Public Art

The piece of public art I chose was “River Shadows” (Three Manatees) by Andre Harvey. The year it was created was 1989 and the sculpture is located in the Port Charlotte Town Center Mall. It is a cast bronze sculpture, with a stainless steel base, of three manatees swimming alongside each other.

The subject of the sculpture is three manatees seemingly swimming in a fountain of bubbling ocean water. The sculpture captures the manatees’ purpose by showing them swimming in a uniform line looking as careless and easygoing as ever. The sculpture doesn’t seem to portray any historical meaning to it other than manatees are a great thing to see when in Florida. The sculpture seems to say that Port Charlotte is a nice, breezy community and that people get along with each other easily.

This sculpture shows the audience that symbiosis and living among amazing sea creatures is a great way to portray the gulf town. The community seems to value sea life and a ‘beach’ lifestyle. This sculpture can be seen as full-round, not relief. The sculpture really interacts with the fountain underneath acting as the ocean waters. Other than that, I am not sure that this fountain piece is suitable for being in a shopping center. The size of the sculpture, as derived from the artist’s website, is the lowest manatee: 54″, middle manatee: 78″, and the upper manatee: 66″. The weight of this sculpture is 1800 pounds or approximately 810 kgs.