A group of community members dedicated to commemorating Washoe, the first chimpanzee to learn a human language, convened at the Ellensburg City Council's Oct. 20 meeting to discuss the potential location for a memorial sculpture.
The Washoe Tribute Group plans to have Whidbey Island artist Georgia Gerber, creator of Seattle's famous Pike Place Market pig, build a bronze sculpture of Washoe, who lived at CWU's Chimpanzee and Human Communication Institute (CHCI) and used American Sign Language. The sculpture will be gifted to the city. The group, which is not affiliated with the CHCI, hopes to see it erected in downtown Ellensburg.
Ellensburg city council members were supportive of the project and agreed to continue working with the group. The council unanimously passed a vote to review a conceptual drawing of the sculpture and its surroundings at the next meeting, to be held Nov. 17. Once the council has had a chance to review the plans, it will decide what next steps are necessary. In other meetings, the Ellensburg Downtown Association, the Ellensburg Arts Commission and the Downtown Task Force voiced support for the project.
Given the positive attention from scholars and the media that Washoe has earned for the Ellensburg community, it is appropriate that a memorial be placed in a prominent location in the city, said Heather Horn Johnson, chair of the Ellensburg Arts Commission.
Washoe, who passed away in 2007 at the estimated age of 42, lived with four other chimps. The chimps communicate through sign language with their caregivers, students and each other. Washoe was the first chimp to teach the language to another chimp, her adopted son Loulis.
The group, composed of 10 community members, came together over the course of several months, all with the belief that Washoe's life and the lessons she taught humans and other chimps, should be memorialized.
To accomplish its goal, the group is asking for donations to begin work on the statue. It hopes to have it completed and placed downtown by next summer. The life-sized statue will depict Washoe signing the word ˙friend.
The group ideally wants to see the sculpture placed on the north end of downtown Ellensburg on Fifth Avenue, between Pearl and Pine streets, just west of Liberty Theaters. City council members discussed the location and said it had potential.
Members of the Washoe Tribute Group include Barbara Bicchieri, Timothy Bishop, Liz Bryson, Anne Denman, Greg Maes, Donna Nylander, Jean Putnam, Dianna Tozer, Charlotte Tullos and Jerry Williams.
To learn more about donating toward the project, please contact Donna Nylander at (509) 925-2664 or by e-mail at nylanderjd@hotmail.com. To see examples of Gerber's work, go to www.georgiagerber.com.
The Washoe Tribute Group is finalizing its own Web site, which will soon be complete.
