Seedling to be installed in Robert T. Webb Sculpture Garden

The weather has been abysmal for weeks now.  Spring is late in coming this year...and snow is expected tonight.

 The greatest news is the impending acquisition of the monumental Georgia Pink Marble sculpture "Seedling" to be installed in the Robert T. Webb sculpture garden in  Dalton, Georgia.

I'm also happy to announce that the "River Boat Bench" will be featured in the "Art on the River" Temporary Public Art show in Dubuque, Iowa.

The small limestone sculpture "Thank You" was acquired while in the ReVision art show in Louisville, Kentucky.

Recently, a crane lifted the sculpture-in-progress "Ecliptic" upright.

I wanted to make "Honorable Mention" of some recent purchases.  This is a 10 guage 100 foot extension cord by Yellow Jacket (bought from Amazon.com).  While it's an expensive investment, it supplies adequate amperage to large tools, like grinders and drills.  So many tools in the past have armatures burned up from using regular 100 foot extension cords (which are usually made with the lighter 14 guage wire).

I am VERY happy with the Howard Leight "Sync" headphones and the Sansa "SanDisk" Mp3 player (also from Amazon).  The headphones block out the sound of the tools, and the music gets me into 'the zone' quicker, and keeps me working longer.  I drilled a small hole in an Altoids box, fit the cord through it and filled the hole with a small amount of silicone to keep the dust away from the player.  The altoids box fits in my pocket, I slide the cord up through my shirt and plug it back into the headphones.

I end this week's post with the comparison of the "Medicine Wheel" earthworks in Kentucky (across the river from Portsmouth, OH) with the diagram on Quantum Atom Theory.  I'm not suggesting that there is any connection; it's just for your entertainment.  No one knows the purpose of the earthworks - it wasn't used for burials, fortification or habitation.  Yet, it was certainly intended to be viewed from high above, like our modern 'crop circles'.

Raven Rock

While in Portsmouth, Ohio recently, I was told about a cool place called Raven Rock.

Take 53 west of town and look for this sign directly across the road from Riverside Park.  You'll notice a white church on the right (north) side - same side of the road with the trail.  There's also a school just past the park on the south side of the road.

After a steep climb, I saw what I thought was the rock that "looked like a Raven with swept back wings".

When I got on top of that, I could see further up the ridge.  Behind those branches is the actual Raven Rock - way up there on top of the hill.

 
When you finally make the steep climb, you are about 500 feet above the Ohio River.  These are the bridges into Portsmouth which is upstream from the rock.
 
This is a small natural arch to the right of the rock.
 
In the foreground of this picture, you can see a sign that explains how the indians used this vantage point to scout out settlers coming down the river.  They would send out raiding parties from the Scioto River.  It's quite a view and worth the effort.

Murals of Portsmouth, Ohio

I recently had the chance to see the murals in Portsmouth, Ohio. They are painted along the flood walls down by the Ohio River. They are about 20 feet high and a half mile long...and quite impressive!
 

Starting at the up-river end, they show scenes from the first human inhabitants, up through time to the modern age. I was instantly knocked off-center by this rendition that shows a complex earthworks that leads across the Ohio River to a concentric circular earthworks on the Kentucky side.

This overview shows the complex. My inquiries uncovered the fact that most of this incredible site no longer exists. Only one of the smaller horseshoe-shaped mounds is intact in a Portsmouth park. The concentric mounds in Kentucky have been all but completely obliterated by years of plowing over the top of them. This should be a world heritage site; it needs to be reconstructed and saved for future generations.

The rest of the murals were also educational.

 

They showed every aspect of the area.

 

It gave a glimpse into the city's past.

 

It showed the importance of early industries.

 

I'm only showing a tiny portion.

 

There is more to Portsmouth and the area than meets the eye.

If you get a chance, check out the murals. I definitely recommend it.

Kentucky Winter: Cold, Dark & Wet

The weather has been miserable for the last two weeks. It's been either sub-freezing or cold and raining. I'm through with the winter; but, it's not through with me.

Half of the time, I've been working on two proposals inside, where it's warm. But, I've also managed to make some progress on the River Boat Bench. I started forming the 'river currents' with a 4" grinder and a diamond blade.

Then, I carved some of the cubic shapes on the top of the bench.

I continued on around the sculpture, forming in the currents with a grinder.

I refined the currents with a die grinder that had a mounted stone point. Then, I began to texture the currents with an Italian-made forked chisel.

I continued around the front of the piece; refining forms as I went.

This is the current progress on side A...

...and the status of side B.

"Yum...Crunch block on a snowy day!" At first, the deer were afraid of the new treat; instinctively, they were unprepared for food to suddenly show up in the shape of a compressed cube. It didn't look like food...but, it smelled like food. If in doubt, follow your snout!

River Boat Bench

This is my 200th blog posting...and the first one of the New Year.

My main project is a 7,500 lb. sculpture that I am carving outside. However, an opportunity came up, and I've shifted gears temporarily to create a functional sculpture in this 2,500 lb. piece of Indiana Limestone. (That's snow on top of the rock).

I made a series of scale drawings - to figure out what direction to take this project. I considered an agricultural approach first, but then settled on creating a bench in response to the river boat history of the city that is offering the opportunity.

I made a small (and crude) "thumbnail" model in plasticine, to make sure that the sketches would translate into 3D.

I finally got the crane truck to start and moved the stone inside. The first task was to cut the top flat.

I used the gantry crane to spin the piece around and moved it into the center of the 'breezeway' so that the dust would clear out faster, with the cross ventilation. I cut the rough Stylolite seam off the side of the block.

I could easily draw the "river currents" onto the side of the cut block.

I cut the other side flat using a 10" diamond wheel on a large Bosch grinder. (Dusty work)

Then, I drew the river currents on the other side.

Last weekend, I went to Newport, KY to the home of Tom Mitts, my college roommate. We were joined by John Kaiser, another school mate, who drove up from Danville. Tom is an incredible cook. When I first got there, he had 6 kinds of dips: homemade salsa, queso and tomatillos.

Then, 3 types of slow-cooked barbeque with a variety of home-made sauces.

Then, at 2:30 in the morning: crabcakes, lobstercakes, oystercakes, and several pounds of Alaskan Crab legs. You can do this kind of thing once in a while - life's short!

Catrina's Christmas.

More Progress on "Ecliptic"

This week's theme was Astronomy. I watched the meteor showers on Thursday night. I saw about a dozen around 8 p.m. - half of those were pretty impressive. I went out at 1:11 a.m. into the breezy 28 degree temperatures to watch the peak of the Geminid shower. I only saw 50 by 2:45 a.m. when the cold wind finally drove me back inside. A few years ago, I saw over 100 in an hour for the same event.

When it wasn't raining, I resumed work on the monumental stone sculpture "Ecliptic".

Normally, I use the diamond wheels to form a sculpture. But, I started using the air hammer on this piece for the shear enjoyment of carving. This is the way that I used to carve, early in my career.

This is the progress on the other side. I need to stand this piece up so that I can get to this side and the one that is currently on the bottom.

The top portion of this picture shows the raw block on the morning of Friday November 30, before work started on the 7,500 lb. stone. The lower portion shows how it looked at the end of the day on Friday December 14 - exactly 2 weeks later.

...the girls...

"Ecliptic" monumental stone sculpture

I've been making functional garden art pieces for the last 2 months. I felt that it was time to try something a little more ambitious.

I had started this large granite hand about 2 years ago. I dusted it off, put it up on the work table and went at it hard all Monday. After working all day, I stepped back and asked myself "What did you do?". Granite is so hard that progress is painfully slow. I decided to put this sculpture back aside, because I was in the mood to make some serious progress on a large project.

So, I turned my attention to this unassuming stone block outside the studio door. Don't let it fool you - it weighs at least 7,500 lbs. and measures 72" x 39" x 34".

I dug this drawing out of the archives. This is something that I came up earlier this year. It is a combination between two designs that I really liked: The "World Flower" and "Harmony". It's also a heavily influenced 'spin-off' from the "Tree of Life" project.

I tried to create a scale clay model based on the drawing. One thing led to another...and this came out at the end of the day.

The next day, I refined it and came up with this. It's title "Ecliptic" and is certainly inspired by all of the planet watching that I've been doing this year.

The first thing that I did was to make a plywood template for the 32" sphere at the top of the design. I will also have to make templates for the smaller spheres later.

I carefully started to lay out the design onto the stone block. I used a 4" grinder with a diamond blade to incise the lines made with a wax china marker.

This is the progress at the end of this week. It is wet from a pop-up shower that knocked me out of working on it today. Usually, I won't work on Sundays, but it's so exciting and fun to start a new project that I don't think of it as work.