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My wild salmon idea started
on a cocktail napkin. No kidding. After an afternoon of pow skiing,
the day was a
wrap with pizza and beverages at Chair 5 Restaurant. I announced
to a table of friends that I wanted to enter the Wild Salmon on Parade
and needed help with an idea. A pen, a dozen napkins, several pitchers
of beer and 6 ski junkies were the recipe for "Tommy Roe".
I should have figured the inspiration for the our final concept would
stem from skiing; the passion that keeps us glued together. All I
needed to do was submit the idea on time, get selected, pick-up my
salmon
mold and... figure out how the heck I was going to construct a skiing
fish! I had a couple things going for me. 1) Tommy Moe is my brother-in-law
so I knew the idea would fly with him 2) Our family cabin in Girdwood
has a larger collection of 1990s ski gear than Ebay 3) I had every
ski buddy in Girdwood to utilize as a resource for ideas, tools and
support.
Besides
having a 4 ft. x 5 ft. salmon sculpture in my living room for 6
weeks, things went smoothly. Metal sculptor, Marieke Heatwole,
helped me with the biggest challenge which was welding an interior
metal frame to support the extending arms & legs. After
that, I located all the same equipment that Tommy Moe wore
in his 1994
Gold Medal Olympic Downhill run including Dynastar Coupe Du
Monde race skis, Kerma poles, Smith yellow/black goggles and
I painted
one of Tommy's old Boeri helmets. I'm
estatic to be selected for the 2007 event. This project was a great
get-away from my computer, which is how I make my livelihood
as a graphic designer: www.artseriously.com.
I also dabble in fine
arts when I have time. This site hasn't been updated in awhile,
but check out: www.bigbellyart.com.
I'm a lifelong Alaskan with plans to continue living, working
and playing from Girdwood.
Maybe skiing and Alaska will give me the inspiration again
for next year's
Wild Salmon. Hmmmm, who knows, maybe "ROE"sy Fletcher! A million thanks to Matt Underhill, Marieke Heatwole and Bob Mucha
for helping me out.
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