"Miles to go, before I sleep..."

This week was just a little bit too busy for my taste. But, it took a great turn when Meg received news that she had won the $42,000.00 commission for the Hux Cancer Center in Terre Haute, Indiana!

Monday, I was involved with a little bit of 'community service' at the St. Theresa Cemetary. (...and it was volunteer, not ordered by a judge).

On the way home, Meg moved this Rat snake out of the road, so that it wouldn't get run over.

Tuesday, we rented an Isuzu box truck with a lift gate from Ryder, to deliver our sculptures for the Holidaze exhibition in the Owensboro Museum of Fine Art. Meg snapped this shot of me mirroring the pose of her bronze baby elephant, as I slid it into the truck.

First, we installed my stone 'Riverfont' outside, in front of the Museum.

Then, we installed Meg's bronze "Ely" in a central location on the lower floor.

Wednesday, we rented a Dodge Sprinter van from Thrifty Truck Rental, where I spent the next 4 days, driving to Colorado and back, transporting Meg's Home of the Innocents bronzes. I fully recommend the diesel-powered Sprinter, if you need to rent a van. They come with cruise control, a captain's chair (engage!), and a sound system that's better than the one in our house.

From the signs, I got the impression that Kansas produced more than it's fair share of astronauts. (I guess there's something about the place that inspires people to achieve escape velocity?).

Seriously, Kansas has a rugged beauty, as this picture from the Flint Hills shows. I would love to find the time to explore the post rock region. There's a wealth of history to discover, such as multitudes of old buildings made from the native limestone.

This is the 'Front Range', as seen from Loveland, Colorado, which is the location of Art Castings bronze foundry.

Saturday evening, the sculptures arrived safely at our studio. Our neighbor, Steve McMillen, helped us unload the 2 sculptures.

The task for this coming week involves pinning these bronzes to their granite plinths, and installing the finished monuments in Cave Hill Cemetary of Louisville, Kentucky.

Roanoke benches and Centre Reunion

Starting with business first...

Work continued all week on the first of 2 benches for Highland Park in Roanoke, Virginia. I further refined the intertwining forms by applying a spiraling chisel texture, using an Italian made carbide chisel.

The sculpture was then stood upright, so that I could shape the curved inner form.

This is how it looked at the end of the week.

...and this is the view from the other side. I've been pleasantly surprised with the rate of progress, which is great, because I will have to switch gears for the next 2 weeks to install the Home of the Innocents monuments. The preview dedication is October 26th (coming up too fast!).

...and now for something completely different...There was a gathering of my fraternity brothers and other Centre friends at Dan French's house this Saturday.

Here's a picture of most of the attending alumni. Starting from left to right: (please forgive, and help correct, any misspellings or errors) Me, and Dan French's oldest son (break dancing?), Mark Kowalk (with bottle), Dan French (on knees), Richard Rolfes, Miles Barkley, Robert Groves, Suzanne Humphreys, Larry Pritchett (in back, check out larrypritchett.com), Dean Langdon ( with cellphone cam), Ray Edwards, Phil Recob, Kent and Brent Ballow, Reid Geiler, Cindy Pierce-Perkins, Kevin Perkins, and David Thomas. Later, we were joined by Ellen Bush, Mike McGurn, Tom Thurman, Latelle Lafollette, and David Ely. An awesome grouping of people!

Everyone was checking out this cool banner drawn by Ray Edwards. How do you catch up 25 years with a group like this, in a short few hours? You can't...just hang out and sing along with Larry and Richard while they play guitar, and enjoy the moment.

Roanoke Benches - week 2

Progress continued on the 1st of 2 benches for Highland Park in Roanoke, Virginia.

If you compare this picture with the one at the end of last week's post (below), you can see that I've laid the piece over onto its side. Then, I refined the intertwining forms with an air-powered hammer that drives a carbide tipped chisel (pictured).

After a couple days of that, it was time to bring out "the secret weapon" - a hydraulic-powered, water-cooled, diamond-tipped chain saw. In one morning, I cut out the 1,000 lb. piece of stone from the center of the sculpture. This scrap piece will also become a sculpture sometime in the future.

The sculpture was rolled back into the shop and flipped over with the gantry crane (not as simple as it sounds).

The intertwining shapes had been roughed in with a 4" diamond saw.

I used the air hammer to refine the shapes, just like on the other side. At this point, I am using a forked chisel to help thin and shape the intertwing forms. That's the essence of stone carving: thinning, refining, then thinning and refining some more, and so on...

Roanoke, Virginia Commission

I began work on the 2 functional sculptures that will be installed in Roanoke's Highland Park.

I drew the design onto the 4,000 lb. block of Indiana Limestone with a china marker. I transferred the design by gridding a scale drawing.

I lifted the block onto the cart-and-rail system, so that it could be moved into the studio.

I cut the bottom flat with a diamond saw. I constantly checked my progress with a straight edge and level.

I cut off the extra stone around the outline of the design with the diamond saw.

The preformed sculpture was moved inside and stood up, using the gantry crane. I have begun to form some of the intertwining shapes using a smaller diamond saw.
This was the progress by the end of the week. You can see some of the basic shapes emerging from the block.

1984 Centre College

I just got these images from Tom Mitts. These were taken over 25 years ago. Most were taken at his senior art exhibit, the rest were taken at the apartment on 2nd street that we used to share. He scanned them from old 35mm negatives. I hope that you enjoy them as much as I have.

From left to right: Kris Scheeler, Tom's uncle Dick Usleaman, Tom Pisano, Angela Reynolds and Topie (Utopia)Conger.

Robin and me.

Sarah Appel.

J.P. (John Pierce) and his wife, Shannon.

Cait McClannahan (she is on crutches because of a sprained ankle during an episode of the "ass biting" game that was in vogue. Rough housing always leads to tears).

Bush Beans, Paul Breslin and Tom Mitts.

"Say Cheese!" Hell Fire (Tom's dog) and Steve Kottkamp.

Tom and Topie.

...and I included this one for the title that Tom gave it: "Little Tommy before it went all so wrong". Check out Tom's artwork at http://www.fineartoilpainting.com

Vine Bench and Miss Jessel installed

This week we delivered and installed 2 more pieces that had sold in the Yew Dell Gardens Outdoor Sculpture Show.

We rented a flatbed truck from Penske to deliver the pieces. Every Penske truck comes with a liftgate, and that's what we used to unload the pieces.

I leveled the ground where the legs would set.

This young guy was in the right place, at the right time. It made it much easier to position the top piece with his help.

The Vine Bench has a new home in the Merhoff's beautiful and shady yard.

After the installation, the Merhoff's took Meg and I over to the Duncan Memorial Chapel. The exterior is made with natural Kentucky stone, gothic arches and trim in cut Indiana Limestone and a slate roof.

The interior is a real treat - White oak beams and cut stone. It has a real nice feel to the space.

This view shows the green slate floors and the oak pews. This intimate chapel hosts over 350 weddings each year.

Next, we delivered Meg's sculpture 'Miss Jessel' to Sissy Nash. No single image can capture the extensive gardens that she has created.

The sculpture had to be moved thru this long grass tunnel. (too cool!)

Remember, nothing is easy...especially if it weighs several hundred pounds.

'Miss Jessel' really looks good in the site that was chosen for her.

The Sound of One Hand ....

The main event for this week was the installation of my functional hand sculpture.

Bramer Crane Company sent a 60 ton crane to Cindy Cunningham's house on Friday, around noon.

I delivered the sculpture on a rented flatbed from Penske. After the crane got into position, I backed in.

Caren Cunningham's sculpture looked over to where the crane was setting up. Caren, Cindy's sister, is head of the art department at Bellarmine College.

There was a brief huddle so that everyone knew the game plan. David, on the crane, is the operator. Phil will relay the signals to David, who will not be able to see where the sculpture will sit. This is a tricky installation, and it had me worried.

The sculpture is rigged and ready to go.

Liftoff!

The operator smoothly moved the 3,500 lb. sculpture over Cindy's House.

Phil signals to Dave where to move the load, avoiding tree branches and a phone line.

"a little bit to the right..." (stage right)
Touchdown!

Cindy has a new sculpture in her courtyard. (But the slings don't come with it).

My sculpture shares the courtyard with another of Caren's stone sculptures and this bronze and steel sculpture by Brad White.