Post by Okwes on Mar 7, 2008 14:38:25 GMT -5
Prescott Landscape Architect's Design to Honor Navajo Code Talkers
Plan aims to create setting of remembrance and veneration for new state
monument
PRESCOTT AZ
2/26/2008
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What makes memorial art monumental isn't bronze, marble or eternal
flames. It's the power it has to evoke fitting remembrance of those
it venerates.
How to do this for Arizona Navajo Code Talkers whose unbreakable
military code helped secure United States victory in some of World War
II's most famous battles?
And how to do it with landscape?
These were the questions Landscape Architect Barnabas Kane pondered when
he sat down to design the landscape portion of the Navajo Code Talkers
Monument, a state memorial project scheduled to be erected in downtown
Phoenix Feb. 28.
Kane's project aims to honor the Arizonans among more than 400
Navajo code talkers who developed the code and used it to transmit
orders, troop movements and military tactics in every US Marine Corps
assault in the war's Pacific theater between 1942 and 1945,
including Guadalcanal and Iwo Jima.
They based the code on the highly symbolic spoken Navajo language, to
which they added encrypted vocabulary that made the code one of the only
ones skilled Japanese code-breakers never demystified.
The Navajo Code Talkers Monument, a project approved by the state
legislature in 2003, is to be placed in Wesley Bolin Memorial Plaza,
part of the State Capital complex that's home to similar memorials
for state and national historic figures.
Kane, principal of Prescott-based landscape architecture firm T.
Barnabas Kane & Assoc., specializes in designs that are particularly
sensitive to history, culture and environment.
When designing the monument's environment, he focused on creating an
inviting micro-park within the plaza that would draw attention to the
monument's message, remembering and honoring the Navajo code
talkers.
This approach is one reason Kane was selected as the project's
landscape designer, said former Arizona Rep. Sylvia Laughter, founder of
the Navajo Code Talkers Memorial Foundation, the nonprofit organization
funding the project.
"We are fortunate to have someone of Barnabas Kane's expertise
designing the landscape," she said. "His design, coupled with
the beautiful statue, is a wonderful way to honor the Navajo Code
Talkers."
While serving in the capacity of State Representative in 2003, Laughter
sponsored the legislation that made way for the project.
The heart of the monument is a nine-foot bronze statue, depicting a
Navajo code talker mid-transmission by renowned Ute-Navajo artist
Oreland C. Joe, from Kirtland, New Mexico.
Kane's design, which he drafted over about three months, celebrates
the sculpture's artistry while creating an inviting setting that
encourages visitors to take pause and reflect on what the art
represents.
The geometric iconography of Navajo art, as well as existing park
features, other memorials and the overall aesthetics of the capital
complex, influenced the layout.
Kane wanted the space to embrace both art and visitor. A gently curving
low wall will cup the statue and create a welcoming, eye-catching
central space. Colorful flowering and Arizona native plants will create
a soft, alluring backdrop.
The wall was designed low to serve as seating and additional benches
were placed along angled planters across from the statue.
To determine final layout, paving and plant selections, Kane worked with
the state's Historical Advisory Commission, Governmental Mall
Commission and administration department, plus representatives from the
Navajo Code Talkers Monument Foundation.
Like many of the project's other contributors, Kane is donating his
work and time at no charge.
"This is a great chance to offer my services for something
meaningful," he said. "The Navajo code talkers' contribution
to the war effort saved thousands of lives. I'm pleased to be part
of a project that honors their courage and sacrifice, as well as the
Navajo Nation as a whole."
A dedication ceremony is scheduled for February 28, 2007, at monument
site the Arizona State Capital's Wesley Bolin Memorial Plaza, 1700
W. Washington St., Phoenix.
About T. Barnabas Kane & Associates
T. Barnabas Kane & Assoc., P.C., is a Prescott-based landscape
architecture firm with more than 20 years of experience creating habitat
through landscaping. Specializing in ecological site planning and
landscape design for the Southwest, the firm's designers integrate
architectural principles and environmental sensitivity to create habitat
that unifies structures, people and the natural world. For more about
the firm and its design philosophy, visit www.tbkadesign.com.