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!
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