Brian McQuillan

I knew Dave from talking with him while we were both exhibiting our sculptures at the Art in the Orchard show. and I met with him at a reception/party that was held for him after he completed his pumpkin trip. I actually made a trophy for him and presented it to him at the party. I told him “Every great achievement deserves a trophy!” It was kind of a corny trophy that I made for him out of other trophy parts I had on hand—two crossed paddles, with a plastic pumpkin on top if I remember correctly.

The Dave sculpture was my idea initially, I was just so shocked at Dave’s passing that I felt something had to be done to honor him. I made a drawing of a proposed sculpture with Dave in a full sized pumpkin. I sent it around to maybe 10 people asking if they would like to contribute to the sculpture by making a part of it. Everyone responded. From that point onward it was collaboration in every sense of the word. The ideas were flowing. Ideas about how to pose Dave, the size of the sculpture, what he should use to paddle with. what different parts should be created from.

My part of the sculpture was the body of Dave and Boomer the cat, and the two small pieces on the side of the pumpkin, and the snow designs on the base. One of my challenges was, when the cast head of Dave came back from the foundry it was too small to go with the body. Because John Collins and I were working in different studios, we had to kind of guesstimate the scale of all the other elements. The same was true with Chris Woodman making the hat. John made an extra casting of Daves head and gave it to Chris to use to get a proper fit. As for my body fit problem, I had to cut the sculpture in quarters and take sections out of each part to “shrink” the body. Also the Pal-tiya the pumpkin is made from was a challenge. It was the biggest piece Mike Perusse had ever made, and he was in constant contact with the factory to make sure everything came out all right. The fish at the base made by Jane Pelton Andresen. are the only “soft” element on the sculpture. Initally I wasn’t sure about having soft elements, but then I thought, I am not going to deny anyone the opportunity to celebrate Dave. It really is incredible that all the pieces for this thing came together: the fact (a HUGE bit of luck) that Russell just happened to have a new, giant barn for us to work in; Russell’s very large financial contribution; Pamela, Dave’s sister, was incredible, giving us not only her blessing for the project, but giving us Dave’s actual snow sculping shovel for the sculpture. Without exception everybody made an effort to be pleasant and honest with each other.

I made a decision to put Dave’s cat, Boomer, in the pumpkin, I knew he loved his cat, and thought he could use some company on his eternal ride. There are Euro coins that are included in the sculpture that were given to me from Chris Woodman, Coins that he had leftover from a trip he and Dave took to Italy. There is a “Hornet” emblem from an old car by the same name, as a tip of the hat to the sculpture Dave and Chris Woodman made. There is a “Git er Done” spatula to show Dave’s attitude to everything he did. And the Fantastic Owl piece by Piper Foreso on Dave’s back is a tribute to an animal Dave identified with closely.