‘Make Way for Ducklings' Makes Way for So Much More

"Make Way for Ducklings" is one of New England’s most iconic childhood books and pieces of public art.  

The woman who sculpted those bronze members of the Mallard family, based on the Robert McCloskey classic, is still creating art. And she’s doing so with a renewed sense of purpose, as she approaches her 94^th birthday later this September.

"Something different has happened to me since I’ve gotten older," said sculptor Nancy Schon. “I feel I can say what I really mean to say and want to say, and I think experience does that for you.”  

Experience and success.  Just about any time you visit her most famous work, the ducklings sculpture in the Boston Public Garden you will find kids climbing all over them.  

Sophia, a local student is a big fan.  

"rs. Mallard, is the mother. Then there's Quack, Jack, Ouack, Mack. There's so many names. I can't remember them all. And then it always ended with an ack. I remember that. “

The mallard-minded out-of-towners include adults, like Saint Francisville, Louisiana art teacher and mother of six Laura Lindsay.

"I took a bunch of pictures today because I plan to start my school year this year with this book,” she said.  Holding a copy of "Make Way for Ducklings," she explained her plans to “talk about sculpture, being an art form and doing some drawing of some ducks with my children."

Families have their own traditions too. Father and son Ben and Ryan Marquis of Orlando returned to the ducks 10 years after their first visit to recreate a photo to send to mom who was at home.

 “I got to get right about halfway up the duck's chest,” said Ryan. “I’m a lot bigger than I was when I was six.”

“Mom will love that," dad said.

But the response to Schon's art has taken on a new dimension over the years, one that Schon "never, never in my wildest dreams expected."

"The ducks have become a vehicle for people to express themselves. They were not there intended for that. But that's what they're doing now." 

When Boston’s sports teams are doing well, they’re often dressed up as Bruins, Celtics, Red Sox and Patriots players. People dress them up for the holidays, the weather, and also for Pride, Black Lives Matter and in solidarity with the people of Ukraine.  There was Ruth Bader Ginsduck.  And at one point the ducks were placed in cages in solidarity with immigrants on the Texas border.

"They're using the ducks to make a statement. I think it’s wonderful," said Schon. "Public art is very, very powerful and this is something I never did realize."

But there is another piece of work, under the highway that Schon is perhaps even more proud of.

“I  have a legacy that's almost more important, certainly different," said Schon.

Skateboarders were riding all over her "Tortoise and the Hare" statues in Copley Square. Some people were even arrested for destroying city property. The experience moved her to find a place where they could practice their tricks, in a setting that would be a treat. 

“This 40,000 square foot skate park came about because of me. And I'm very proud of that. I'm called the skateboard granny," she said.

The Lynch Family Skatepark is in East Cambridge underneath some of the ramps to I-93.

But the skateboard granny is still working hard on her art, albeit, at a different pace than a skateboarder!

“It's a slow process,”  said Schon. "I won't have this done for maybe 6 to 9 months."

"The Reach,” a figure on three books, is a work commissioned by the Wellesley Free Library. “It’s a challenge because if you look at it, there isn't much holding on. It’s just got these little feet that are kind of holding them up. So it's quite a challenge to get that balance,” said Schon.  She does the work all herself -- no apprentice.

“If this doesn't work, the way I'm doing it is complicated. I may take the whole thing down. I have been known to do that. It takes a lot of courage to do it. But sometimes you have to," she said.

And as Schon perfects these sculpted books she writes the pages of her 90s, her way.

"I find I’ve done more political things recently than I’ve ever done."

She has a work in progress depicting poet Amanda Gorman.

“She'll be on this and she'll be on a little turntable talking to the United States,” said Schon as she took NBC10 Boston on a tour of her studio.

Her favorite project is one she’s doing for herself: a rotating boot representing the Russian bear, eating up the Ukrainian nightengale.

“Underneath here is a big teardrop and the teardrop has all the rubble that is being created by this horror," she said.

And then as we moved inside to her personal gallery, a lifetime of sculpture including “HOPE”  This one, willed to the Obama Presidential Library, a donation they have accepted.

Schon had thoughts on what to tell someone who says "I can't do that, I'm too old for that."

"Oh, well, I tell them they're crazy," said Schon. “ When I hear about people retiring at 65, they say, Oh, I'm so tired. Well, they probably didn't like what they do. And I do somehow. I still look in the future. I mean, you have to think about what's next. I'm looking forward to more. Why not? “