Meg's Grizzly Bear Installation

It was finally time to install Meg's Bear sculpture. On Derby day, we rolled the bears outside where Meg carefully looked over everything in the sunlight. Then, we power washed them, let them dry for a couple days and sprayed on a breathable sealer. The brand name says it all.

Tuesday morning, a 23 ton crane came from JBB inc. of Hardinsburg. Dereck Sheroan was our operator. He is helping me to put on 2 safety slings at the bottom to keep the main slings from slipping off the rounded bottom of the sculpture. Dereck is our operator of choice. He is extra careful with our work and experienced beyond his years.
The Bears were commissioned by Dr. Steve and Mary Ann Pollard. They came out to the studio to watch the load up, while their son, Charlie, video documented the whole process.

We loaded the sculpture onto the back of the brand new crane. This was its 2nd lift, ever. The bears were rigged a little off balance on purpose, to keep the slings from applying pressure to the raised hind foot of the mother bear (the foot near my hand). We couldn't take a chance on breaking this piece - better safe than sorry.

The bears made their way to Louisville, with our car and the Pollard family following.

We arrived at the new Kosair Children's hospital. Then, we set up the crane, rigged the sculpture and began the lift.

The 6,000 lb. sculpture was lifted over the artistic fence that surrounds the children's play area. The sculpture is headed for the concrete pad that had been prepared ahead of time.

We set the sculpture on boards, and took off the 'basket' hitch. Then, we used a 'choker' hitch (shown) to lift one end, take out a board, then repeat the process on the other end, to get the other board out.

Dr. Pollard checks out the finished sculpture in its new home. (all photos on this post copyright Meg White)

Granite hand-shaped bench and new septic system

I've spent most of this week working on the granite sculpture entitled "The Gift". This is a scale plasticine clay model (covered in granite dust) of what I will be carving in granite.

Granite is so hard that it burns up diamond blades like crazy - which is real expensive. I've been using a technique of sawing parallel cuts to move stone efficiently, maximizing the amount of stone that can be removed per wear on diamond blades. By doing this, I was able to get close to the finished form in a relatively short time.

Then, I use the diamond blade to shave off layers of stone to slowly form the sculpture. After 2 weeks of work, you can already see the shape of the design beginning to emerge.

Thursday, work commenced on the new bathroom and kitchenette that we're adding to the back side of the clay studio. This is Mike Mitcham, who works for JBB, inc. of Hardinsburg.

By the end of a long day, he had the plumbing roughed in and finished digging the hole for the septic tank. He's scraping a sandstone ledge - that'll be as far as we can dig (without dynamite).

The next morning, they put in the lateral line. B.J. is using a wood jack to hold the line in place while Mike places the large gravel.

The inspector came out, and everything passed. While Mike's lunch warmed up on his truck dashboard heater, he asked, "Want to see a trick?"

"Do you think I can pick up that quarter with the backhoe?"

We'll have to catch this on video, and post it on youtube. (All photos copyright Meg White).

Yew Dell Load In

It's hard to believe that another year has gone by, and it's time to install our sculptures at Yew Dell Gardens for their 3rd Annual Outdoor Sculpture Show.

Thursday, we loaded our large stone sculptures for the trip to Crestwood.

We had quite a load for the rented flat-bed from Penske, but it was a lot less than the semi loads of the previous two years.

We had Derrick meet us up at the Gardens with the 23 ton crane from JBB inc.

Meg's sculpture of Demeter was the first to be unloaded.

Karla Drover of Yew Dell Gardens discovers the hidden message in the bottom of the stone trough that I made for them. I've started leaving messages between and under stones for people to find. This one says "It is impossible to achieve the aim without suffering". Curious? Google it.

"Ripples" moving through the air.

Nexus was next. Then, we installed "River Font" whose hidden message was "Don't push the river, it flows by itself".

Oberon headed out - after hanging around since last year's show.

We made ready for the return voyage to the studio.

(splinter or beam?). We unloaded Oberon at the studio.

As mentioned in last week's post, I wanted to move the 6,000 lb. cubic meter of Spanish Marble while I had the crane at the studio.

...and this is something unlike anything that I've ever tried before...It's called "Sunblok", and its hidden message is "Be like the Sun at midday".

Relentless Winter Releases Its Grip

This has been an abnormally tenacious winter. Temperatures finally came up to normal, for the season, and the sun came out.

I power washed both Roanoke benchs, to get them ready for delivery. This is "Caring", with Meg's Sea Lion in the background.

This is "Strength", with Meg's Daphne in the background.

I bought these 8 inch slabs from Victor Oolitic back in January, to make bases for some of my sculptures.

I needed a circular base for a new sculpture.

The new sculpture, finished yesterday, is entitled "Reach" and measures approximately 78" High by 40" in diameter.

The new (and much larger) sculpture was inspired by this fountain bubbler entitled "Uphold".

Mike, from JBB, inc. of Hardinsburg, came over on Thursday to clean out the ditches and improve the road that leads back to the studio.

Meg snapped this shot of the clay that he uncovered in the ditch - complementary colors of yellow and blue (hmmm...).

Meg has an eye for spotting the fantastic in an ordinary situation - condensation inside a 2 liter bottle. (photo Meg White)