RANDOLPH, Vt. (WCAX) – In the hills of Randolph, where the ocean is nowhere in sight, two massive mammals rise from the earth, and visitors who stumble upon them are often stopped in their tracks.
“You come up here and you think you’re up in the mountains, you’re out in the wilderness, and all of a sudden you see two whale tails,” said Court Perkins, a visitor from Connecticut.
Whale Dance is the creation of local artist Jim Sardonis. “I mainly love nature in all its forms,” Sardonis said.
The Randolph sculpture, installed in 2019, has an older sibling, Reverence, which migrated from Randolph to South Burlington in 1999, and is seen by thousands each day as they head up Interstate 89. “Surprising how many people know about them when I go to Boston, or some place, people mentioned them,” Sardonis said.
People like the Perkins family from Connecticut, who every summer take selfies with friends and family at the whales, and who on this day got a special treat, meeting the sculptor himself.
“We always wondered who designed them and why,” Perkins said.
Reporter Joe Carroll: A little surprise for him to see you here?
Jim Sardonis: Yeah, it tickles them when they find out I’m the one that made them… I’m delighted that anyone has a tradition that includes the sculpture.
In Brookfield, Sardonis’ first piece is set in stone. It’s near the historic floating bridge in the village — two hippos called Father and Son.
“I did it shortly after my father died and my son was born,” Sardonis said. At the time, he was teaching and thought it would be a good summer project. “It’s given a lot of fun to kids over the years.”
The whales came later, in a dream. “I had been standing on a beach looking at the water, and these two tails came up at the same time,” Sardonis recalled.
But Sardonis’ most poignant work wasn’t born from a dream. It was born of a broken heart. He and his wife, Dianne, lost an unborn daughter to anencephaly. “The brain doesn’t develop for some unknown reason,” Sardonis said. “So, they knew she wouldn’t live when she was born. So, we had a tough weekend, knowing on Monday we would deliver her and spent an hour with her.”
Her name was Leah. Through the grief, Sardonis decided to make a sculpture to honor her and the care workers at nearby Gifford Hospital. It’s called Vermont Family.
Reporter Joe Carroll: Does working on sculptures help you out?
Jim Sardonis: Oh yeah. That’s… I mean, particularly when we lost the baby. Spending the year working on the sculpture was, yeah, just what I needed… We didn’t realize until the sculpture was done that we would have a baby girl.
Reporter Joe Carroll: Well, you seem very honest about what you’ve gone through and what this means to you.
Jim Sardonis: Well, we certainly have had a lot more joy in our lives than sorrow.
Proof that even in the deepest valley of grief, art prevails.
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