Bethel White Polar Cubs Frolic,
But Their Mom Looks Worried

Randolph sculptor Jim Sardonis puts finishing touches on his polar bear grouping, at a Barre stoneshed. The bears are made of Bethel White granite, the whitest in the world, and so hard that he once vowed never to carve it again. (Herald / Bob Eddy)

Jim Sardonis’s latest public sculpture pairs the Randolph sculpltor’s fascination with animal family figures with an urgent message about the environment.

A 2.5-ton hunk of Bethel white granite, the piece was commissioned by the trustees of Memorial Library in Andover, Mass. Entitled "Vigilance," it depicts a mother polar bear, standing watch over her three playful cubs.

Due to its subject, size, material and finish, this work invites comparison to another of Sardonis’s sculptures much closer to the artist’s home, the hippos next to the floating bridge of Brookfield’s Pond Village. That piece, entitled "Father and Son," was begun 30 years ago this summer.

Both sculptures depict the caring relationship between parent and offspring. They are also among the few of Sardonis’s works carved of the very dense Bethel white granite. (There is also a memorial in Brookfield’s cemetery, made of Bethel white, depicting a woman playing a Celtic harp.)

This granite is difficult to work, Sardonis explains. The Hippos took three summers to complete, back when Sardonis was also teaching art in public school. At the time, the sculptor vowed he would never again use the stone for a piece of that size.

Thankfully, due in large part to the emergence of diamond saws, Sardonis was not good to his word. Now, 30 years later, he has created "Vigilance," which matches "Father and Son" in size.

Carved with children in mind, these works have footholds for climbing provided by the baby hippo and the polar bear cubs, whose playful body parts poke out from under the protective parents.

The forms are simplified, reflecting Sardonis’s desire to depict the essence of things while not getting bogged down in details. Finished surfaces are brought to an eye-pleasing smoothness, surprisingly textured to the touch. This is achieved with air hammers and chisels; essential tools in working this incredibly dense granite.

"Because the kids are climbing all over them, I don’t want these pieces to be slippery," Sardonis explains. As in the unveiling of "Father and Son" in the early eighties, uncovering "Vigilance" last month in Andover, was regarded by the very young as license to climb. Children of all ages are attracted to these pieces, which long to be touched, "seen" with the hands, and scaled.

In both works, the parent beasts stand protectively above, gazing to the perimeter, as their young are lost in quiet reverie below.

It is here in the eyes of the parents, that an essential difference between the two sculptures emerges. The adult hippo gazes toward the waters of Sunset Pond, content, blissful. By contrast, the mother polar bear has her head up, unseen muscles in her neck flexing. She searches a more distant horizon, far beyond the confines of physical terrain.

Something has shifted in the 30 years between the creation of these two works, and Sardonis is addressing this change.

"Vigilance" reminds us that, in an age of global warming and ever heightening environmental concern, our horizons have widened.

"Good parenting today requires vigilance on a global scale of all of us," Sardonis explains. "For the young, my work remains approachable, huggable, playful. I hope it will hold those qualities for adults, as well, but also serve as a call to concern, to commitment, and to action."