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Newport arts panel advances plan for Ben Carlson statue

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<i>This post has been corrected, as noted below.</i>

A proposed memorial statue for late lifeguard Ben Carlson was approved by the Newport Beach Arts Commission on Thursday and will advance to the City Council.

The seven-member Arts Commission voted 5 to 0 in favor, with Commissioner Robert Smith abstaining because he wasn’t sure that the panel should forward the plan without opening the project to bids. Commissioner Judy Chang was absent.

The panel heard from members of the Ben Carlson Memorial & Scholarship Foundation, which is proposing the larger-than-life sculpture as a gift to Newport Beach to honor all lifeguards and rescue workers in the city.

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Carlson, 32, died July 6 while attempting a rescue in heavy surf. The 15-year lifeguard was the first person in the 100-year history of the Newport Beach ocean rescue unit to die in the line of duty.

The foundation has a preliminary design for the 9-foot-tall statue — Carlson’s likeness holding a rescue tube and fins, his right hand shading his eyes as he scans the water.

Jake Janz, the project artist and Carlson’s brother-in-law, offered a passionate case for the monument. He was accompanied by about a dozen supporters, including Carlson’s mother, Terry, and sister, Stephanie Janz.

“This will be the greatest gesture besides renaming the (Newport Beach lifeguard) headquarters,” Jake Janz told the panel, “and it should be done by the people who knew Ben and have their heart invested in this.”

On Sunday, the city lifeguard headquarters near the Newport Pier was newly dedicated in Carlson’s name.

Commissioners discussed whether other concepts or artists should be vetted for the memorial, which will be placed on the Balboa Peninsula beachfront, though an exact site has yet to be determined.

“The presentation as is has merit,” Smith said. “Jake may do a very good job with this, but this has to represent the whole city.”

Commissioner Chuck Ware expressed the prevailing sentiment, noting that Janz’s proposal represents “the deep and symbolic commitment between Ben and Jake that should not be broken.”

Janz, 34, said advanced digital technology would enable him to complete the sculpture in about half the time it would normally take.

“We have the design. We have the technology. It’s a click of the mouse and we’ll have the (clay) mold almost immediately,” Janz said. After that, he said, it would take about four months of artistic touches before casting the statue in bronze or stainless steel.

Janz credited Carlson’s lifelong friend Danny Schmitz for the original monument concept. The artist said he would use images from the GoPro camera that Carlson used while surfing to sculpt the unique characteristics that would identify the statue as Carlson.

The foundation is conducting a donation campaign called Raise Up for Ben to try to fund the statue’s estimated $125,000 cost. Janz said that is about half of what other sculptors he vetted would charge.

An art auction this month raised about $15,000 for the cause, and online donations total about $13,000, according to the foundation website, https://www.bencarlsonfoundation.org.

“The project is self-funding. We’re providing the raw material. I’m not getting paid for this,” Janz said. “It’s a gift to the city in memory of Ben and honoring all the rescue workers who put their life on the line every day.”

[For the record, 2:20 p.m. March 16: An earlier version of this story incorrectly stated that the six-member Arts Commission voted 4 to 0 to approve a memorial statue for the late lifeguard Ben Carlson with Commissioner Robert Smith abstaining. The board has seven members and the vote was 5 to 0, with Smith abstaining.]

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