"Attraction" Gateway Sculpture Delivery

Earlier this year, I created a gateway from 4 pieces of Indiana Limestone titled "Attraction".

It sold to a private collector and was delivered on December 1.

Each of the 2 main elements are about 6-1/2 feet high by 3 feet by 2 feet.  The top portions have a polished curving outer shell that contrast with the highly textured seed patterns (they also look a little bit like wings...)

The bottom portions have complexly carved roots covered in furrows of chisel marks.  Those forms emerge from a central polished cubic shape.

Meg used her crane truck to retrieve the gateway from the sculpture garden.

Dereck Sheroan loaded the pieces onto his crane truck after we had loaded a large figurative piece of Meg's.  We then made the trip to the site on a private estate east of Louisville.

After installing Meg's piece at the site,  we unloaded my gateway onto pallets brought to us by a forklift.

Joseph (on the left) was great help with installing Meg's piece and operating the forklift for unloading my pieces.

We used 4 separate pallets for the 4 pieces of the gateway.  The site has not been prepared yet for the final installation.  I'll post final pictures of the installed work soon.  This basically concludes my year, as far as stone work is concerned.  I will be spending the rest of December doing design work for next year's sculptures..

 

Resonant Journey Installation

November 18, 2022 was the day chosen to install my functional sculpture Resonate Journey.  The day started around 20 degrees and never got above freezing.  The steady breeze just made it that much more miserable.  

Dereck Sheroan of JBB, Inc of Hardinsburg showed up early with their 23 ton crane truck.

We loaded it and a large figurative sculpture of Meg's.  Then, we made the 75 mile trip to the private residence where both pieces were to be installed.

We installed Meg's piece first and then it was my turn.  A footer had been prepared underneath a large Cedar tree.  We tried to install the piece by going around the tree, but we didn't have the reach.

So, we had to go over it.  8,000 lbs. of months of work 40 feet in the air - this is why I wake up at 3:00 a.m. before big installations.

There were lots of people there who helped us immensely.  This is someone pushing back limbs as we lowered the piece into position.

The crane operator couldn't see me or the bench because of the tree, so John Neville had to convey my signals to him.

Here's the piece safely down and set.

Another view...

...and the back view showing how it overlooks a large pond.  This was a pretty tough installation on a breezy freezing day.  Definitely one for the books - and not soon forgot.  J.P. Shadley (standing in front of the bench) was the landscape architect and my contact person for the project.  He invited me, Meg, his 92 year old father-in-law and 3 other sculptors to where he was staying afterwards.  Beer, food, guitars (no less than 3) and good company - a great way to unwind after an ordeal!

 

Mother Nature

This is "Mother Nature", who just got finished with a major make-over.

She is made from Indiana Limestone and measures 8' high x 3' x 3' and weighs around a ton.

...and walking around the piece....

She is imbedded in a concrete base.  This is a technique that I had never used before - an experiment.

This project began in 2016 when I got a commission for a Virgin Mary to be installed in Cincinnati.

I had this 20' long stone block from Reed Quarry of Bloomington, IN.

I split off 8' and moved it inside, but I finally realized that it just wasn't thick enough to have the hands out in front of the figure.

I bought another semi load of stone to finish the commission.  This is the installed piece at a private residence in Cincinnati

Since the first version was already started and still in the studio, I decided to finish it and pour the concrete base around the bottom.  On Halloween 2017, we hired a crane to move the 2,000 lb. sculpture outside.

 For the last 5 years, I have used it as a feeding platform for wildlife.  We pour cracked corn and sunflower seeds on the concrete base at least twice everyday (yes, that gets a little expensive...).  One morning while drinking coffee and looking at the piece, I envisioned the changes to turn the Virgin Mary into Mother Nature - and it is a GREAT improvement!

 

Now Breaking Free From Chains

Happy Halloween!

This has been an INCREDIBLE fall (as far as the weather is concerned...)  Lots of great days to get work done outside - so I used the opportunity to give a final make-over on a monumental sculpture titled "Now".

The project started over 11-1/2 years ago!  On May 5, 2011, I bought this 43,000 lb. quarry block from Victor Oolitic near Bloominton, IN

Before leaving the quarry, they cut about 6,000 lb. off with this band saw to get rid of a bad layer - and  to help make the load lighter.

I worked on many, many drawings and models and finally settled on this design. A plaster cast was submitted to LexArts of Lexington, KY when  I was a finalist for a public art project in 2014.  I didn't get the project...

...but I began it on my own about a year later.  Meg had a 75 ton crane show up to unload and stand upright a 45,000 lb. stone for her  Univ. of Anchorage project.  I took the opportunity to stand the block upright after cutting the bottom flat.

Work began in earnest in the early spring of 2015.

This is what the front looked like by the end of 2016.

Here's a couple of back views.

Front view 2017

Back view 2017

Front View 2020

Back view 2020

Here is the final rendition, October 2022.

,,,and walking around the piece.

...and around.

That's the longest that I've EVER worked on a single project.  I'm happy to be finally finished and will be even happier when I move it to a final site (wherever that may be...).

 

Marble Memorial Finished

I have finished the memorial carved from a solid block of Alabama White marble

The finished piece is 24" x 16" x 11" and weighs approx. 163 lbs.

Walking around the piece...

This is the base in Alabama White Marble that measures 22" x 22" x 1"

 And closing this post with a more personal note... Since the last time I posted, I had to say goodbye to a special friend....

(photo by Paul Allen 1988)

AUGUST 2022

Happy Labor Day!!!

The main activity for the month of August involved working on a private memorial commission for a family from the Danville area.

I began the project with a small "Thumbnail" clay model.  This was based on a drawing that had been created by one of the family members.  

I started with this 350 lb. block of Alabama White Marble that we already had.  

After about 2 weeks of work, the major shapes have been carved.  It measures 16"H x 23"W x 11"D.  There is a sun shape in the bottom that will hold an urn and any small items that someone may decide to place there.  You can already see 3 leaf forms as they near their final shape.

The back side is already receiving final honing with about 2/3 being sanded to 120 grit.  The left leaf is completely unsanded, but otherwise matches the right leaf that you can't see in this picture.  Marble is hard to photograph as it tends to "White out" all the details while inside the studio  When I finish, I will take it outside where indirect sunlight will help me get better images.

I spent the first part of August creating this "Sun Bird" sculpture in Indiana Limestone.  It has bush texture between the polished sun rays.  It measures approx. 22"H x 20"W x 11"D.

This is the back view.  The base and the tail have the stippled bushed texture that compliments the polished wings and tail feathers.  Behind it, is "Resonate Journey" which will be delivered and installed at a private residence in the near future.

On August 24, we had Dereck bring the 23 ton crane out to move some pieces for us.  One of the items to get moved was this 13,800 lb. granite piece that used to be a base for a map making machine at Ft. Knox.  We are now using it as a work table up near the studio building.  This was the first stone ever moved onto this property (1997?)

This is a piece from a large 60' long x 5' diameter (approx. 100 ton) granite roller used to make paper.  I've been whittling pieces off the original 12,000 lb fragment for years.  This 2,000 lb. piece is all that's left.