By Derek Wilson
Marinscope
Dennis Patton has carved out his place in the artist community of Marin County during the past 50 years. He has experienced challenges and successes — great and small — with his sculptures.
“I decided to help the world and make beautiful things,” said Patton, who originally came to Marin from Southern California during the Sixties. He spent part of two decades later in Iowa before returning to Marin nearly 20 years ago. “I love this county. I found Marin when I was 21 and my mind grew up here.”
Patton found inspiration in Marin. Patton is responsible for two of the most recognizable sculptures in Marin County. The nude, “Tamalpais”, lays peacefully at an entrance to the Bon Air Shopping Center in Larkspur, with the mountain that inspired the work looming in the distance. Near Larkspur Landing, his 30-foot tall sculpture of Sir Francis Drake is caught amid controversy.
A movement is gaining momentum to remove Drake’s name and image from public streets, schools, and landmarks — and that includes Patton’s sculpture of Drake with a sword and a flag welcoming ferry goers as they arrive to Larkspur.
“My work has always been nothing more than art,” Patton said in a recent phone call. “I have no idea what is coming in the future, or who will be blamed for what happened in the past. I marked an event. The sculpture is not of Drake, it’s actually an event, which is why he is carrying a flag. The planting of the flag is the event.”
That event, once glorified, is now being vilified as the moment that led to the slaughter of local Coast Miwok natives by Drake and his followers.
Patton offered the option of renaming the sculpture “Discovery.” Opponents of the sculpture steadfastly claim it must be removed entirely or else it will continue to stand as a symbol of bigotry and hate.
However, the anger Patton feels from protesters forces him to feel like he has to defend his art. The push to remove his sculpture of Drake is personally painful to him, he said.
“I’ve enjoyed a wonderful life. But now people are hurting me,” Patton said. “One of the biggest problems I have with everything that is going on is the hatred. There is hatred all over the world now. People need to stop the hatred. Anyone who uses the word ‘hate’ destroys any hope of communication.”
Patton’s artwork has come under attack in the past.
His enormous wooden sculpture of a Trojan horse attracted international attention in the Seventies, although it stood only temporarily near the Highway 101/Sir Francis Drake Boulevard interchange after the State Division of Highways ordered it to be moved.
Patton followed that with towering sculptures of Don Quixote and his loyal steed near the Marin Civic Center. The horse was burned down by three teens, and Don Quixote was left to stand alone, until he succumbed to age and the elements.
“When Frank Lloyd Wright designed the Civic Center he said there should be no art in and around the site because the building should be the main focus,” Patton said. “The Board of Supervisors went against his decree and gave me the only show on that land. In the midst of that, three teenage boys decided they were just too bored. They had a poor progression of thought, I guess, and one of them said let’s go burn the horse. It was wood, they threw gas on it and burned it.
Patton continued, “One of the boys apologized to me years later in his 20s. He said that was the end of his bad-boy days, although the other two went on in worse directions. I said ‘if burning the horse saved you, then it was worth it.’ I lost that kid’s address, but I want him to contact me. The bond we have over that horse is deeper than anything in my life.”
The way people, events and artwork are judged seem to change with time.
“What the county did 30 years ago when my sculpture was commissioned, was what the county wanted,” Patton said. “Marin was sweeter then, perhaps more naive. … This art that Dennis Patton made is part of the history of Marin. You don’t just get rid of it willy nilly,” Patton said. “I made beautiful things. I won awards, I’ve fallen in love and had wonderful children. I’ve tried to feather the nest of Marin with something beautiful.”
Patton says he has received a letter or two attacking him personally since the controversy started. Most of the comments have been directed at the sculpture and at Sir Francis Drake.
Sir Francis Drake’s maritime skills made him a hero in England after he circumnavigated the world in a there-year expedition, from 1577-80. During that expedition, he landed in the Marin County area, although that claim has since come into question. Drake planted his flag on the coast and claimed California for England, sparking a battle with Spain, which also had made a claim to the territory that would become California.
With Drake’s place in Marin County history as a sailor and explorer, his name was destined to be linked with the area: Drake’s Bay, Drake’s Beach, Sir Francis Drake Boulevard and Sir Francis Drake High School.
The more infamous details of Drake’s life as a slave trader and reputed murderer have many Marin County residents calling for the removal of Drake’s name from public areas. A popular suggestion currently is to rename Sir Francis Drake Boulevard to Miwok Way. Whatever comes from these talks, the desire seems to be to have local Coast Miwok people represented in the decision process.
Patton offered the option of renaming the sculpture “Discovery.” Opponents of the sculpture steadfastly claim it must be removed entirely or else it will continue to stand as a symbol of bigotry and hate.
Larkspur native Lauren Brown at a special meeting of the Larkspur City Council on June 29 suggested the sculpture is a “monument to white supremacy and hides in plain sight. This is a statue. It doesn’t have to be there forever.”
Brown’s opinion represented the majority of speakers, although a few others were open to renaming the sculpture, or simply leaving it alone as a sign of respect to artwork.
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Michael says
This rewriting of history is uninformed hysteria. It is well documented after Drake worked as an employee in his early 20s on a couple of slave ships he went on to become a hero to escape slaves freeing slaves all across the New World as well as treating native peoples with respect. He was hundreds of years ahead of his time and it’s mine boggling how uninformed people are when we have documents from the time of Drake and ships logs that prove he was not the villain the uninformed are perpetuating. It’s unbelievable how these lemmings jump on a false story and the bandwagon rolls on and on…
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