The Discovery Muse departs for Florida and is installed, Part 1




The limestone sections of the Discovery Muse have been loaded onto two flatbeds (Mercer Transportation) and depart for Lake Eola in Orlando Florida.  I wanted to do a little more tweaking on the face and so packed grinder, sander, extension cord, etc. all the things I needed to work on site and headed down to Orlando as well.
I saw this vehicle somewhere around Atlanta Georgia and name of the company "Overeducated Painters and Renovators" just tickled me.

 

It was a long trip - it took two days- but I finally reach the destination.  This is the Grand Bohemian Hotel.  The nice people with See Art Orlando provided me with accommodations here. 

The halls of the hotel feature exhibitions of art and this painting was in my room.  The room itself was really, really luxurious. I felt like I shouldn't touch anything.

My room service meal, a delicious Margherita Pizza, Sprite and fruit.

The view from the room



The next morning I had to meet the crane at the site for the installation of the limestone sections.  I went early to look at the site.  This is one of the other sculptures commissioned by See Art Orlando.  It is called Centered and was created by CJ Rench.




I find the first truck, everything looks good.  It's still really early, a couple of hours before the crane will show up.  I'm sure George, the driver, is asleep so I won't bother him.



The site. These are concrete footers that go down in the ground 18" and have rebar on 18" centers. The head will go on the elevated concrete pedestal.



The second truck (Mercer transportation) with the two forearms and knee.  Cesar is the driver of this truck.  He and George did an excellent job in securing the work.  Moving sculpture is a nerve wracking experience - it's great to have real professionals on the job.





This is a 70 ton crane from Beyel Brothers of Orlando. It has set up near the site (to the left in this photo).

 

A road of plywood was built across the lawn of the site to prevent damage to the underground utilities.
The Leg is the first to be set on it's foundation.  The leg goes before the others so I can eyeball the proportions, if the figure feels too short I can have the crane move it further out.

The man in the foreground is the rigger and he handles the rigging the work and directing the operator. His name is Brent Wylde. The man in the cab of the crane is called the operator. His name is Thomas Maynard.

Lisa Henry of the Streets Department watches as the leg comes off the truck, headed for it's resting place.  I stay back as the pieces are being installed so I can better judge the proportions and how they will relate to each other.

The leg took a bit to get it properly placed, I had to run around a bit, this way and that, just to be sure.  Once the rigging is removed it would be a real problem to get it back underneath to move it. Visualization is important here.  I have to be able to imagine where is the upper leg and hip in relation to the knee, the two arms, etc.  In a way, the head is easy to place, not a lot of latitude in how it is placed.  I do have a model of maquettes and earthwork that I refer to but in the end I trust my eye.

After the head is installed on the foundation, the straps need to be removed.  Rob Howland of Facilities Management tries to remove the strap but it is pinned by the stone.  A second strap will be used to rig around the hair and lift the stone so the first strap can be pulled free.

The strap on the other side was stuck as well, the head is being lifted to it can be removed. The head overlaps the pedestal so that earthwork and plantings can be installed around it.  The corner of the foundation is under the chin to support the stone and keep it from pitching forward.

Brent Wylde has rigged the right forearm as Thomas Maynard moves it into place.  It was a smooth, smooth job.  I have seen every kind of skill when it comes to cranes from the very worst to the very best.  These guys rank right up there with the very best. Took a lot of stress off of me - thanks guys!

Daphne and Lily get a new home - together


Daphne was sold at Yew Dell Gardens this spring. Here is a video of me working on her-
 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VCr64wR9y7U

Lily was also at Yew Dell and she sold as well - to the same collector.

Daphne is extremely fragile and had to be handled with care.  A spreader bar is used to keep the straps away from the branches and leaves.  The crane is from JBB of Hardinsburg.  The operator is Derrick Sherroan.

Most stone sculptures can be strapped to the truck, but not Daphne.  She has to have a crate because she is so delicate. 

Daphne arrives at the site and is freed from her crate....

It took a bit to get her positioned correctly on her base, but she is finally perfect.  JP Shadley has created a berm behind and there will be stones right in front of her to make her appear that she is standing on a rocky outcrop.

Derrick, Don and Mike wrestle Lily into her site.  Unfortunately she was turned away a little too much - I couldn't tell how she would look until all three stone sections were assembled, so the sections had to be taken down and the piece turned just a bit.  Sorry guys!

 A close up of Lily



Lily from a distance.  She has a beautiful view to gaze upon, it seems to be made just for her.




Daphne has a beautiful site as well - she has lot of space so that a viewer can walk around and see all sides of her.  Here is a video walk around of Daphne when she was at Yew Dell -
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BAzp3dMSQAk

I spent a great deal of time working on Daphne to ensure that the sun would shine through the leaves illuminating the shady side of the piece.  The site is perfect in terms of her position to the sun.  It was fun watching the sun move across it, watching piece change as the sun illuminated different areas.  I was also spending a final, quiet time with her as I do all my pieces when they're done and installed.  A way, I suppose, of saying goodbye.

I took this picture in the morning of the day Lily and Daphne went to their new home. In a way it should have been at the beginning of the post, but it was such a beautiful photo, I thought I'd save it for last.

Finishing and loading the Discovery Muse

I split my time between the different sections of the Muse.  Switching between the sections helps keep my eye "fresh". If you look closely at the head you can see the crayon marks on the forehead. There are marks (such as the hairline that needs to be dropped, numbers to indicate measurements at different points, etc.  The black mark on the end of the nose gives me a frame of reference when measuring all the other points on the head. I am beginning to establish the sections of hair and am determining areas that need to be removed.  The area at the back corner is a bit flat and needs to curve just a bit more...

To round the back of the head I used the large angle-grinder in the photo to cut across the corners of the original block that was the back of the head. As I continued cutting the corners it became less like a square and more rounded (look back at previous posts to see the more of this process)

As I round the head I begin to cut the shapes of the hair.  In looking at the head I realize I made a mistake in the model.  In the model, the hair comes all the way down to the bottom of the stone.  That would be fine if the woman were standing upright, but as she is lying down I realize I have to change the line of the hair - the bottom of the hair should go up towards the shoulder .

I have defined the hair and deepened the line of the hair.  I will remove the stone beneath the line to allow for the earth and sod.

Padgett crane was employed to move the various sections of the Muse out and load them on the waiting flatbed trucks.

George from Mercer Trucking watches as the head is lifted onto his truck.

The leg is lifted...

Onto the truck it goes, Don is there to make sure the lift goes smoothly...

One of the hands is strapped down and ready to go.....destination- Orlando, Florida!

 m

Continuing work on DIscovery

Here I am cutting the foot using an angle grinder.  This is a capture from a video.  You can watch the video here -
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-QI3qOJ-wFw



The shade structure was removed from over the leg so it can be turned onto its side. This will enable me to work on the heel and back of the leg.



Seeing the leg from the side helps me to see how heavy the leg is and where stone needs to be removed.  I have marked areas that need thinning with black crayon.

I also see that I have not removed enogh stone from the arch of the foot.  The model of the foot is on the stool on the right of the photo.  I compare the shadows of the model to the shadows of the sculpture to see what areas need to be removed.

This photo shows how heavy the calf is.  Lines show where I need to remove stone.  I will use a 9 inch grinder to cut off the excess stone.

I have shaved off some of the stone using the back edge of the grinder and pulling it toward me until I reach the hub.  Then I use a hammer to break off the stone.

The hand has been defined first, a little on the heavy side. I have just started to define the forearm.

The hand has been thinned and refined and the forearm more fully defined.

The lower half of the forearm is too heavy and I begin shaving off the stone with an angle grinder.

The arm is too heavy and square, I make a cut on the right side- I will then remove this whole section, The left side is heavy as well and I will cut that down too.

I have refined the hand, cutting down the palm to help water drain.

I refine the thumb and fingers and begin working down the forearm.

I use my own hand to check angle of the fingers, thumb, creases, etc.  I use a timber crayon to mark areas that need to be cut.  If I decide against cutting an area I mark it with two slashes.

I changed this piece from the original model.  The forearm originally was higher than the hand.  I decided that wouldn't work in the composition so I cut that area down - about 6 inches lower.