When Mikhail Gorbachev reached for a metaphor to describe how the standoff that threatened the planet for half a century ended, the last Soviet president chose a goose.
“During the nuclear arms race, I was given a gift by an American, a little figure of a goose in flight. I still have it at my dacha. It is a goose that lives in the north of Russia in the summer and in the winter migrates to America. It does that every year regardless of what”s happening, on the ground, between you and us. That was the point of this gift and that”s why I”m telling you about it, ” Gorbachev told the Nation Magazine.
That goose was made by Howard Wheatley Allen of Mendocino, whose bronze bird sculptures have appeared on the desks of four U.S presidents and 27 heads of state.
Allen asked this reporter to read the Gorbachev quote out loud.
“I never get tired of hearing that,” Allen, who goes by “Wheat” or “Wheatley” says. He is clearly filled with amazement and a sense of irony, not arrogance about the global reach of his artwork.
Allen has a new project in which he hopes his little birds can make a big difference, teaming with The Mendocino Rotary Club to sell his art worldwide and donate half the proceeds to a fund to provide clean water to remote parts of the world.
Rotary president Tom Honer said Allen approached the Rotary Club seeking to support one of the club”s major initiatives. One is wiping out polio in the world. Rotary has sought to eradicate the disease since 1985. The club is widely credited with being a player in a worldwide coalition that has succeeded in limiting the disease to just four nations.
A more recent Rotary big effort is funding clean water, with links between clubs in the developed and third world being formed in 2011. Allen chose this effort.
“There are an astronomical number of children who die each year simply because of the water they have to drink. And this is a huge problem that can be fixed for much less money than so many others,” Allen said.
Allen launched a similar effort in the 1980s, linking with former President Jimmy Carter and Rosalyn Carter to raise funds for Habitat for Humanity, also donating proceeds from sales of his art. The Allens have numerous photos with the Carters and Habitat houses.
“We are very glad he has chosen to help us with this important effort,” said Honer. The one year will start when Mendocino Rotary gets a marketing and fundraising plan set up, Honer said.
Spending an hour with Allen in his stunning hilltop studio on Comptche-Ukiah road, he is thrilled his birds have made their way into Royal Palaces and working presidential desks all over the world. He carves the sculptures from carefully selected wood. They are turned into a rubber mold then elegant bronze creations at a foundry in Berkeley,
Allen says he has spent his life as a struggling artist, one who comes from the opposite of humble beginnings. His grandfather was Frank Howard Allen, whose name is found to this day on Real Estate signs tall over Marin County. Starting in 1910, Frank Howard Allen built the brokerage into a prominent North Bay institution before passing it to Charles “Howdy” Allen, father of sculptor “Wheat.”
In a now famous story, Howdy sold what was then still a small company in the 1960s on a handshake to a young Realtor named Jeffory Morshead. About the same time period, Wheatley and his artist wife Rosemary moved to Mendocino into a world far away from the glamour and money of Marin. “Howdy” Allen never got the opportunity he wanted as artist, painting on weekends, but encouraged his son to pursue art.
Rosemary and Wheatley lived part time in Oakland too until recently. Wheatley never had any interest in real estate, enjoying hours of observing animals when his family lived in a remote rural area of Marin County. As a boy, Wheatley was thrilled and inspired by the way quiet quail could explode from the bush. His first carving and his first big seller were both quail. He carved his first figure at age 6. At age 9 on a family vacation at Lake Tahoe, Wheatley had a string of freshly caught trout when he met two people walking along the lake. A man who had heard about his talent stopped him and offered to pay him to carve a quail. Wheatley said it would cost the man ten dollars.
“Make it twenty and you have a deal,” said Trader Vic Bergeron, according to Allen.
“I was thrilled, twenty dollars was big bucks in 1950,” he said.
It took 21 years for Allen”s art to become a hit, when Ronald Reagan, who gave the birds as gifts, spied it. Many leaders, including foreign leaders acquired the birds to give to other heads of state as gifts.
Wheatley waited 37 years to thank Bergeron for giving him his start, by chance doing so just before the famed restaurateur died.
“How that happened gives me chills,” said Wheatley. Trader Vic”s Polynesian themed restaurants were a worldwide phenomenon — giving rise to the Mai Tai and the Tiki party themed parties.
The sale set Wheatley”s mind into the track of art. He continued carving through high school and even in the Navy. While Wheatley Allen didn”t share the family business or fortune, family connections have often opened doors for art beyond simply being in the same campground with someone famous.
Former Secretary of State George Schulz, who was a member of the Bohemian Club in Marin with Howdy Allen was one who helped share the art with world leaders. Allen had little interest in the controversial club while his dad was there, participating now for his art, he said.
Both sides of the aisle have enjoyed the solid yet delicate bronze birds.
President Bill Clinton presented an original “Dove Descending” to both Yitzhak Rabin of Israel and King Hussein of Jordan at Camp David upon the signing of the peace treaty. Gorbachev accepted Allen”s “Flying Snow Goose” as a gift from the Hoover Institution at Stanford. Allen got to present that gift to the then president in person.
Wheatley quickly tires of talk of real estate or politics, choosing instead to focus on the spectacular pains and gifts he has been given. Wheatley has suffered from Parkinson”s Disease for 22 years. He also managed to survive a painful bout with life-threatening spinal bone cancer.
Yet, at the same time, he continued his sculpture career, seeing his works rise to new heights in price and acclaim. He has just finished a sculpture of a pileated woodpecker, America”s largest woodpecker which has also been expanding its range in California. He has improved his piano playing into what friends say are haunting, precise performances.
How does he do it?
He smiles as if ready to tell a good story, then holds his non-shaky hands out in front.
“About 30 different medications,” Wheatley says.
He calls “normal” people who don”t suffer from a disability “temporary abled.”
Wheatley says getting up and going to work in his studio sometimes is a concept with little appeal. On those days he thinks of his favorite John Wayne quote.
“Courage is being scared to death and you saddle up anyway,” Wheatley recites.
If Wheatley frowns on anyone it”s those who don”t appreciate what a gift life truly is.
“For people who always feel their glass is only half full, I say, just get yourself a smaller glass?.There is joy to be found anywhere and everywhere,” he said.
People who know Wheatley find his view of life relaxing, not at all what one might expect from the grandson of a famed Real Estate broker.
Harvest Market owner Tom Honer met Wheatley at a time of personal tragedy. Wheatley and Honer sat quietly and looked out over gardens on Wheatley”s property, which was just what Honer needed at the time.
Wheatley Allen”s work is online at www.wheatleyallen.com. His 2004 book, Howard Wheatley Allen—Sculptor to Emperors, President and Kings, is available on his website. The book includes an interview with Wheatley Allen as well as photos and letters to Allen from Heads of State.
