Asheville River Arts District’s ‘Big Fish’ salvaged from Helene, thanks to its creator

By Dean Hensley

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    ASHEVILLE, North Carolina (WLOS) — A familiar metal fish sculpture popped up recently at a vacant car lot located at the intersection of Leicester Highway and Eliada Home Road.

News 13 wanted to find out where the fish came from, and it didn’t take long to find the answer from a very reliable source: David Tomlinson, the fish’s creator.

Back in 2018, Tomlinson was part of a celebration held by the City of Asheville, which invited the community to an unveiling of a new greenway section on Riverside Drive and also a main River Arts District sculpture called “The Big Fish.”

The fish sculpture at the old car lot looks a lot like The Big Fish Tomlinson created six years ago, and for a good reason.

“The two fishes are the same fish,” Tomlinson told News 13 on Dec. 27.

Tomlinson’s original sculpture towered at 23 feet tall in the River Arts District. But when Helene hit Western North Carolina three months ago, the sculpture was nearly swept away by floodwaters of the French Broad River.

“I made the fish for Asheville Greenworks and retrieved it after the flood,” he said.

Tomlinson said the old car lot is now his shop.

“I brought (The Big Fish) here with a little help from my friends,” he said.

In 2018, his sculpture was officially nicknamed The Big Fish. It’s purpose was to use art to bring awareness to viewers about water quality programs like Asheville GreenWorks’ Trash Trout, which is designed to keep thousands of pounds of trash out of the French Broad River every year.

According to a past City of Asheville news release, the creation of Tomlinson’s sculpture and surrounding education signage was developed with support from the City of Asheville, Duke Energy Watershed Resources Fund, the Historic Cotton Mill Studios and Biltmore Iron and Metal.

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