Gertie the Duck (Gillen)

Gertie the Duck

Artist	Gwendolyn Gillen
Year	1997 (1997)
Location	Milwaukee
Coordinates	43°2′19″N 87°54′37″W / 43.03861°N 87.91028°W / 43.03861; -87.91028

Gertie the Duck is a public artwork by American artist Gwendolyn Gillen, located on the Wisconsin Avenue bridge, which is in downtown Milwaukee, Wisconsin, United States. It is a 4-foot tall bronze statue of a mallard duck, which was installed on the Wisconsin Avenue bridge in September 1997.

Description

Gertie the Duck is a bronze statue of a mallard duck created by sculptor Gwendolyn Gillen. The original cost of the sculpture was $15,000, and it was given to the city by the Eppstein Uhen Architects firm and installed in September 1997.^[1]^[2]

Historical information

Gertie the Duck, the Symbol of Hope, was a mallard duck that lived under the Wisconsin Avenue bridge during World War II. During this time, people only heard depressing news about the war and the lives lost. Gertie the Duck was thought to be the Symbol of Hope because while all this devastation was going on in the world, she was attending to her nest of unhatched chicks. This reminded people of the preciousness and fragility of life. Gertie became an instant local and international sensation. She was photographed by the Milwaukee Journal, featured in Life Magazine, and even had a front page story in a London paper. People were very compassionate towards the mallard and even postponed a replacement job on the bridge where she lived. When a careless smoker accidentally set fire to her nest, the Humane Society hired a guard to protect Gertie. She even received letters and poems on Mother's day. Eventually, Gertie and her young chicks had to relocate. They were relocated to Juneau Park on a fire engine that was escorted by a marching band. It is estimated that about three million people came to Milwaukee to see Gertie and her ducklings.

Location history

The statue of Gertie the Duck is located on the Wisconsin Avenue Bridge. This is the perfect spot for the statue because this is where Gertie was first spotted in 1945. This is also the location where her chicks were hatched.

References

↑ "Milwaukee, WI - Gertie the Duck, Symbol of Hope." Roadside America - Guide to Uniquely Odd Tourist Attractions. Web. 18 May 2011. http://www.roadsideamerica.com/tip/5941.
↑ Ratterman, Bob. "Memories of the 1940's (1999-2004 Archive): WWII Gertie the Milwaukee Duck." Youth Net - http://youth.net/. Oxford Press, 13 May 1999. Web. 18 May 2011. http://www.youth.net/memories/1999/0120.html.

Milwaukee public art

Downtown	The Victorious Charge Family The Calling Wisconsin Workers Memorial Wind Leaves Birds of Knowledge of Good and Evil The Great Double Woodland Indian and Whistling Swans Solomon Juneau Leif, the Discoverer Letter Carriers' Monument Argo Bronze Fonz Walkways Through the Wall Abraham Lincoln George Washington Referee Immigrant Mother King Gambrinus RiverSculpture! Gertie the Duck General Douglas MacArthur The Spirit of Polonia World War I Memorial Flagpole Pedestrian Drama Midsummer Carnival Shaft Acqua Grylli Laureate Diana Trigon Pere Jacques Marquette Spanish-American War Soldier Ruins X Ex Stasis City Yard Mahatma Gandhi Memorial Peter John A Beam of Sun to Shake the Sky Rainbow Machine Topiary Lucere Dancing Through Life Gertie Gets Her Ducks in a Row Mother Teresa Monument Jacques Marquette You Rise Above the World The Last Alarm

North Side	Celebrating the Arts Christian Wahl Elk On Watch Pattern Lapham Memorial Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. here, mothers are... Music Fishing Spirit of the Firefighter Dauntless Guardian Buildings 1992 Gear 23 All in the Air at Once First Flight Sea of the Ear Kindred Ties

East Side	Cleopatra's Wedge Float Polyphony Boy with Goose Eight Stone Lions Three Bronze Discs Holocaust Memorial Happy-Go-Luckies of Nature and Technology Blue Dress Park Sentinels Hermes Milwaukee Eclipse 'X' Intertwining Compass Erastus B. Wolcott Sharing the Load Robert Burns Near Here Compass Walk Like a River Spillover II Tip Jantar-Mantar Cass Street Park Brady Street Beasts Connect Fairies Candles

South Side	Menomonee Count Casimir Pulaski Spirit of Commerce Bay View Series A Place to Sit Stratiformis The Hill Climber Deflected Jets Angel in a Cage R.D. Whitehead Monument Memorial for Belle Austin Jacobs T.A. Chapman Memorial Nature Belle Oops, Missed Space Game Engine Company No. 10 William A. Starke Memorial Steel Reborn Red Flower Rising General Thaddeus Kosciuszko Patrick Cudahy Memorial SOARING Two Opposites Reaching Up Toward the Peak of Progress Edge Elements Ribbons VI Bridge Stone Bracelet Untitled Quartet Tending the Fire Bird and Fish The Sower The Reaper Giving Gifts

West Side	Henry Bergh Goethe–Schiller Monument Chrysalis The Ideal Scout Uptown Triangles Tree of Life Magic Grove Steuben Monument Kneeling Camels Teamwork Aaron Monument Yount Monument Selig Monument Uecker Monument Fire and Water Vliet Street Commons Miller Valley Veterans Monument Children of the West End

Lynden Sculpture Garden	Sinai Wandering Rocks Sea Form (Atlantic) Sky Fence Floating Sculpture No. 3 Mo, Ni, Que Trio Two-Piece Reclining Figure No. 9 Way Four Compound Junior Salem No. 7 Bremen Town Musicians Ancestor Queen of Sheba Rhythm in Space Peristyle, Three Lines Orizzontale Embrace Ursa Major Three Graces Large Torso, Arch Double Up Upstart The Lovers Poland Axeltree Orbits Ritual II Hara Olympus The Lovers Tensione No. 2 The Source Rainbow Unfolding Vegetative Sculpture I Round About Lodgepole Twist for Max Bench-Stone Windfall Knife Tree Conversations with Magic Stones, Figure Three Conversations with Magic Stones (Magic Stone Three) Kumo Untitled Arch Epicenter Epicenter II III Columns Flight Pin Oak I

Mobile projects	Overpass Light Brigade

Overview	List of public art in Milwaukee

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