When Nathan Scott was commissioned to make a sculpture of Robert Borden, he would eventually need a model to take reference photos. After a conversation with his wife, he found the right candidate quite closeby.
B次元官网网址淢y wife mentioned the Bordens and they live just down the road from us! IB次元官网网址檝e known who the Bordens were for years but never the connection so I went over there and asked them. And they said yeah, that would be my great-great-great uncle.B次元官网网址�
Ross Borden, who runs Borden Mercantile B次元官网网址� a longtime animal feed supplier, was B次元官网网址渁 little wide in the shouldersB次元官网网址� according to Scott, but was otherwise an apt choice.
B次元官网网址淗eB次元官网网址檇 already sculpted Robert BordenB次元官网网址檚 head, and he said he only wanted me for my body,B次元官网网址� said Ross.
The younger Borden said he just posed for 10 to 15 minutes in a rented costume while Scott took reference photos from all angles.
RossB次元官网网址� mother traced their lineage back to John Borden and his nephew Perry Borden, who moved from Rhode Island to Nova Scotia. John Borden is RossB次元官网网址� five-times great grandfather and Perry Borden is [RobertB次元官网网址檚] great grandfather.
Scott, who sculpted the Sidney bench-sitters B次元官网网址淢rs. StoneB次元官网网址� and B次元官网网址淥ld Salty,B次元官网网址� was contacted about a year and a half ago to be one of four sculptors across Canada responsible for 23 statues depicting the nationB次元官网网址檚 past prime ministers. He said he was chosen in part because an organizer of the project B次元官网网址� Prime MinistersB次元官网网址� Walk B次元官网网址� came to downtown Victoria and saw his sculpture of a young girl running into her arms of her father who had come home from sea, titled B次元官网网址淗omecomingB次元官网网址�. He began work on the Borden statue in February and only finished it on Monday.
By Wednesday (Oct. 18), the 485-pound statue will be on a truck to Toronto after about $800 in shipping fees. Eventually, it will end up in Baden, Ont., where it will be part of a sculpture garden that will eventually have all the Canadian prime ministers. Scott will fly over and install it himself on Nov. 3, which only takes about half an hour, before unveiling it on Nov. 6.
Scott said there are few photos of Borden, B次元官网网址渟o I had $100 bills all over my studio.B次元官网网址� Scott chose the pose, but he was asked to include 15 or 16 themes into the sculpture, which exist as small details called B次元官网网址楨aster eggs.B次元官网网址� For instance, the newspaper tucked under BordenB次元官网网址檚 arm is the Ottawa CitizenB次元官网网址檚 front page for Nov. 11, 1918, Armistice Day. The headline: B次元官网网址淧EACEB次元官网网址�. Symbols like the FreemasonB次元官网网址檚 square and compass, the scales of justice and a broken heart (he died of a heart attack) are carved into his cane.
Scott was proud to be one of the artists selected and said he learned a lot about the wartime prime minister in the process: Borden signed the Treaty of Versailles instead of allowing Britain to represent the colony, introduced federal income tax, and was prime minister when women voted for the first time in a federal election.
B次元官网网址淚tB次元官网网址檚 nice to be able to sculpt history. Often weB次元官网网址檙e looking to the future and we forget our past, so itB次元官网网址檚 neat to be able to [sculpt] a guy like this,B次元官网网址� said Scott.
