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Alaska Artist To Install Salmon Sculpture On The Spit

Courtesy of the Homer Foundation

A new sculpture will soon be in place on the Homer Spit. Its name is “The Giving Salmon" and it will be a six-foot bronze installation of a fish in front of the new Boat House Pavilion.

The salmon is being erected to commemorate the 25th anniversary of the Homer Foundation, a philanthropic organization in the community.

It’s meant to be an interactive sculpture, the foundation said. Once it’s up, visitors may make a contribution to the foundation by feeding a donation into the salmon’s mouth.

Anchorage’s Christina Demetro is the artist behind the creation. Out of 29 proposals sent in by artists around the country, the group chose Demetro for her design and “the desire to use her art to build community through the sculpture process," according to a release from the foundation.

Demetro takes on after her father, Jim, who is also a sculptor. She began her career at the age of 19 as his apprentice. After a decade of working alongside him, she began creating her own public pieces, the foundation noted.

She is known for her bronze work, which often starts as a clay or wax base sculpture she co-creates with members of the community in which she is working.

Demetro said she enjoys the interactive qualities of public art and working together with others to make her pieces. She says she is excited to work with an artistic community like Homer on this project.

The public is invited to help Demetro sculpt the clay base of The Giving Salmon on Saturday, March 25, from 2-6 p.m. at the booth next to Coal Point Trading Company on the Spit.

Editor's note: The version of this story broadcast on air initially gave the date of the public sculpting workshop as March 18. That has since been rescheduled for March 25.