The Sine family was a fixture at ISB for nearly a decade as two of the Sine siblings, Patrick (class of 2008) and Ben (class of 2012) are ISB graduates (the eldest Sine sibling, daughter Kimberly, graduated from ISM). Mr. Frank Sine and Mrs. Meg Farrell Sine were also front-and-center around the ISB campus, and Meg was especially active taking a leadership role in the ISB Booster Club. It was her involvement in the Booster Club around the time of ISB’s 60th anniversary that allowed her to be a major force behind the creation of the bronze ISB Panther that is the centerpiece of the entrance to the ISB campus. This is Meg’s story about how the bronze statue came to take its place at ISB.
“This Booster Club idea started back in 2007 as a way to use our large accumulated bank balance towards a special, memorial gift to ISB by making a statue of our panther mascot. Nothing much happened beyond the concept stage until the ISB community started planning for the 60th anniversary in the 2011-2012 school year.
The Booster Club funded the entire cost of the panther statue. We had set aside around 1 million baht, which covered the artist fees and the materials and factory cost to make a bronze statue using the "lost wax" technique. Building and Grounds funded the installation and planting of the two palm trees on either side of the statue.
The artist is Khun Sunchai Kongklom who in 2012 had an art studio at Section 7 of Chatachuk Market. I had been looking for artists for several months and at one point spoke to a Thai national artist about making a black granite sculpture. However, it was way too expensive for our budget!! Sunchai earned a Bachelor's Degree in the Faculty of Arts at the King Mongkut Institute of Technology in Ladkrabang, Bangkok. He is also the recipient of the Thai National Prize for Art in 2005.
Dr. Ugo Costessi met with Khun Sunchai at Chatachuck and invited him to ISB to meet with the Booster project team to talk about our idea for a panther statue. We asked him to craft a sculpted image that exhibited the qualities of strength, speed, power, concentration and intensity. Khun Sunchai translated this description into a magnificent model (the size of the panther award trophy that ISB now uses for special gifts), which immediately won the approval of the project team. His model impressed us as a powerful and skillful embodiment of the qualities we had in mind.
The statue was made at a small factory that makes mostly small Buddha images. But they did a great job making the life size bronze statue that occupies a treasured spot at the front of the ISB campus. When the mascot first arrived at ISB he was black from a chemical patina that was applied during the manufacturing process. Over time, however, the black patina has eroded away leaving the greenish shade of weathered bronze. He's still beautiful and a great addition to the Home of the ISB Panthers!”
The bronze statue of the ISB Panther was officially unveiled at a special event held at the base of the zig-zag walkway in May of 2012 and is now a fixture in front of ISB. As one might expect, the Panther is quite often the focal point of photos for students during special events like graduation, as-well-as visitors to the ISB campus. The Panther statue has now created lasting memories for those who stand next to this magnificent creature. As ISB community members are wont to say, “Once a Panther, always a Panther!”
