A sculptor soars

There’s more to Port Washington’s latest piece of public art than meets the eye.

The spherical-shaped metal sculpture featuring birds at the corner of East Grand Avenue and North Franklin Street was created by a teenager who has an inspiring story to tell.

For Renata Commare, a junior at Port Washington High School, the work is representative of her recovery back to a normal life after a traumatic incident during childhood.

The sculpture’s title, “The Fifth Day,” is a Biblical reference to when God created the animals, including birds. They serve as a reminder to Renata.

“For me and my journey, I was never alone,” she said.

“There’s an opportunity every time something bad happens, and you can make the opportunity a good or bad thing. It’s kind of up to us.”

Renata’s life-altering ordeal occurred when she was 7. Her family had recently moved to a different house in Colorado, and Renata got a visit from a girl in the neighborhood. After the two played and had dinner, Renata’s family drove the girl home in a heavy rainstorm. The neighbors asked them to come into their garage to stay dry.

That’s when Renata was attacked unprovoked by the neighbors’ Alaskan malamute. The dog bit her in the face several times, and Renata needed emergency medical attention.

Doctors didn’t know how many stitches they used. “They stopped counting after 400,” her mother Maria said, and that wasn’t the worst of it.

The tear duct of Renata’s right eye was damaged and had to be reconstructed and one of her canine teeth was knocked out. The family today jokes that a dog did the latter.

Renata endured eight surgeries, the last four to lessen the scars on her face.

Still, doctors called her a three-miracle child, Maria said. The bite barely missed Renata’s eyeball, missed hitting a nerve that controls facial movement by a hair and missed her coratid artery by the thickness of a credit card.

The dog was put down, and despite Renata and her family’s attempts to be kind to the neighbors, the relationship soured.

Hours of counseling for Renata followed, including time with a therapy dog, and today the incident is mostly past her. She is self-conscious about her barely visible scar that doesn’t get noticed.

Renata’s sculpture, however, will be seen, likely by thousands of people. The few-feet tall black sphere sits across the street from the Harborview Hotel, and tourists and locals won’t miss it on their way to Rotary Park.

The sculpture represents bravery, strength, courage, perseverance and the choice to fly free, Renata said.

It took some of those qualities to complete it.

Renata applied to do a piece for Port Washington Main Street’s effort to upgrade the corner

Renata was pulled out of class and told she was chosen to do the piece.

“At first I thought I was in trouble,” she said.

When the school met with the family, Maria insisted on a hard deadline. She is a former filmmaker and watched Renata’s passion for art grow since she was a child, and she knows how artists operate without a schedule.

She used scrap metal from the school to make the sculpture, and she had to do all the work at school since it was so big and she needed specialized equipment. That meant hours of extra time, sometimes in four to five-hour chunks, essentially serving as an extracurricular activity.

Renata tried to heat the metal in order to twist it to the shapes she wanted, but that took too long. She put 12 pieces of metal in a vice instead, sometimes enlisting the help of strong teachers.

Renata drew the birds on a 2D computer-aided design program, cut them using a computer-numerical-controlled plasma cutting table and turned them into shape with a hydraulic bender before welding them onto the sphere.

A few of the birds didn’t make the cut, and two “prototypes” are decorating the family’s yard, Maria said.

Renata had no problem diving into the project; she took welding as a freshman and created random sculptures instead of doing classwork.

“I just kind of had a feel for it,” she said of art. “I love to work with my hands and sit down and just let them do what they’re going to do.”

What she comes up with, she said, is “as much a surprise to me as everyone else.”

Renata’s interest in sculpture developed early and mixes the creative side of her mother and the engineering profession of her father.

Maria said that when it rained young Renata would take a Tupperware container and a spoon outside to collect mud. She brought it to the basement, where she reshaped and carved it into various pieces, including a turtle, squirrel and a porcupine, complete with pine needles for quills.

“The Fifth Day” includes a short description of Renata’s resilience after the dog bite and is already garnering compliments.

After about 50 hours of work over two months, the sculpture was unveiled Oct. 28. Renata and Mayor Ted Neitzke pulled off the tarp, and Renata talked about her work.

Then she sat in the car and watched people approach it and take photos.

“She was giddy,” Maria said. She’s humble. It’s very cool.”

Renata is thankful to Main Street for the opportunity and to Port High technical education teacher Taylor Last and art teacher Michael Styles.

Art isn’t Renata’s only interest. She plays wing and is a captain for the Lakeshore Lightning hockey team, though she will miss this season due to a torn ACL sustained during hockey. She also plays fullback for the Brookfield Bruisers rugby team and runs the 100 and 200-meter dashes in track and field. What’s more, she raises pigs and shows them at the Ozaukee County Fair.

Hockey is what brought the family to Wisconsin three years ago. Two of Renata’s older sisters both played hockey for the Junior Admirals, and when the second one left for the Dairy State, Maria wanted to move closer to them.

She ended up choosing a place she visited many times before. Maria’s family used to stop in Port during trips on the way to Door County as a child.

The family first moved to Mequon, but when Maria visited St. Mary’s Catholic Church, she said she “felt at home.”

Renata is now OK around dogs unless they’re barking. She continues to pursue art and hasn’t yet decided on a career.

Regardless of what she chooses, she knows one thing.

“You are never alone,” she said.

To see a video of her sculpture process and meaning, visit https://tinyurl.com/mrxu4hnt.