Cincinnati Virgin Mary Installation

Monday, July 11 was the date for installing my Virgin Mary commission at a private residence in Cincinnati.  Meg drove the piece up on her crane truck - and all the pictures on this post are by her.

 I met Jeff Payne (far right) who is with Architectural Landscape Design, Inc.  I'm shaking hands with Paul who helped me with the installation and behind him is the Lull operator, Romero.

 First, we unloaded the piece from the back of the flat bed truck.

 On the right is Bill Ripley of Architectural Landscape Design, Inc. who was my initial contact for the project.  Andy Corn, who was the architect on the project, was also there briefly at the beginning.

 We stood her up with a choker hitch, but we also had 2 safety slings under the base.  We added a ratchet strap around everything as another layer of safety.

 We had an audience, although I was too busy to notice.

 In the foreground is Jeremy Hensley of Hensley Services, who was involved with the project all the way through.  We slowly moved the piece over to the site.

 A square concrete socket had been prepared ahead of time to hold the square sub-base.  The 8' height made me uncomfortable with the thought of relying on pins to hold the tall, thin sculpture.  We did a dry run... and it was too tight...

 I'd made the sub-base too big for the square socket ( I should have known better...).  I used my grinder to make the inside of the socket bigger.  Nothing is easy.

 It fit like a glove.  We set it down on short boards to get the safety slings out from under it.

 Then, we applied a thick, inner seal of silicone.

 Next, we lifted it with the choker hitches to take out the boards and set it on some monument cushions.  We're checking to make sure that everything is plumb, level and that it is firmly in position.

 This is the final piece in her new home among the roses - from her right...

 ... the center...

 .... and her left.

 I gave her an outer bead of silicone caulk around the bottom and applied a breathable sealer.  That's it - signed, sealed and delivered.  The only thing left was the 3-1/2 hour trip home.

While I finished up, Meg explored the rock wall and found this pocket of Bryozoa.  The upper piece looks like an arrowhead... if you use your imagination...