His Olympic-bound statue of a naked hockey player symbolizes everything sculpture Edmund Haakonson couldn’t be while growing up as a gay teen in Lacombe.
Open, honest and unguarded.
Haakonson, who created the bronze called Slapshotolus for display at a Olympic venue in Whistler, B.C., was afraid the secret of his homosexuality would come out while attending high school in Central Alberta the early to mid-1980s.
Another gay Red Deer adolescent was severely beaten up in Red Deer at around the same time, he recalled. “Having heard that story, it was terrifying. I was very much closeted when I was at home. It was very much a necessity for survival.”
Haakonson, who is now 42, didn’t reveal his sexual orientation to his parents until he turned 19 and was studying fine arts at the University of Alberta. “There was a safety in being up in Edmonton, away from Lacombe.”
He was hugely relieved when his nearest and dearest were overwhelmingly supportive. “There were no issues with my family. I would wish that for everyone.”
Unfortunately, Haakonson believes many gay youths are still living under a blanket of fear and stigma.
His sculpture Slapshotolus, of a muscular hockey player wearing only a helmet and skates, his stick raised for a slapshot, was inspired by the Ancient greek statue Discobolus, of a naked athlete about to throw a discus.
It will be exhibited during the run of the Vancouver Olympics in Pride House — a social gathering place for gay and lesbian athletes, coaches, as well as any members of the general public who want to drop in.
Haakonson, an internationally collected artist who teaches at Edmonton’s Harcourt House Art Centre, was always interested in the idea of wisdom being passed down through the ages.
The idea of melding ancient and modern athleticism came to him about six years ago, but his desire to cast his hockey statue in bronze was stymied by the considerable cost of the foundry process.
The Edmonton-based artist revisited the idea after the Olympic Games were announced for Vancouver and successfully applied for a $20,000 Canada Council grant.
The resulting half-life-sized statue created from a live model a year and a half ago “connects our ancient past with our contemporary present,” said Haakonson, who wanted to portray the purity of athleticism, which once had religious foundations. “The athletes that came to the Olympics would have to swear an oath on the altar of Zeus. If they didn’t have a pure heart, if they weren’t honest, if they weren’t there for the right reasons, the Gods wouldn’t allow them a victory.”
Haakonson’s Slapshotolus will be exhibited at Pride House because it celebrates authenticity, diversity and inclusiveness. The statue also symbolizes the hope that someday all teenagers will feel they can be as emotionally open, honest and exposed as the athlete Haakonson has depicted.
lmichelin@www.reddeeradvocate.com