Trappist Monk Stone Sculpture

As a result of my recent visit to Gethsemane, I was inspired to make a stone monk. I was impressed when Brother Quenon pointed out that the Trappist had maintained their Order and way of life for almost 1,000 years. In fact, the title of this new sculpture is "1,000 years".

I had made a small clay study to fit into a 4,000 lb. 7' x 3' x 2' piece of rustic Indiana Limestone (the piece with the saw on it).

I had carved off about 500 lbs. of stone from the block while it was still out in the stone yard. Then, I moved it to the shade of the new stone studio.

After cutting the bottom flat, I stood the block upright.

I wanted the piece to have more 'life' than the crude original model. So, I made another model to capitalize on the full potential of the rough block.

I decided to make a face on the sculpture, rather than the hollow hoods of the first 2 models. I made a small clay head study, to help me see the basic shapes that I wanted.

I used carbide-tipped chisels to rough in the basic planes of the face, and I roughed in the beard with a forked chisel.

This is the current progress on the sculpture.

Last Sunday (10-10-10), there was a small gathering at the Meadeville Cemetery. In the 1800's, Meadville was a major stop on the stagecoach route between Louisville and Owensboro. There's not a trace of the old town left, now (except the cemetery).

Several people, including myself, were asked to describe to the group our experience in restoring the old cemetery. Bud Roberts had enlisted my help in the mid 90's to help with the initial clearing of trees and brush. When I first got involved, all the stones were laid flat, and many were broken . With the help of my retired chemist friend, Dave Shimp, we epoxied and stood up a lot of the stones. Other people got involved in the project after us, maintaining the old cemetery and making further improvements.

My neighbor, Jr. Horsley, invited me up to his secret 'arrowhead patch' last Thursday. I hadn't been hunting in years, and it was a blast.

It's located on a remote and scenic hilltop. It's certainly not someplace where you would expect to find an indian site.

I didn't find anything. But, Jr. found a snapped base with nice oblique flaking (either a Kirk or an Elk River) and the archaic side notch (Big Sandy).

Hemlock Cliffs

This last week, we went to Hemlock Cliffs. You can find it by following the signs from hwy 237 a few miles south of English, Indiana.

There's a 1.2 mile loop path that leads down and back out of wooded ravines.

The eroded sandstone cliffs make a lot of fantastic shapes.

Lots of places to explore.

The 'honey combing' of the ledges are pretty strange.

There are 2 large rock shelters in the park. (If you can find me in this picture, it helps to get a sense of the scale).

There are "Hominy holes" in some of the boulders under one of the shelters. There's a real nice, big one, right beside me, in the rock that I'm sitting on.

There are countless little overhangs in the park, but the one rock shelter is huge. (room for the whole tribe). (again, I'm in the picture, for scale).

Some of the resident wildlife.

Blair witch? (all photos on this post by Meg White).

A Return To Stone

It'd been weeks since I'd last carved stone. I'd been busy with mold making etc., and it was great to get back into the studio.

Meg and I have been watching the Avengers episodes that had Diana Rigg as Mrs. Emma Peel. She wears a large 'mod' belt buckle in several episodes.

When I went into the studio at the start of last week, I wasn't thinking, "I'm going to make a sculpture of Mrs. Peel". But, it sort of came out that way.

The piece of stone that I chose to carve had dictated the final proportions - long and thin.

I left a natural surface on the top of the piece to give it a fragmented look. It has a forward implied motion, to give it an air of 'action'. I'm very happy with the piece - it was too much fun.

Morning! Meg takes a picture of the sun rise, through her toes.

...and speaking of waking up, this Screech Owl woke from his daytime slumber just long enough to see what we were up to. (photo Meg White)

A hyper-dimensional tear in the fabric of our universe disturbs the infinite, featureless night, and all the galaxies and stars are spewed into being at the moment of Creation. ...or...it's a picture of a crack between our barns siding, lighting up donkey dust. Pick your reality. (photo Meg White)

What we perceive as more donkey dust, the digital camera obviously sees as something else. Does the camera strip away the veil of reality, and give us a "glimpse behind the curtain"? ...whatever... (photo Meg White)

"Nexus" Installed

I felt honored when the Maddox family chose my stone sculpture "Nexus" as a monument for their parents.

We delivered the sculpture to the Cane Station Cemetery on Brownsboro Road in Louisville on Friday the 17th, where we were met by Bob Maddox (left) and his two daughters (on right). The crane and truck with sculptures also drew the attention of someone from the neighborhood (center).

The first task involved drilling a 3/4 inch hole in the concrete footer for the stainless steel pin that will go from the footer, through the stone base and up into the sculpture.
I clean out the hole with a vacuum and bottle brush, so that the epoxy will make a strong bond between the pin and the cement. There is a generator on the crane truck, across the stone wall, that runs the drill and the vacuum.

I am rigging up the sculpture for the lift using nylon slings. On the right is Derrick Sheroan who is operating a 23 ton crane from JBB, Inc. of Hardinsburg. Derrick is one of the best operators that we've ever worked with.

We are using a standard 'basket' hitch for the actual lift, but I am adding an extra sling tied in a 'choker' hitch around the sculpture. It's always a good practice to add a safety sling, in the unlikely chance that one of the main slings breaks or slips.

It's important, especially for tall pieces, that it lifts up level and balanced. If there is a slight lean, set it back down and make the proper adjustment.

This was the toughest installation of the year (so far... the year's not over) and it had me worried. We have to lift the 3,000 lb. sculpture up 50 feet to clear trees. The stone wall limited our access, as well.

There was one small gap in all the tree limbs, and the sculpture was slowly lowered through that.

I initially set the piece 'dry' to make sure their were no problems with the hole or pin. I used softeners (pieces of old fire hose) to rest the piece. Then I lifted the piece, removed the softeners and set the base upon the footer.

Next, I tied 2 choker hitches around the sculpture and lifted it up from the base.

I mixed a 2 part monument-grade epoxy and spread it onto the threaded stainless steel rod. I always use threaded rod for pins because smooth round pins could break free from the epoxy - the threads make a mechanical lock that won't slip.

Then, the sculpture was lowered back into place.

This is the sculpture in its new home.

I love this picture that Meg took of leaf shadows on the back of the sculpture.
(all photos on this post by Meg White).

Meg's "Demeter" Installed and Louisville Skateboard Park

On Friday, we loaded up Meg's Indiana Limestone sculpture of "Demeter" at Yew Dell Gardens and delivered it to its new home.

I am using a 'Choker' hitch to lift this sculpture, as opposed to a 'basket' hitch that was used on the sculpture in the post below.

Up, up and away!

Mark Foster had prepared a triangular concrete footer, custom made for the piece.

There was quite a bit of demand for this piece, which could have sold many times over. Lots of people besides myself are eager to see what Meg will create next.

Meg has been wanting to go to the Louisville Skateboard Park for a long time, to snap some photos. We finally got a chance to go there yesterday. You can see the obvious sculptural potential in poses like this.

It's hard to believe that he meets back up with his board, lands and rolls away.

He's flipping his board, before landing and rolling away.

He's spinning his handle...

...while he's spinning the board.

I couldn't hardly ride a bike at his age, but he's not touching the ground. I was surprised at how safe the whole thing was. There were no collisions and almost no wipe outs - nothing serious, mostly landing on their feet if they miss the board.

Of course, with more age comes more air space. The terrain of the park is real sculptural, and there are a lot of opportunities for photography with the light and shadows on the curves.