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Wednesday, July 6, 1977
University Daily Kansan
'A concept of justice
... should embody the awareness and sensitivity of a woman and the vision, speed and accuracy of a prairie falcon.'
Bernard "Poco" Frazier
Photographs of the late Bernard Frazier were taken May 12, 1976.
At his death, "Poco" Frazier had completed a six-foot clay model and had begun a 24-foot white marble statue of justice that would stand in the central hall of the new Kansas Supreme Court building in Topeka. He believed that the existing image of justice symbolized 19th century ideals that no longer were applicable and that the complexities of modern society demanded that justice be swift, all-seeing and be able to decide issues that are far beyond the capabilities of a system symbolized by a balance scale.
Photos by Kent Van Hoesen Story by Rick Alm
When University of Kansas sculptor Bernard "Poco" Frazier died in May 1978, he left unfinished his final work, a marble monument to justice he had designed for the new Kansas Supreme Court building in Topeka.
His statue, entitled "Justice," however, has not died. Malcolm Frazier, his 21-year-old son, is finishing it as a tribute to his father.
familiar blind folded figure. His son, Malechm, is now lovingly completing the statue of an open-eyed woman releasing a prairie dog.
On May 24, 1976, Bernard "Poce" Frazier died before realizing his 30-year dream of creating a sculpture of justice to replace the
"Poco?" Franzer left the details of the priure falcon to be perfected in the finished work because he had confidence in his ability to produce a quality product.
was faced with the task of creating an image that depicts his father's concept of a swift and all-seeing justice. The resulting video would have to be as light and unobtrusive as possible.
"HE'S WHAT KEeps ME UP HERE
trying to make it perfect." he said
Pausing, the soft-spoken Fratzer described his father as a perfectionist who ruined everything.
"This sculpture was important to my father," Fraizer said softly, "and it would be a shame if it was never done. I was determined to do it."
He made a delicate pass across the stone with a pneumatic chasel, then stopped and slid away.
Kneeling on a scaffold as tall as the sculpture, Frazier, wearing a hard hat and powdered with marble dust, looked small beside the bunk of white Italian marble he has been patiently carved into his father's concept of justice.
A 1929 KU graduate, "Poco" Frater was associated with the Department as an student, instructor design, sculptor-in-residence and, until shortly before his death, professor of design.
HIS “JUSTICE” FINANCED by a $75,000 private donation, will be the focal point of the three-story, 60-foot square building, which should be finished next winter.
The 24-foot sculpture, which Malcolm Frazer hopes to complete by September, depicts a stooping woman releasing a falcon into flight.
Frazier said he has grown up with his father's sculpture. "I've worked with my father for as long as I can remember," he said. "By the time I had to decide what to do with my life, sculpting was what I knew best. There was really little left to decide."
"It's an impossible position," Frater said after vainly trying to duplicate it, "but it looks like a small girl."
HE SAID HE ASSISTED his father on other large projects, including a mosaic for a Wichita church, the bronze door panels for the KU War Memorial Campanile and a 20-foot limestone sculpture called "Faith" for Wichita's Friends University.
His father, he said, was unenthusiastic
about the traditional representation of justice, with its blindfold and scales.
"He thought it a little worn out, a little too literal," Frater said. "so he developed his own concept. The woman represents the falcon is swift, precise, all-seeing."
FRAZIER SAID HE HAS BEEN working from a quarter-scale model his father moulded from clay before死. Although he has made a few small changes, he said he has tried "to include my father's special touches."
The 33-foot monument was assembled from seven pieces of marble, including the nine-foot base, he said, because a chunk of marble would have been the statue could not be quarried and shipped.
The woman's outstretched arm and the four-foot falcon have yet to be mounted, Frazier said, and although the woman's eyes are still carving remains to be done on her body.
"IT WILL APPEAR TO BE one piece of marble after it is assembled and caulked."
the surface of the finished sculpture will be smooth around the falcon and the woman's face, Frazier said, and textured toward the lower part of her body.
Fraizer said he had been involved in the project from the beginning, and after his
father's first heart attack in January 1976, he had to do more of the work.
His first big task, he said, was to go to Carrara, Italy, to choose the marble.
In his two months there, Frazier said he received his training in working with marble, first carving a few small projects and later using a five-pound hammer and later using three large chunks of unnecessary weight from the 5 tons of stone he purchased for $12,000.
"I NEVER WORKED MUCH with marble until I went to Italy." Frazier said. "Marble is harder to perfect than limestone because it's much hard rock and very dense."
The marble arrived in Topeka in November 1976. Working with his assistant, Charles Gray, a 49-year-old KU graduate from Hiwahima, Fravier first had to drill holes for the dwells that would hold the pieces together, he said.
The next problem was to get the blocks set up inside.
A TOWER WITH A MOTORIZED HOIST was used to lift the blocks into place on the floor.
An elaborate apparatus was constructed by the help of Kansas City architect, Pretzold. He used steel beams weighed 10 tons, were moved on steel I-beams laid across the weaker sections of the bridge.
The internal structure uses two-inch steel dowls to hold together the three blocks that make up the woman's body, Frazier said, and the smaller chunks, the head and extended arm, are fastened by interlocking mortise and tenons.
The pieces are sealed by epoxy adhesive cement, which has 10 times the strength of mortar, he said. The seems are caulked by white epoxy mixed with marble dust.
Frazier said the project had not been easy, but that seemed to fall in line with what he observed.
When he first tried to renew the project after his father's death, Frazier said, the committee deciding its fate had some reservations about his experience.
"I had never done anything this big on my own," he said, "but I knew all the problems and all the things that had to be done. They were so stupid that I couldn't have a professional carver."
Frazier said he called carvers from Mexico to Italy and, finally, Dante Rossi, an Italian living in Barre, Vt., agreed to help. Rossi worked on the project three times.
"IF WE HADN'T FOUND HIM, we might not have made it," Frasier said. "I wouldn't have been brave enough to make some of the cuts without his help."