SEATTLE – “You changed the game in ways we couldn’t have imagined … and showed the world what you already knew: that the game was always bigger than the assists or the game winners. That’s why we’re here today: Because what you have cemented is so immeasurable, it has to be cast in bronze.” 

The black banners lowered and there was Sue Bird – larger than life, driving toward the hoop for an underhanded lay-in.

And when she took to the microphone just moments later, the legendary Seattle Storm point guard did one of the many things that elevated her to that status:

She started dishing out assists. To the leadership of the team that drafted her back in 2002. To the city that embraced her so much that the New York native now considers herself a full-fledged Seattleite.

She even dished one to her bronze neighbor, Seattle SuperSonics icon Lenny Wilkens, whose own statue in the West plaza of Climate Pledge Arena depicts him on the dribble drive, looking to make a pass.

“I knew Lenny was going to be playmaking off the dribble,” Bird said. “We need someone to get that assist – so someone has to take the shot.

“My very first points in the WNBA at KeyArena as a rookie were on a lay-up. My very last points in the WNBA were at Climate Pledge Arena on a lay-up,’ Bird added in talking about the pose. “That’s something that means a lot to me – it’s feels very full circle.”

Bird was surrounded by basketball luminaries from throughout her WNBA career, including players Lauren Jackson, with whom she won WNBA titles in 2004 and 2010, Swin Cash, who was part of the 2010 title team, and best buddy Diana Taurasi, her teammate with Connecticut and Team USA. 

Numerous elected officials read proclamations and had plenty to say about Bird, who now has a street leading toward the arena named after her, the Storm’s court inside the arena named after her, a jersey number hanging in the rafters and now a statue outside the building’s front door – the first one ever cast by a WNBA franchise for a former player.

The speakers’ comments went way beyond basketball.

“We’re not just unveiling a statue. We’re making history,” Storm co-owner Dawn Trudeau said. “How monumental her impact has been, not only in Seattle but all over the world. … Not loud or flashy, but steady and thoughtful and very human. She was never the loudest voice, but the most trusted.

Added Cash, “Greatness isn’t just numbers or honors and titles and banners. It’s the way that she changed the air in the room and in the community and the city. In Seattle, Sue isn’t just a player. She’s family.”

Bird’s connection with the fans is as well-known as anything she did on the court. On Sunday, large throngs of them were gathered behind the barricades. Their cheers went up as soon as Bird emerged from CPA and made her way toward the front of the plaza.

“This statue doesn’t just belong to me. It belongs to Seattle. It belongs to every fan who believed in women’s basketball when the rest of the world wasn’t paying attention,” Bird said. “You showed up when women’s basketball needed champions. You filled arenas, you wore our jerseys with pride, and you made Seattle the gold standard for supporting women’s sports.”

True to her humble style, Bird said being the first to have a statue honoring her WNBA career isn’t just about her past accomplishments.

It’s about the league, and the game, and the future. 

“People ask me what it feels like to be the first. Truth is, I never set out to be the first at anything,” she said. “But if being the first means I won’t be the last, if this means that in 20 years, there’ll be other statues of other WNBA greats – some of whom are in this audience, and some names that we don’t even know yet … then I’m proud to be the first.” 

ABOUT THE ARTIST 

Artist and sculptor Julie Rotblatt Amrany has created statues of Michael Jordan, Kobe Bryant and A’ja Wilson. Other artists in her Chicago studio have turned out bronzes of Seattle icons Ken Griffey Jr., Edgar Martinez, Lenny Wilkens and Don James.

While Rotblatt Amrany is well acquainted with the games those legends are attached to – basketball, baseball, and football – her biggest passion of all when it comes to sports is for the athletes who are the essence, the soul and indeed the very lifeblood of those games and many other sporting pursuits.

“I love their skill and their devotion and the passion that they create and have for their craft,” Rotblatt Amrany said. “Sue Bird is one of them. She’s very direct, she’s really herself and she has maintained that.”

When Rotblatt Amrany, Bird and the Seatle Storm eventually teamed up, it was just the right combination. For the past year or so, Rotblatt Amrany has poured a large amount of her time and talents into the statue of Bird that was unveiled Sunday morning in the west plaza outside Climate Pledge Arena.

“Over the years, we’ve been in connection with then, and more recently, they were ready to do these statues of Lenny and Sue,” Rotblatt Amrany said. “One of the artists under the umbrella of our studio took on Lenny (Lou Cella; he also did Griffey, Martinez, and James), and I took on Sue.” 

“I learned more about her when the commission came up and started watching her games on YouTube,” she added. “Meeting her in person was wonderful.”

FROM CONCEPT TO COMPLETE 

Art can take many different forms, among them painting, ceramics … or sculpture. And that’s far from a complete list.

But one thing is true of all those different forms: The journey from initial idea to finished product is never quick, never easy. 

Like all of those nights when Sue Bird stepped onto the basketball court, it wasn’t just about the last five minutes of the fourth quarter. It was about the entire 40 minutes of the game.

For Julie Rotblatt Amrany, what might end up as a 12-foot towering tribute to the poetry in motion of Michael Jordan outside the United Center in Chicago had it’s humble beginnings as a miniature model.

But even before that, there are lots of conversations.

“Once you’ve got a contract that is agreed upon, and the timeline and the budget, then you go into figuring out what the design is, what the concept is,” Rotblatt Amrany said. “You go back and forth with clients. Some have a very specific idea of what they want. Others are more open, and we just want the feeling of lift, of the airborne quality that athletes create in their passion or playing. We go back and forth on the design.”

She puts together a juxtaposition of images, maybe deciding to add something or change something to the design – and again conversing with the client through the entire process. 

From there, the initial model takes shape. Rotblatt Amrany describes it as 18, maybe 19 inches high. It’s an aluminum wire armature onto which clay can be packed. That model is flexible, and its different parts can be adjusted.

“Once that’s done according to what we agreed upon with the initial design, then you have the client come in person and look at the model,” she said. “Is this what they have in mind? If the leg is too straight or too far back or not bent enough, you can actually move the model around.”

GROWTH SPURT 

A larger model made of steel is then welded together, and there are artists in Rotblatt Amrany’s studio whose specialty is doing exactly that.

“It’s kind of like a skeleton,” she said. “That’s what holds the human body together.” 

Wood, wire, nails – and clay – are eventually added to that model. (Rotblatt Amrany said models are usually about seven feet high, even though final statues can be larger or smaller than that.) The client then takes a look at it, preferably in person.

“When Sue came to the studio, I measured her and took more photos of her,” Rotblatt Amrany said. “If it’s larger than life-size, you have to figure the difference between life-size and whatever size you’re doing, and hone on number proportions and hone on musculature (the muscular system of the body or its parts).”

She took photos of that model and compared those to game-action photos of Bird to make sure that even the tiniest details were as close to perfect as possible.

“Are the eyes and nose the right shape and in proportion? The mouth, the ears, the ponytail,” Rotblatt Amrany said. “It’s all the photography between the clay piece and the different photos you’re using. 

“Sculpture is three-dimensional. This is a 360 – it’s not like a painting,” she added. “This has a front, a back, a top, an underneath.”

‘MOTION AND MOVEMENT AND ANIMATION’ 

In addition to sculpture, Rotblatt Amrany also has enjoyed painting, drawing, ceramics, and bas relief.

A native of Chicago and nearby Highland Park, she earned her undergrad degree in art from the University of Colorado, spending one of those four years at the University of Bordeaux in France. She earned a master’s from the Art Institute of Boston and also completed her teaching certification.

While in France, “I went to a lot of different museums and was so fascinated with the human figure and marble carving and Michaelangelo’s works,” she said.

In fact, Rotblatt Amrany has been intrigued with the human body since she was a child.

“I loved to do gymnastics and dance, so I was very in tune with my own body in motion,” she said. "As human beings we’re multi-dimensional beings. We have a lot of abilities that we don’t even know about. I love figurative realism where I can create motion and movement and animation. But I also like working abstractly because it’s another language.”

She met future husband Omri Amrany while she was studying in Italy in the 1980s. They moved to Chicago in 1989 and started the Fine Art Studio of Rotblatt Amrany in 1992.

“Growing up, I was always into the arts. I was always very creative,” she said. “(Being an artist) seemed the most logical (career) for me, even though there wasn’t a clear path. I had to do a lot of odd jobs and I taught, as well. It’s not like a big corporate job or a doctor or a lawyer where you graduate and you have a specific path open.

“You have to create your own path and create how you live, as well.” 

FOCUS ON FEMALE ACHIEVEMENTS 

So now, it’s complete. On Sunday morning, Sue Bird, whose name is synonymous with Seattle and whose No. 10 already has taken its distinguished place in the Climate Pledge Arena rafters, now has her own place outside the building’s doors. Drive by on 1st Avenue, and she – or rather, her statue – will be there to see in all of its bronze glory.