Hartwick Professor Selected to Sculpt Melville Tribute
Hartwick philosophy department chair and renowned sculptor Stefanie Rocknak has been selected to create a sculpture of Moby-Dick author Herman Melville in New Bedford, Mass.
The sculpture, titled Melville and Jonah’s Journey, will be placed outside the Seamen’s Bethel and near the New Bedford’s Whaling Museum.
“Melville, like Jonah, was on a journey of transformation,” Rocknak wrote in her project proposal. “Just as Jonah was cast back to shore to fulfill his divine purpose, Melville returned from his own voyages to write Moby-Dick – a novel that immortalized not only his personal journey but also New Bedford’s whaling heritage.”
Rocknak, who had previously sculpted Poe Returning to Boston in Boston, Mass, learned of the call for the sculpture when a friend forwarded it to her. When she was notified that she was one of the four finalists, she put together a full proposal and sculpted a 16” scale model in clay to show the committee of judges.
Her sculpture depicts Melville standing as the sea swirls around his feet, with three large whale ribs emerging from the water, “representing Melville’s own journey into and out of the whale.”
15″ clay model of Melville sculpture, photoshopped in situ, at Seamen’s Bethel and near the New Bedford’s Whaling Museum
Rocknak, who majored in American studies as an undergraduate at Colby College, was excited to return to Melville. “I loved reading Moby-Dick in college,” she said. “As I began thinking about ideas, I recalled chapter nine, where Ishmael recounts Father Mapple’s sermon on Jonah. At that point, it occurred to me how I could incorporate the whale into this sculpture – with ribs. I used three because this refers to the three days that they hunted the white whale at the end of the novel.”
In all, 41 proposals from across the United States were submitted, with Rocknak’s chosen after narrowing the submissions down to 12 and then four.
The finished sculpture will stand seven and a half feet tall on a granite base. Rocknak will start by building a “stick figure” armature out of wood, then padding it with foam before adding and sculpting the clay.
The figure will be cast in bronze by artists at the Urban Art Projects Gallery in Rock Tavern, N.Y. The statue is anticipated to be finished and installed in early 2026.
