Ivar Feeding the Gulls - Seattle, WA - Smithsonian Art Inventory Sculptures on Waymarking.com

Visitors strolling along Seattle's Waterfront might notice a statue of an older man feeding gulls french fries. The statue depicts Ivar Hagland (Wikipedia link), a folksinger and restaurateur who started his first restaurant and fish bar right next to this statue that depicts him. The title of this statue has an underlying meaning. After reading Ivar's bio it was discovered that he had a small rivalry with a fellow pier neighbor who put up signs discouraging people from feeding the gulls because of a health regulation. Ivar took this as a challenge and put up his own signs ENCOURAGING people to feed the gulls! So in many ways, this statue accurately depicts Ivar's persona and most likely what you would find him doing on a typical day, feeding the seagulls.

The following description is from the AIC datasheet on this statue:

Full-length portrait of Ivar Haglund. He wears a captain's cap and a seaman's coat. To his proper left and slightly in front of him is a captain's chair. Directly in front of Haglund are three seagulls. The seagull in front has its head under the chair. The other two gulls are being fed by Haglund. A fourth gull sits on top of the chair and reaches out with its head to grab food out of Haglund's proper right hand. Haglund strokes the gull's head with his proper left hand. The bronze sculpture, with aluminum gulls, sits on a round bronze base ... Haglund was a restaurant owner and entrepreneur.

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I also discovered that underneath this statue is a time capsule. There is a description on the bronze chair that reads:

IVAR FEEDING
THE GULLS Many friends of Ivar Haglund, Seattle waterfront folk hero, contributed, in public subscription, to the placement of this sculpture. Their names are recorded in a time capsule under the captain's chair. (followed by a list of names) unsigned Founder's mark appears.

This sculpture was created by artist Richard S. Beyer in 1988. (Mr. Beyer passed away April 12, 2012 at 86 years of age). He made over 90 sculptures in his lifetime, his most well-known sculpture being People Waiting For the Interurban which is located in the Fremont neighborhood of Seattle.

TITLE: Ivar Feeding the Gulls ARTIST(S): Richard Beyer DATE: 1988 MEDIUM: Bronze and aluminum. The base is bronze CONTROL NUMBER: IAS WA000512 Direct Link to the Individual Listing in the Smithsonian Art Inventory: [Web Link] PHYSICAL LOCATION: Pier 54 In front of Ivan's Acres of Clams Restaurant & Fish Bar 1001 Alaskan Way Seattle, WA 98104 DIFFERENCES NOTED BETWEEN THE INVENTORY LISTING AND YOUR OBSERVATIONS AND RESEARCH: The only difference between this Art Inventory description and my observation is that artist Richard S. Beyer's year of death is incorrect. He passed away April 12, 2012, not in 2011. *NOTE* AIC has my permission to use the pictures I've provided when creating this waymark for their database. ~Doug Halvorsen (thebeav69)

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