The fourteen-foot tall bronze Headman statue with its wooden bateau and twenty-three-foot long bronze sweep is being renovated and will be rededicated on Tuesday, April 15, 2008 at 11:00 a.m. on Brown’s Island in downtown Richmond. Mayor L. Douglas Wilder will speak at the event.

From the event press release:

The statue is a replica of a 19th-century James River boatman (headman) and commemorates the early contributions of African Americans to commerce in Richmond. Boatmen were essential to Richmond’s canal system that provided faster transport of raw materials and finished goods around the Falls of the James. The statue had fallen into disrepair and recently has been refurbished by Venture Richmond, which manages Brown’s Island for the City of Richmond. In addition to Mayor Wilder, Venture Richmond Chairman of the Board C.T. Hill (SunTrust, Mid-Atlantic) will make remarks during the event.

In 1987, Paul DiPasquale won the tri-state Virginia Arts Commission design competition that commissioned the Headman statue. The original sculpture was done in fiberglass, but was stolen in 1988. By 1990 the community had raised enough funds to replace the statue and this time DiPasquale re-sculpted it in bronze. The 2,500-pound bronze statue was unveiled again in November 1993 and is the subject upon which the Richmond Flag Committee based the redesign of the City flag. Richmond’s flag now depicts a boatman in red, white and blue.

DiPasquale, a Richmonder since the 1980’s, has created many other notable public monuments, including the Native American at The Diamond, the Arthur Ashe, Jr., statue on Monument Avenue and a statue of Oliver Hill at the Greater Richmond Convention Center in Jackson Ward. He earned his Master’s Degree, with honors, in Sculpture at Virginia Commonwealth University and currently teaches in an adjunct capacity there.

Event:
April 15th at 11:00am on Brown’s Island at the base of the pedestrian bridge. Join Venture Richmond and the City of Richmond for the rededication of the newly renovated Headman statue.

Schedule and Speakers:
11:00am
Speakers
Mayor L. Douglas Wilder
C.T. Hill, President & CEO, SunTrust Bank, Mid-Atlantic
11:20am
Rededication

Available for Questions:
Eric Stepp, Sculptor/Carpenter
Paul DiPasquale, Consultant, Sculptor
Jim Watkins, Deputy Director, Venture Richmond

Headman photo above by Jessica Hamilton.