Artist sculpts portraits of soldiers from Great War
100 Portraits of the Great War remembers this province’s military contributions, losses, stories of the fallen
A cast of characters.
Cast in a role.
A cast iron frying pan. What do all these things have in common?
They all have a direct connection to three of the faces that will be cast in bronze as part of the 100 Portraits of the Great War project being completed by St. John’s sculptor Morgan Macdonald.
Those three faces, comedian Mark Critch, actor Allan Hawco and chef Todd Perrin were on hand at Macdonald’s studio in Logy Bay Thursday afternoon to start the casting process for their images that will appear on the latest work being completed by Macdonald. “There are lots of projects I work on that deals with soldiers and the history of this province,’’ Macdonald said. “I talk to the people about the history and I realize that this is something that is near and dear to their hearts and of course the great war is one of those,’’ he added.
His idea of this work came from something that could be hanging in every home in this province, the oval shaped, wooden framed photo of a family member that went off to war … and many that never returned.
So, to remember those people who fought and died in the Great War, Macdonald thought he would reach out to 100 people who would like to commemorate the memory of a relative from that era and have their story told and retold for decades and perhaps centuries to come.
His own relative Joe Babstock and his story is serving as Macdonald’s muse, the subject and history he is building the project around. In addition, Critch and Hawco are remembering their relatives who died on the battlefields of Europe; and Perrin, who has a familial connection to a soldier from that time, agreed to have his face cast to honour that person.
“The core of this project is being done with an anti-war message, but also done in the spirit of remembrance,’’ Macdonald said.
“It is unique, and I hope to have it clewed up by the end of August or early September, so it is unveiled before the bad weather sets in.”
Both Critch and Hawco have become a package deal in recent years when it comes to recounting Newfoundland and Labrador history and in particular, the history outlined in their documentary “Trail of The Caribou.”
Their unwavering support of all things that hail from this province is evident in their projects and public appearances that highlight Newfoundland and Labrador. “When we started researching for the documentary, we discovered that two of our relatives, lifelong friends, signed up for the war together, fought together, were wounded together, went back into battle together and died together,’’ Critch said. “So when we got to the cemetery, we discovered, they were also buried side by side,’’ he added. “It is eerie really. Newfoundland and Labrador is a small place so years later, not knowing, to find them buried side-by-side is amazing.”
Those men were James J. Tobin who Critch is descended from and Walter Greene of whom is one of Hawco’s descendants.
“Finding those graves side-byside was emotional,’’ Hawco said. “The impact that the First World War had on this place, what it did to us as an Island, as a country. You can’t help but wonder what it would be like if they had lived, if we never took on the war debt and what these men could have accomplished,’’ he added. Perrin said his connection came from his family business that operated after the war. His family operated a nursing home at the time.
“One of the first 500 soldiers who went to war and came home ended up in our home and remained there until the end of his life,’’ Perrin said. He was a resident in that nursing home and the impact that he made on me is why I want to remember him and be part of this project,’’ he added.
Critch said he is a huge fan of Macdonald’s work and while it may be 100 years ago that his battle took place, he said the history is still relevant today.
“If you look at the faces of people here, something I do, the gene pool is a bit of a puddle,’’ he said. “The faces of those people you
know, you say, hey I know that person. These faces we represent may have died 100 years ago, but you
look at them from that time and look at some of the faces here now and you feel like you know them, too.”