Building a destination: Creating a connection
By Kris Leonhardt
Senior Editor
We continue our series on the various aspects of Stevens Point’s Cultural Commons, leading up to the spring grand opening of what organizers hope to become a destination location.
STEVENS POINT – At the heart of the Cultural Commons garden sits an area designated for signature sculptures. Among the sculptures planned for the section is one that is reflective of the relationship between the United States and Poland.
“Two to three years ago, Heritage of Portage County, Inc., and the Polish Heritage Awareness Society, approached me for sculpture ideas for the Polish sector of the joint sister cities effort to create a cultural commons,” sculpture creator, Boleslaw Kochanowski. “Along with the three sister cities, an indigenous American sector was to be a part of the development.
“I came up with several ideas – a couple of them would be lesser sculptures… We were thinking of a more monumental sculpture, a more prominent sculpture. I came up with the idea of two eagles, because eagles are very prominent for both countries’ symbolism. Poland has the white eagle, that goes back about a thousand years in its history, and then, of course, America’s bald eagle.”
Kochanowski is a local accomplished artist and draftsman who is known for his architectural ironwork and art. His ties to the project do not end there; this contributor has a personal connection to the relationship the sculpture is being developed to symbolize.
Kochanowski ‘s father was a blacksmith from Poland who started his journeymanship in his uncle’s shop. As a master blacksmith, when his father was rounded up by the Germans, his skill was prized and he was placed on a large farm in Germany that needed a blacksmith. There he learned German farming techniques.
When his father came to America in 1950, he first paid off the debt he owned to those who sponsored his emigration, then headed to Chicago to find work.
“It was after World War II and there were a lot of jobs in Chicago,” Kochanowski explained. “He tried several dozen jobs before he found what he liked. He didn’t read English yet, but he knew enough German to read German. He understood enough key words in the newspaper, and he saw ‘blacksmith CTA (Chicago Transit Authority).’ He was the head blacksmith for CTA.”
But farming still called to Kochanowski’s father, and he found a farm in the Vesper area. The family turned the farmhouse into a rooming house. There, Kochanowski’s father did his blacksmith work on the side and his sons began to learn the trade.
“At 45-46 he decided to sell (the farm) and went to Milwaukee and took a job in the Milwaukee Road shops,” Kochanowski added. “Right out of high school he got me into the shops. He also got my two older brothers into the shops and my cousin.”
There, Kochanowski worked right alongside his father.
However, Boleslaw and his brothers would later yearn for the country and eventually returned to the central Wisconsin area, settling in Portage County.
Since then, Kochanowski has served the area well with his skill in architectural ironwork and art creations.
Now, he will leave a lasting tribute to the connection between his roots and the life he now has in Portage County, in addition to the friendship between the two countries.
“The intent of my design is to show the viewer that there is and was a strong bond between Poland and America,” he explained. “At the least, I want the viewer to feel that there has been an affinity between the two nations. For both countries the eagle is one of the prime symbols of identity, along with their respective flags, and their national anthems. These are the white eagle for Poland and the bald eagle for America.
“These grand, magnificent birds will be sculpted in stylized realism using metals of dark chestnut tones and of white tones to distinguish the two. The birds will be life size perched on tall, asymmetric spires.
“I’m going to rely on the metals to give them the permanent tone. For example, the white portions will be in an offsetting metal that will retain its whiteness, such as stainless steel.
“Spires draw the viewer’s eye upward. One senses greatness, of which both countries have had their share. The spires are tattered and canted. This implies times of distress were part of their history.
“At the base will be a short inscription and the title, ‘For your Freedom and Ours,’ a reference to the rallying cry of Poles fighting tyranny alongside allies, be it in Europe or in America, as Generals Pulaski and Kosciuszko did for George Washington and the American Revolution.”