Artist’s tribute blocks his pay

Newport Beach is withholding part of the money it owes an artist commissioned to sculpt the city’s centennial monument while the sculptor removes a tribute, emblazoned on the side of the monument, to an assistant who committed suicide in his studio.

Arkansas-based sculptor Hank Kaminsky said Wednesday that he will hire an artist from San Diego to remove a sentence from the monument memorializing an employee who took his own life earlier this year.

“This sculpture belongs as much to the city as it does to me, and everything that is on it is a statement on the community,” Kaminsky said. “I recognize that it shouldn’t be there. He is well-remembered and loved, but that was not the place to do it.”

A welder and artist, the man did most of the welding on the Newport Beach monument before committing suicide underneath the sculpture in Kaminsky’s studio in Fayetteville, Ark., earlier this year. The man was a close friend of Kaminsky’s who worked for the sculptor for a number of years, he said.

“He was a troubled fellow who chose to take his life because of his own deep-seated problems,” Kaminsky said.

Set in low-relief on the side of the sculpture, the sentence reads “In memoriam...” and includes the employee’s name.

The sculpture will still include a tribute to the man in a less prominent place, along with Kaminsky’s other employees at the base of the monument, Kaminsky said.

City officials are pleased with the overall look and feel of Kaminsky’s large bronze sphere to commemorate the city’s centennial in 2006, except for the one small line of text on the side of the sculpture, said Kirwan Rockefeller, chairman of the Newport Beach Arts Commission.

“Hank has been so very responsive, and we recognized what a terrible thing this was for him and his crew,” Rockefeller said.

Kaminsky wrote to Rockefeller earlier this year to ask for permission to put a sentence memorializing his employee on the city monument, which Rockefeller didn’t have a problem with, he said.

City officials felt the memorial sentence was located too high up on the sculpture in a highly visible spot, Rockefeller said.

“We honor his contribution, but we just thought it was going to be at the bottom of the sphere,” Rockefeller said. “It’s simply a question of placement.”

The Newport Beach City Council voted Tuesday to withhold $4,000 of the last $40,000 the city owes Kaminsky for the sculpture over the sentence printed on the side of the monument.

The roughly half-inch-high text is slightly below eye level on the side of the monument, Rockefeller said. Councilman Don Webb, who leads the city’s centennial committee, said the memoriam sentence was one small issue with an otherwise eye-pleasing work of art.

“It’s not something we want to make a big deal about,” Webb said. “In looking at the overall sculpture, the job the sculptor did in recreating the history of Newport is outstanding. It’s really going to be a lasting legacy for Newport.”

The 5-foot-tall bronze sphere covered with images from Newport’s history arrived in Newport last week via flatbed truck from Kaminsky’s studio in Fayetteville, Ark. Scenes from the history of Newport Beach, including images of the Balboa Pavilion and surfing, adorn the monument.

Kaminsky spent countless hours in Newport Beach doing historical research and talking to locals about what the monument should look like, he said.

“The sculpture is really a collaboration between me and the town, which is an important part of making art in public places,” Kaminsky said.

The council approved a $412,000 contract in November for the memorial.

The sculpture is already bolted down at the base of Newport Pier, but remains covered until its official city unveiling July 21. The finished memorial will be surrounded by granite benches and a walking path at the base of the pier.

BRIANNA BAILEY may be reached at (714) 966-4625 or at [email protected].