The Goddess of Commerce is getting closer to a New Home...
The Goddess of Commerce Statue II, created by Marilyn Mahoney and funded by a group led by Babe Lehrer, is close to finding a permanent home at the corner of St. Helens and Baker (map here ). She will be located where the green arrow is. Incidentally, the cottonwood in that picture was taken down by order of the City because it was damaging the sidewalk.
The Goddess was created as a replacement for the original, but was updated to symbolize today’s life and culture. It was rejected by the Tacoma Arts Commission and the Landmarks Preservation Commission (stories here. Tacoma Daily Index ). Those rejections meant it could not be placed on public property.
The Theater District Association (TDA), which was interested in improving the five corners at St. Helens, 6th and Baker, got involved. Blaine Johnson, president of TDA and downtown developer (also active with The Passages Building, The Vintage Y, the Roberson, and the creation of Ben Gilbert Park where the city’s original plan was to place two trash compactors) connected with Lehrer. They agreed to find a private site for the Goddess.
The TDA approached Steve Shaub, the representative of the ownership group of the property where Mandarin Antiques is located, to ascertain their interest in the idea. It was decided it was a win-win.
Shaub and the ownership group have been generous, as have the many who contributed and attended fundraisers held by the TDA at the B2B Gallery and Amocat Café. Design work by BCRA and surveying work by ESM Consulting Engineers has been donated for placement of the Goddess.
Another example of a community coming together, another illustration of what can be achieved when “no” is not an acceptable answer.
It is planned for the Goddess to be in place by June.
Filed under: General
14 comments
M meta rick April 2, 2011
hahaha… is this like the SI “Sidd Finch” story, or is it merely hilarious on it’s own merits. Where to begin…
L low bar April 2, 2011
uh isnt she the bitch who brought the billboard needing business to town?
M Mel B. April 4, 2011
Wow, so sad that the TAC rejected the “Goddess of Commerce”. Seems indicative of why so many businesses leave Tacoma. Too many overeducated bureaucrats for what is proudly a working-class town.
D Donovan April 4, 2011
It is one of the ugliest sculptures I’ve ever seen. Put it in a warehouse somewhere. What are these people thinking?
L low bar April 4, 2011
hahahaha ocryx and joe!
R RR Anderson April 4, 2011
why she is holding a tv dinner filled with an assortment of deodorizers, steamed rice bowls and sex toys is a commercial mystery. I sort of understand the stubby container ship (bringing in goods from china) at least it doesn’t look like a bed pan.
I am excited to have this statue in a very pedestrian location where symbolism can be studied up close.
R RR Anderson April 4, 2011
the only thing I don’t like is the creepy polygamist cult wife dress. Real goddesses show skin.
T tom waits April 5, 2011
The appraisal of the piece determined that the lack of artistic merit deemed the statue to be worth less than the value of the metal that went into it.
That is quite an achievement.
It is a truly awful statue: the execution is poor, the concept is culturally thick-headed at best (and perhaps even offensive), and the attempts to get the city to take it (and pay for it) were classic examples of old school Tacoma style politics trying to muscle a truly bad idea through the process with as little public input as possible.
The fact is that the artist decided that she was the one that should speak for all past and present Tacomans, that she should be the one to choose how to portray our history, and that the easiest path to getting it installed was to dump on some public property somewhere. Ask any person familiar with public art about the “gifting problem.”
More power to its supporters getting it sited on private property. This is what the objective should have been all along. (By the way, the original goddess was on the Chamber of Commerce Building, which was also private property).
R RR Anderson April 5, 2011
If you put this statue on the current Chamber of Commerce building downtown you’d get tons of calls reporting a jumper. “911, YES THERE IS A REALLY SAD LOOKING WOMAN STANDING ON THE LEDGE… “
A Altered-Chords April 6, 2011
Well, downtown Puyallup has their fancy statues everywhere. Now WE will have awesome statues too. I want to meet the lovely model that posed for this. I’ll bet I could cheer her up!
S Squid April 7, 2011
Marilyn Mahoney is a nice person so I hate to hack on her, but the sculpture is pretty much as Tom Waits describes. The Arts Commission did us a huge and politically difficult favor by turning it down.
Maybe people will start dressing her up as the tradition has become with the Mason statuary next to the Proctor Library (who knew he was a cross-dresser?).
T tom waits April 7, 2011
@Squid. I agree with your comments, and I think that fundamentally the intent was fine. The public process with the arts commission and its requirements exist for a reason, and there really would be no excuse for the commission to accession such a piece or allow it to be displayed prominently in a major public setting.
Keep the city out of it, and don’t abuse the public interest, and all is well.
The Goddess has taken on a legendary folk status because of its history, which is great. That public dialog exceeds the significance of the art piece itself, in my opinion.
V Volcano Boycotting RR Anderson April 7, 2011
let the yarn bombing campaign begin!
U Ugly Betty April 7, 2011
@ 11 “It is a truly awful statue: the execution is poor, the concept is culturally thick-headed at best (and perhaps even offensive), and the attempts to get the city to take it (and pay for it) were classic examples of old school Tacoma style politics trying to muscle a truly bad idea through the process with as little public input as possible.”
I could have not said it better my self. You can easily tell by the supporters who is “old Tacoma” and who is sucking up to “Old Tacoma”.
Well done Arts Commish!!