Roanoke Benches Installed

After months of delay because of bad weather, the Roanoke Benches were successfully installed in Highland Park on Monday April 19. Susan Jennings, the Arts and Culture Coordinator for the City of Roanoke, took the photos for most of this posting.

Sunday, I made the 10 hour drive with the sculptures, from the studio in Stephensport, Kentucky to the home of Frank and Primrose Eastburn in Roanoke. The Eastburn's graciously invited me to stay at their home, as we had a mutual friend in the late Don Lanham, a stone sculptor from Louisville. As fate would have it, the installation was scheduled on Don's birthday.

Frank rode over to the park with me, and helped me get set up for the installation. Holes were drilled into the pre-installed concrete footers for the stainless steel sculpture pins.

The City donated the use of their crane, which was operated by Robert. Wayne (in yellow), another City employee, was immensely helpful during the process. We set the bases first.

We rigged up the 3,000 lb. "Strength", so that it could be lifted by the crane.

It went right into place - no problem.

"Caring" in the air (and truck in the air).

The epoxy is mixed...

...and the sculpture set in place.

This is "Strength" in its new home.

The installation is complete with "Caring". I'm very pleased to have these pieces become part of the permanent public art collection of the City of Roanoke!

St. Theresa bases and 2 heads (better than 1)

I spent the last 2 weeks working on the stone sculpture bases for 2 antique Italian marble sculptures that will be replaced in St. Theresa Catholic Church's cemetery.

I laid out the recurve pattern onto the block with a compass, square and china marker.

I beveled the bottoms before standing them upright.

I used the 10" diamond blade to make cuts for taking off the main area of waste stone.

I used a diamond wheel on a 4" grinder to shape the recurved shoulders - first one side, then the other. The final forming was done with a sander using 36 grit paper.

The entire surface was polished using a sanding schedule of 36, 80, 120, 220 and finally 400 grit - 5 separate passes. Then, I repeated the process for the 2nd base.

I finished this week out with 2 head studies. They were designed to lay in a garden looking up at the sky, but they can be stood upright, and could be pinned and mortared into an architectural facade. They are featured on my new blog http:stonesculpturesforsale.blogspot.com.

This sculpture is entitled "Watcher of the Sky", measures 28" long x 9" wide x 8" thick and weighs approx. 50 lbs. It sells for $250.00, which includes packing by a UPS store, UPS ground and insurance.

This sculpture is entitled "Minerva", and it shows her in a helmet with the stylized beak and eyes of a bird of prey. It is carved from IN Limestone, measures 16" high x 10" wide x 8" thick and weighs approx. 25 lbs. It sells for $250.00, which includes packing by a UPS store, UPS ground and insurance.

The mysterious rock stackings of the Breckinridge Co. Blair Witch.

It's official - It's Spring!

...and about time, too.

I finished this sculpture, made a base and moved it out of the studio this week.

It is called "Nexus" and I've been working on this piece (sporadically) for over a year (but always in freezing weather).

It measures 73" high by 36" wide by 36" deep and weighs approximately 3,000 lbs. It is carved from Indiana Limestone, using a spiralling chisel texture on the intertwining forms and polished surfaces on the base and geometric elements in the sculpture.

It represents the like-minded interest of a community (such as a group of artists or friends - same thing, in my case) and the energy that brings and holds them together.

The Daffodills are the first flowers on the scene. This one managed to muzzle itself. (photo Meg White)

The tender new growth of Rose, as it pushes through last years briars, has a lot of sculptural interest. (photo Meg White)

Bloodroot emerges....

...and makes its move!

((( Ripples )))

This is a short blog posting, but it's been a long, hard week.

I made this functional sculpture this week. It is called "Ripples" and it is about the people in our lives, and how they leave an effect - like ripples on the surface of a pond.

It is carved from a 2,000 lb. piece of Indiana Limestone that measures approximately 4' long by 2-1/2' wide by 2-1/2' feet high. This is different from my other work in that I chose a stone that looked like a natural outcropping, and then covered it with circular glyphs.

After a long winter, it felt great to work full time again.

I just let my imagination lead me where it wanted to go. After 26 years, it's still fun to carve.

It felt good to just "go off" on this innocent, unassuming boulder. I'm happy with the results.

Have I also taken up wood carving? No, this is the work of a beaver near the creek, below our house. (photo Meg White)

A woodpecker has an entirely different technique. (photo Meg White)

Relentless Winter Releases Its Grip

This has been an abnormally tenacious winter. Temperatures finally came up to normal, for the season, and the sun came out.

I power washed both Roanoke benchs, to get them ready for delivery. This is "Caring", with Meg's Sea Lion in the background.

This is "Strength", with Meg's Daphne in the background.

I bought these 8 inch slabs from Victor Oolitic back in January, to make bases for some of my sculptures.

I needed a circular base for a new sculpture.

The new sculpture, finished yesterday, is entitled "Reach" and measures approximately 78" High by 40" in diameter.

The new (and much larger) sculpture was inspired by this fountain bubbler entitled "Uphold".

Mike, from JBB, inc. of Hardinsburg, came over on Thursday to clean out the ditches and improve the road that leads back to the studio.

Meg snapped this shot of the clay that he uncovered in the ditch - complementary colors of yellow and blue (hmmm...).

Meg has an eye for spotting the fantastic in an ordinary situation - condensation inside a 2 liter bottle. (photo Meg White)

quarrying Indiana Limestone

It's been so cold and snowy, that I haven't had much to share on this blog. I was asked about quarry blocks by a fellow sculptor, so I decided to post an illustration of the quarry process for getting blocks of Indiana Limestone. These pictures were taken by Meg White at Reed Quarry in Bloomington, Indiana.

This is the quarry. You can see that they cut out the stone in 10 foot ledges. The white box is a diamond belt saw that moves down the track. They have cut along the right hand edge and are now making other cuts, about every 50 to 60 feet. These are the end cuts for the 250 ton ledges that they quarry out.

They use the cranes to move the heavy sections of track.

This is a better view of the saw - you can see the 10 foot blade. It will now make a series of parallel cuts about 4 feet apart and 10 feet deep.

At the bottom of the ledge, workers have drilled series of holes, hammered in wedges and have broken loose the large stone ledge. Here, they are gathering up the wedges before they turn the ledge over.

A loader makes a bed of loose rubble, to cushion the ledge when it is turned over.

This quarry worker has secured 2 pieces of specialized rigging into the 'channel' cut.

They have secured 2 other sets to the quarry floor below the ledge.

They rig the crane cable thru the series of removable pulleys.

Now, when the crane pulls up, it will pull the ledge sideways because of the pulleys. They are using the "mechanical advantage" of the extra pulleys - making a 4 part line, which gives lots of extra power.

Going...

...going...

BOOM!!! A 250 ton ledge lays over onto its side. Now they can drill and split it up into sizes that they can handle.

These workers will fasten the "L" shaped metal pieces, called "dogs", to lift the blocks. They had already drilled "L" shaped holes in each end of the block.

This works like a set of tongs. As the crane lifts, it pulls the dogs inward, where they grip the block in their pre-drilled holes.

...and up it goes, to get cut into slabs, blocks or carved into sculpture.