2 sculptures installed in Pflugerville, Texas

I had 2 monumental-scale functional sculptures chosen for acquisition by the City of Pflugerville, Texas.  I had applied to their competitive nationally open call for artists earlier this year.

Finally, the day arrived to move the pieces to their new home.  Earlier that morning, I'd picked up a 26' flatbed diesel for a week's rental from Ryder of Louisville, KY.

Dereck from JBB, inc of Hardinsburg, Ky brought out their 23 ton crane to load up the pieces.  He loaded up "One Way or Another".

Then, we got in position to get "Daydreamer".  Both pieces were carved from quarry blocks of Indiana Limestone with this piece weighing 2,600 lbs. and the other at 4,300 lbs.

With both pieces loaded, I was ready for the 900-mile trip to Pflugerville, TX which is on the northern edge of Austin.

All the remaining images were taken by Erin Sellers - I thank her for allowing me to use them on this blog post.  Erin was my contact from the City of Pflugerville - excellent to work with! She made the administrative portion of the project go smoothly and in a timely fashion.

I'd hired Bob from Partners Crane of Pflugerville to unload and set the pieces.  He handled everything "spot on", so I highly recommend him.  He'd even gone out of his way to scope out the 2 sites a few days before the lifts to make sure there would be no problems.  In the foreground is one of 2 concrete pads that the City had provided for my pieces. In the background is a backhoe supplied by the Parks Department.  They had to move a large stone block bollard to allow us access into the grounds.

It was quite a reach from the crane to the pad.

Fred and Randy from the Parks Dept. helped me to set the piece - very happy for the help!

Here's "Daydreamer" installed at its final location on the shore of Lake Pflugerville.

...and here's the other side view.

We went to the other side of the lake for setting the other piece.

It's always a thrill for me to see thousands of pounds and months of work floating through the air...

Fred had taken the backhoe back, but Randy stuck with us and helped out on the 2nd installation.  I like working with competent people as they "get it" - you don't have to tell them what to do, they're already doing it.

I'm very happy at this point because both pieces have made the long journey and are safely set where they belong.  These functional sculptures should give the people of Pflugerville many, many carefree years of enjoyment.

Here's a final shot of "One Way or Another" in its site at the edge of the lake.  A Dragonfly photobombed the picture - how cool is that!

 

Jeffreys Cliffs & Rockport, Indiana

Meg saw pictures of Morgan's Cave online and found that it was fairly close to us - so we had to check it out...

It is located in Jeffreys Cliffs Park in Hancock County.  This is a map that they have near the parking area.

It was my 64th birthday.  Started it with a song by Paul McCartney and went from there.

In a short distance down well-maintained trails there are towering sandstone cliffs.

This is the entrance to the overhang that they call Morgan's Cave.  For scale, I'm the tiny black dot climbing the rubble in the center of the picture.

From my perch on the top of the rubble pile, the walls tower upward at least 100 feet or more. 

The place is HUGE!

We finished the loop trail with Morgan's Cave and went for the loop trail to Tobacco Cave.  We encountered a series of steps and ladders that went up a sandstone cliff that had just been installed by a local Boy Scout troop.

This plaque was on the upper portion of the loop.

The way down was much easier.

It's just not a proper birthday without finding a cave to explore...

After a Chicago Pizza in Tell City, we went to Rockport to find the cliff that we'd seen on Adventures with Roger, a YouTube channel that I'm subscribed to...

Naturally, my eye goes to the hand-carved steps into the sandstone cliff.

We hung out long enough to watch a couple towboats go by.  From here, you can see the new cable stay bridge that is just upriver.  We checked out Lincoln Village (which was closed) and did a little fossil hunting at Cannelton before the daylight gave out.  All-in-all it was one of my most memorable birthdays!

 

Eagle Sculpture Delivered

Friday March 14, Meg used her crane truck to deliver my Eagle commission to its final location at a private residence about 20 miles from the studio. 

The sculpture was commissioned by my long-term friend, John Hardin, who I've known since 6th grade (We were each other's Best Man).  The sculpture was sited where he grew up - at his parent's home.

The Eagle has a Rattlesnake in its claws.  

That would be enough to make a Goose nervous.

I think it goes well with the Bedford stone house.

It took me about 3 months to carve the piece.  

Lots and lots of detail...

...and the back view.