Bronze Fonz

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Bronze Fonz

Artist	Gerald P. Sawyer
Year	2008 (2008)
Dimensions	170 cm (65 in)
Location	Milwaukee
Coordinates	43°2′25.63″N 87°54′40.10″W / 43.0404528°N 87.9111389°W / 43.0404528; -87.9111389
Owner	Visit Milwaukee

The Bronze Fonz is a public artwork by American artist Gerald P. Sawyer located on the Milwaukee Riverwalk just south of Wells Street in downtown Milwaukee, Wisconsin U.S.A. The Bronze Fonz depicts Henry Winkler as the Happy Days TV show character Arthur Fonzarelli, also known as the Fonz.^[1] Fonzie stands in his typical costume, which consists of a leather jacket and jeans. He is giving a two-handed thumbs up.

Description

The Bronze Fonz is made of bronze. The sculpture depicts Henry Winkler, the actor who played Fonz in the show Happy Days. Happy Days, which aired in the 1970s, was a sitcom about a family in 1950s/1960s Milwaukee. Arthur Fonzarelli (also known as "Fonzie" or "The Fonz"), wears a leather jacket and jeans. He is giving a two handed thumbs up, a gesture he often made in Happy Days. The inscription lists all of the donors that made the Bronze Fonz possible.

Historical information

The artwork was created with the purpose of bringing tourism and new businesses to Milwaukee. Other places in the United States have erected statues portraying 1950s and 1960s television characters. Examples include: Mary Tyler Moore as Mary Richards from The Mary Tyler Moore Show in Minneapolis and Jackie Gleason as Ralph Kramden from The Honeymooners in Brooklyn. The tourism group Visit Milwaukee raised over US$85,000 to commission the Bronze Fonz. The popular sculpture was unveiled on August 18, 2008. Most of the Happy Days cast, including Henry Winkler (Fonzie) Marion Ross (Mrs. Cunningham), Tom Bosley (Mr. Cunningham), Erin Moran (Joanie), Don Most (Ralph Malph), and Anson Williams (Potsie), attended the dedication ceremony. Henry Winkler stated that the statue was "unbelievable".^[2]

Opposition

Mike Brenner, then a local gallery owner and executive director of Milwaukee Artist Resource Network (MARN), objected to the statue, which was originally planned to be located on the intersection of Wisconsin and Water Streets, a prominent downtown site. He threatened to close his gallery, Hotcakes, and resign as executive director of MARN if "that stupid Fonzie sculpture" was erected there.^[3] Brenner received death threats in voicing side against the Bronze Fonz. ^{[citation needed]} After then CEO of the Milwaukee Art Museum, David Gordon, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel Arts Critic, Mary-Louise Schumacher, and other Milwaukee arts dignitaries came out against the "Bronzie," it was erected on the east side of Milwaukee Riverwalk, behind a Chinese restaurant, just south of Wells Street. True to his word, Brenner closed Hotcakes Gallery in May 2008.^[4]

Acquisition

The piece was commissioned by Visit Milwaukee, a non-profit group that works toward making Milwaukee a place for tourism and interest. Visit Milwaukee raised $85,000 to commission the statue.^[1] Visit Milwaukee is composed of the Riverwalk District, the Spirit of the Milwaukee, Downtown B.I.D #21, East Town Association, West Town Association, Weigel Broadcasting (consisting of WDJT-TV, Me-TV affiliate WBME-CD, and WMLW-TV), AT&T, OnMilwaukee.com, and Miller Brewing Company.^[5]

Artist

Gerald P. Sawyer has been working on three dimensional and two dimensional art for thirty years. His most recent work is cast mostly in pewter and bronze. The casting techniques he uses are centrifugal casting and lost wax casting. He uses and builds his own molds for sculptures which range from very small to epic sizes. He teaches casting to many people and co-authored a book called The Art and Science of Centrifugal Casting.^[6]

References

↑ 1.0 1.1 "The Fonz in bronze? Group hopes that's correctamundo, wants to put statue downtown". JSOnline. 2007-09-26. Retrieved 2010-12-21.
↑ "Henry Winkler unveils bronze Fonz". BBC. 2008-08-20. Retrieved 2010-08-16.
↑ "This guy will close his gallery, leave town if Fonz is bronzed". OnMilwaukee.com. 2007-11-27. Retrieved 2010-12-21.
↑ http://www.hotcakesgallery.com. Missing or empty |title= (help)
↑ "Bronze the Fonz Sponsors and Supporters". OnMilwaukee.com. Retrieved 2010-12-21.
↑ "Gerald P. Sawyer Art". Retrieved 2010-12-21.

External links

v t e City of Milwaukee

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v t e Milwaukee Public Art

Downtown	The Victorious Charge Family The Calling Wisconsin Workers Memorial Wind Leaves Birds of Knowledge of Good and Evil The Great Double Woodland Indian and Whistling Swans Solomon Juneau Leif, the Discoverer Letter Carriers' Monument Argo Bronze Fonz Walkways Through the Wall Abraham Lincoln George Washington Referee Immigrant Mother King Gambrinus RiverSculpture! Gertie the Duck General Douglas MacArthur The Spirit of Polonia World War I Memorial Flagpole Pedestrian Drama Midsummer Carnival Shaft Acqua Grylli Laureate Diana Trigon Pere Jacques Marquette Spanish-American War Soldier Ruins X Ex Stasis City Yard Mahatma Gandhi Memorial Peter John A Beam of Sun to Shake the Sky Rainbow Machine Topiary Lucere Dancing Through Life Gertie Gets Her Ducks in a Row Mother Teresa Monument Jacques Marquette You Rise Above the World The Last Alarm

North Side	Celebrating the Arts Christian Wahl Elk On Watch Pattern Lapham Memorial Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. here, mothers are... Music Fishing Spirit of the Firefighter Dauntless Guardian Buildings 1992 Gear 23 All in the Air at Once First Flight Sea of the Ear Kindred Ties

East Side	Cleopatra's Wedge Float Polyphony Boy with Goose Eight Stone Lions Three Bronze Discs Holocaust Memorial Happy-Go-Luckies of Nature and Technology Blue Dress Park Sentinels Hermes Milwaukee Eclipse 'X' Intertwining Compass Erastus B. Wolcott Sharing the Load Robert Burns Near Here Compass Walk Like a River Spillover II Tip Jantar-Mantar Cass Street Park Brady Street Beasts Connect Fairies Candles

South Side	Menomonee Count Casimir Pulaski Spirit of Commerce Bay View Series A Place to Sit Stratiformis The Hill Climber Deflected Jets Angel in a Cage R.D. Whitehead Monument Memorial for Belle Austin Jacobs T.A. Chapman Memorial Nature Belle Oops, Missed Space Game Engine Company No. 10 William A. Starke Memorial Steel Reborn Red Flower Rising General Thaddeus Kosciuszko Patrick Cudahy Memorial SOARING Two Opposites Reaching Up Toward the Peak of Progress Edge Elements Ribbons VI Bridge Stone Bracelet Untitled Quartet) Tending the Fire Bird and Fish The Sower The Reaper Giving Gifts

West Side	Henry Bergh Goethe–Schiller Monument Chrysalis The Ideal Scout Uptown Triangles Tree of Life Magic Grove Steuben Monument Kneeling Camels Teamwork Aaron Monument Yount Monument Selig Monument Uecker Monument Fire and Water Vliet Street Commons Miller Valley Veterans Monument Children of the West End

Lynden Sculpture Garden	Sinai Wandering Rocks Sea Form (Atlantic) Sky Fence Floating Sculpture No. 3 Mo, Ni, Que Trio Two-Piece Reclining Figure No. 9 Way Four Compound Junior Salem No. 7 Bremen Town Musicians Ancestor Queen of Sheba Rhythm in Space Peristyle, Three Lines Orizzontale Embrace Ursa Major Three Graces Large Torso, Arch Double Up Upstart The Lovers Poland Axeltree Orbits Ritual II Hara Olympus The Lovers Tensione No. 2 The Source Rainbow Unfolding Vegetative Sculpture I Round About Lodgepole Twist for Max Bench-Stone Windfall Knife Tree Conversations with Magic Stones, Figure Three Conversations with Magic Stones (Magic Stone Three) Kumo Untitled Arch Epicenter Epicenter II III Columns Flight Pin Oak I

Mobile Projects	Overpass Light Brigade

Overview	List of public art in Milwaukee

v t e Happy Days

Characters	Richie Cunningham Arthur "Fonzie" Fonzarelli Ralph Malph Warren "Potsie" Weber Joanie Cunningham Chachi Arcola Al Delvecchio

Cast	Ron Howard Henry Winkler Don Most Anson Williams Erin Moran Scott Baio Al Molinaro Tom Bosley Marion Ross Roz Kelly Cathy Silvers Ted McGinley

Spin-offs	Laverne & Shirley Blansky's Beauties Mork & Mindy Out of the Blue Joanie Loves Chachi The Fonz and the Happy Days Gang Laverne & Shirley in the Army Mork & Mindy/Laverne & Shirley/Fonz Hour

Music	"Rock Around the Clock" Theme from Happy Days Norman Gimbel Charles Fox "Blueberry Hill"

Related	Episodes Garry Marshall Miller-Boyett Productions Happy Days (musical) Jumping the shark "Buddy Holly" Fonz Bronze Fonz Love, American Style American Graffiti

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