Fungi sculptor dies in California
THE artist and environmental campaigner James ‘Bud’ Bottoms who died in his home city of Santa Barbara, California, last week will long be remembered in Dingle where his bronze statue of Fungi the dolphin is a much-admired – and sat upon - feature at the head of the pier.
John Moriarty of Lord Baker’s restaurant recalled this week how Bud
– “a wonderful, charming man”
– made the first of many visits to Dingle in the
1980s and spent a lot of time swimming with
Fungi. He and his wife were regular customers at Lord
Baker’s where he struck up a friendship with John, who was then chairman of the Dingle Chamber of Commerce.
At the time Bud was working on a series of dolphin sculptures and he proposed making one for Dingle at a cut-price cost of $15,000. The Chamber of Commerce was interested and hoped to buy and install the Fungi statue as a millennium project. The only problem was that the Chamber had no money but John and Bud managed to strike a deal anyway. Bud offered to give the statue to Dingle in exchange for a week’s meals at Lord Baker’s and accommodation in Jimmy Bambury’s B&B where John’s sister (and Jimmy’s wife) Bernie was happy to oblige. Steve Ó Cualáin of Údarás na Gaeltachta was able to come up with the cost of transporting the statue from Califorina to Dingle and thanks to the efforts and goodwill of all concerned both Bud and Fungi are now immortalised in bronze at the head of the pier.