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thought back and recalled a few of his favour- ite project One ofl his first was a full sized replica of the Lunar Lander, which he built in 1971. This project came about when he needed an extra room for his growing family while they lived Full sized replica of the Lunar Lander in Brougham, Ont. The piece was later pur- chased by the Japanese as part of the Great Space Shuttle Exhibit of 1983, and travelled through five cities in Japan. The Lander was later donated to, and is currently on display at, the Oklahoma ce and Space Hall of Fame in Oklahoma Bill says he was aid $35, 000 for the Lunar Lander and it came at a time when his career was in a slump. “It really helped my career,” he recalled. Transcending imagination as his inspiration for local projects. The first came in 1986 when he built Autohenge on a farm just south of Port Perry off the Shirley Rd. Autohenge was built for the filming of a new car commercial by Chrysler, but became a tourist attraction for a short time. Bill urged Scugog Twp. to take the site over as a tourist attraction but they declined. As the structure deteriorated, it became a danger to the public and had to be removed. His second attempt at creating a Stone- henge replica came during the winter of 1998 when Bill and some friends constructed “Ice- henge” on Lake Scugog. The structure was quarried from one foot thick slabs of ice over a three day period. Un- fortunately two days after it was completed the 40 ton structure sank through the ice. In 1982 Bill was commissioned to sculpt a giant Atlantic Salmon. The leaping salmon constructed of stainless steel has approxi- mately 2,000 scales welded onto its tubular steel webbing. The one ton, 21.6’ piece of art is still the centerpiece of a fountain in the town of Campbellton, New Brunswick. When Canada’s Expo ‘86 was being planned for Vancouver, Lishman was asked to produce a piece for the Transportation Pla- za. What resulted was an 86 foot high tower called Transcending the Traffic. It consisted of 55 steel figures ascending the tower. After Expo ‘86 was over Bill had to remove the entire structure and transport it back home, where all the figures are currently on display along his driveway. ave been. dozens of other projects, Twice Bill has used England’ website: www.focusonscugog.com “FOCUS. FEB.2008.indd 17 such as the Hasta La Vista ‘Autotienge south of Port Perty in A Bill Lishman’s self-portrait Baby, a 22° high, wire-frame monument to pregnancy, which features a life sized male fetus in the image of Arnold Schwarzenegger. He’s also sculpted the image of a large dragon for Canada’s Wonderland, participat- ed in the Imax 3-D movie The Last Buffalo, creating a life-sized buffalo from molten iron on the giant screen. So, what’s next for this talented and imagi- native artist/sculpturist/entrepreneur? Who knows! But it’s highly likely whatever he does ... it will be something that’s never been done before and will make news around the world. byJ. Peter Hvidsten Focus on Scugog Expo ‘86 - Transcending The Traffic tower FOCUS - FEBRUARY 2008 17 vase 11084840 |