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Student's Work Becomes Route 66 Landmark
Ol Bill' statue in Williams, Arizona
Bill Pettit was a carpenter and roofer until he fell off
the roof a couple times. Then he got interested in art
as a career. “He always had a creative persuasion,” said
college friend Paris Atherton.
In the '60s during junior high in Williams, Arizona,
Pettit drew muscle-bound Superheroes like Spider-Man and
the Hulk. "I believe it was his form of self
expression," remembers Atherton. In reality the skinny
kid kept breaking bones by falling off the monkey bars
and out of trees.
Pettit was diagnosed with Addison's disease as a young
adult. "I believe he received some sort of disability
payment that afforded him to start studying at Northern
Arizona University (NAU) in 1969 or 1970," reminisces
his friend. "He began with a liberal arts degree but
later concentrated his efforts on the fine arts."
At NAU, Pettit was forced to take mandatory painting
classes. "He hated that," commentates Atherton, "But he
studied anatomy which helped him with his sculpture
work." Student Pettit earned extra cash shooting pool at
NAU's student union, Flagstaff's Zoo Club and the Canyon
Club in Williams. In 1975, Pettit and Parris both found
their way to Prescott, Arizona. Pettit did his
student-teaching at the junior high schools to earn his
teacher's certificate.
Unfortunately teaching junior high students was not a
good fit for a person with Addison's disease. The stress
of the classroom situation aggravated his symptoms.
Addison's disease causes the hormonal glands to
malfunction. The glands don't secrete enzymes and the
patient loses potassium causing migraines. In Prescott,
Pettit found out that he could not teach and so in 1976
he went back to NAU for graduate work in sculpting.
The mountain man sculpture that stands in Williams,
Arizona, was Pettit's masters degree thesis project. It
has since become a Route 66 icon. "I would go to the
foundry at NAU to watch Bill pour. It was hot in there,"
laughs Atherton. "He used a lost-wax casting process."
The piece was so large it had to be cast in parts.
Pettit then welded the parts together. "It was 1979 when
he was working on casting the Mountain Man statue. I
left for Phoenix in 1980 [to work on the Waddell Dam
Project.]"
"Bill prided himself on graduating from the bottom of
his high school class. But his IQ was easily 10 to 20
points higher than mine -- and I was no slouch," says
the retired geologist. "When he got interested in
something he put his whole heart and mind into it. He
did a lot of research.
"I wouldn't see him for days. Then I would stop by [his
studio] and there'd be some clay here, and some clay
there." The chaos was evidence that Pettit had been
feverishly working.
Because of the pain produced by his Addison's disease,
Pettit didn't sleep a lot. On sleepless nights he did
research. Pettit’s meticulous details in his mountain
man motif sculptures are examples of his research work.
Ol Bill' |
Dance by Bill Pettit, Photo -
Williams News - Ryan Williams |
"If there is one piece of Bill's art that I wished I
had, it is the beaver trapper [Pilgrim's Wishes.]
Pilgrim's Wishes is the last bronze work that Pettit
ever touched. Pettit died in November 2006. On April 26,
2010, Williams, Arizona, celebrated the 30th anniversary
of the unveiling of Pettit's landmark statue, 'Ol Bill'
that stands in Monument Park in Williams, the Gateway to
the Grand Canyon.™ The unveiling was done by Senator
Barry Goldwater and covered by the national media.
To learn more about artist Bill Pettit go to
www.mountainmanbronzes.com
| Stacey Wittig is a freelance writer based in
Flagstaff, AZ. She writes about art, museums and
travel. |
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