David Franklin’s fish-themed sculptures, created during residency partnerships with Kohler, demonstrate how meaningful conversations around sustainability can flow from a simple place.
In the case of Franklin’s sculptures, fishing is the common thread through the community that brings attention to the health of vital ecosystems. They are reflective of the synergies shared between Kohler and Franklin as well. Franklin is an avid freshwater fisherman, while Kohler is known for water conservation and sustainability.
For more than 50 years, Kohler has offered residencies to artists that include access to their factory in Wisconsin. It’s a uniquely creative location, where kitchen and bath products and artwork are produced in tandem, with input from artists and workers at all levels in the factory.
Franklin’s public art portfolio is wide, but the fish-themed sculptures offer fascinating backstory. In these suspended sculptures, Franklin does a remarkable job in capturing the shimmer and movement of schools of fish, cutting through water.
His sculptures are displayed in prominent places, including in the Kohler Design Experience Studios in West Hollywood, at the entrance of Chicago’s Shedd Aquarium, which receives two million visitors a year, and recently at KBIS in Las Vegas, as the anchor of Kohler’s award-winning Best in Show booth.
After your first Kohler residency, you had a pivotal conversation with Ruth Kohler, a founder of the Residency programs. How did that guide your work and inspire the school of fish sculptures?
Ruth Kohler would interview the artists as they were leaving their residencies. She told me when I left to do artwork that is more personal to me, which was great advice. She has seen a lot of artists through this program, so I felt that I needed to embody that advice.
I live near Puget Sound. I was out in the boat with my wife thinking about what Ruth said to me, and it was just so beautiful out there. The fish were jumping. There are ripples in the water and all these colors. I was like, ‘how do I bring this to the factory', because this really is personal and inspiring and has all those things that I felt like Ruth was trying to get across to me. So, I came up with the idea of the school of fish.
What was it like making art in a factory?
I brought these fish that I had carved, made to cast and do ceramics. Almost immediately, all these associates (Kohler factory employees) and people in Wisconsin fell in love with this fish sculpture. It began with what looks like a naturalistic school of fish, and pretty soon, everybody's showing me pictures of fish that they caught on their own fishing trips, and I began to realize this fishing thing really resonates with everybody.
Fishing appeals to people in marine science, biology, anglers and sculptors, widely, in a way that subtly says, ‘these things are special and don’t forget that our natural world is so important.’
What’s the relationship between the fish sculptures and sustainability?
The idea was that (water and wildlife) resources are precious, so we made those fish look like treasure, because we believe that that's what those resources are. Sustainability is so important. Those schools of fish are like the pin that kind of holds the whole ecosystem together.
It seemed like an amazing thing to be able to honor those fish in that way, and meanwhile Kohler is focused on bringing fresh water into your home sustainability. The message with the fish is water preservation, and we all need fresh water to live and these themes just all kind of gel together.
When the Shedd Aquarium opportunity came up, I was like, wow, this is how we can bring all of these things together in a big way and really celebrate the environment.
What inspires you?
Nature is always the most inspiring thing. It comes up with beauty and color and pattern, beyond what you know a person can imagine.
I feel like the idea of community and sustaining those relationships, showing people the beauty of different things and that we all must work together at it, inspires me. When I get to do public art in places, I get to learn about a new place. I get to experience some of their values. I get to incorporate some of that which I didn't know about, and then they get to have that somewhat reflected back on them.
I find the diversity in nature and the diversity in humanity to be beautiful and that it should be celebrated
There are things that are just basic to humans, and if you can make them resonate with people, you can transcend a lot of barriers, and so those are all the things that kind of drive me in my work.
This experience (with the residencies) has been amazing, not only in the evolution with the Kohlers and what we've built with them, but it's been the experience of a lifetime, learning how to better connect with people, open yourself up, find beauty and those bridges.
