On August 15, I found out that I was one of 6 semi-finalists for an opportunity for placing an art bench at the Leander Public Library. Leander is a satellite city of Austin, Texas. On September 12, I was informed that I was 1 of 3 winners. Here's a link to their local paper that goes into more depth:
On Saturday, October 19, Dereck Sheroan from JBB, Inc. brought their 23 ton crane out to load me up.
I had much more truck than I needed, but I was lucky to find this in my region. Flat bed trucks are hard to rent. This one had cruise control and a USB for my MP3 player, so I was fine with it.
On Tuesday afternoon October 22, I arrived at the site and took a look at where the piece was to be placed.
This art bench by Elizabeth Akamatsu was already installed in the library courtyard.
So was this stainless steel bench by Rollin Karg.
Here's a close-up of the large glass element in the top of the functional sculpture.
My eye always goes to stone, and I was fascinated by this large piece of petrified wood. The picture doesn't do it justice as there are polished areas that really show off a pretty blue color in the stone.
The courtyard also had this metal sculpture....
... this bronze of a dog...
... and this whimsical bronze with a frog on mushrooms.
Early the next morning, I arrived at the site to find the crane already set up. I had time to visit with the crane operator while we waited for other people to show up. His name is Irving Carrillo and he does acrylic paintings of landscapes and portraits and this is his facebook page:
https://www.facebook.com/irvingcarrilloart.carrillo?__tn__=%2CdC-R-R&eid=ARCjWsUpltLkz9q4HXpJGlXxc62aurhdzPQK8jw-FGedipvzzJQyuGbjUAnvGKmzqhBgKbwJjBrAg7Z6&hc_ref=ARS-1ITx5AhnsBQmBe-bPsxg2xhJXtBA8-BfGMJL_Wma17ax5t_fa9RMTHWbaDJG_dM&fref=nf
Irving has only been doing paintings for 3 years - that's a strong start! Stay with it, Irving!
I had lots of help from the Parks Department folks during the installation. Everything is so much smoother and safer when you've got competent people helping to make it happen.
The person to my right is Tyler Bybee who was my contact person for the project. So... here's my functional sculpture safely set in its new Texas home. Nothing left but to make the 1,000 mile trip home....
No comments:
Post a Comment