things, the forms were placed in a kiln to melt away the wax, the empty cavities were filled with bronze  and, finally, all the sections were welded together.

It’s called the “lost wax” method and, in this case, it took nearly a half year and the dedication of a team of assistants – including right-hand man Daniel Kloc and wardrobe person Teyana Neufeld – to see it through to fruition.

“It took on a life of its own,” Kleine said. “It flowed easily. There were no struggles.”

Indeed, “The Passenger” was so agreeable that it earned a human nickname: “Tim.”

 

There was, however, one final wrinkle. Kleine wanted the palm of the left hand to rest upon the back of the bench, but he knew it’d be a challenge.

“Being a taller guy (“Tim” is six feet even and 400 pounds), he’d either have to lean forward awkwardly or I’d have to make his arm too long.”

Moreover, bronze tends to shrink – about four per cent – when it begins to cool. Add it all up and it’s the fingers of “Tim’s” hand, rather than his palm, that make the connection with the bench.

Did that matter to those in attendance at the official unveiling of “The Passenger” on Jan. 24? Of course not. They were too busy ogling, sitting beside and getting photos taken with White Rock’s latest and most dapper waterfront attraction. It’s a scene sure to be duplicated relentlessly in the months and years ahead.

As for Kleine, he’s soon headed back to Israel, where he’s in the midst of fashioning a dramatic “larger than lifesize” sculpture of a peace sign formed, in part, by a man and a woman. The last time he was there, he was close enough to the Israel-West Bank barrier that he could “hear the bombs going off.”

Check out www.peacesymbolproject.moonfruit.com for more information on this most worthy project.

Goble@shaw.ca

Surrey Now