Home of the Innocents sculpture installation

We had picked up the bronze plaques for the sculptures from Eagle Sign and Design, and were now ready to receive the granite bases, to which the sculptures will be mounted.

The granite bases arrive and Don is getting ready to receive the stones. The granite was cut and lettered at Century Granite, which is located in Georgia.

The granite is loaded onto our 2 ton truck.

Don drills holes into the granite base so that the sculpture can be mounted to it. They will not be epoxied to the stone at this point, this is basically a dry run to make sure everything fits properly. The plaques also will not be epoxied. All will go separately to the Cemetery and will be reassembled and epoxied there.

There are nuts welded into the bottom of the sculpture, into which Don will place stainless steel threaded rod. These will
fit down into the holes that Don drilled earlier. Careful measurements of the nuts were made to make sure that the holes were drilled accurately.

The granite bases are loaded using a crane. Paul Roerig, the new owner of Brummett Monuments, helps Don position the granite, while Johnny runs the controls of the crane.

Steve (left), Don and Johnny(right) load the bronze sculptures into the back of a pickup truck for delivery to Cave Hill Cemetery. The sculptures and bronze plaques will be permanently affixed on site.

The crane is set up to install the granite base.

Don (on the left), Johnny (on the right) and Paul carefully adjust the granite base.

Ascension is lifted into place. Someone said, "it's the Flying Nun!" Actually she's a flying Deaconess! I'm not going to post finished photos of the pieces until after they are dedicated Sunday.

The second "Flying Deaconess" is held in check by Paul. The dedication ceremony is this Sunday at 2:00. Everyone is welcome...

Home of the Innocents bronzes come home from Colorado

Don made a 2,500 mile journey this week, to get the bronze sculptures from the foundry, Art Castings of Colorado.


"Metamorphosis" and "Ascension" are loaded into the Thrifty rental van at Art Castings.


Two days later, Don and sculptures are back home. Steve McMillen helped unload "Metamorphosis" (shown) and "Ascension".



The completed sculptures are now ready to be attached to their granite bases.



Another view of the sculptures.



A photo of the morning fog...




This is a photo of a minnow in the creek with reflections of the branches overhead.

A New Commission and a Museum Exhibit

I was just awarded a commission for Terre Haute's Hux Cancer Center. Over 160 people applied for this $42,000.00 commission.

The sculpture is entitled "Light of Hope and Healing" and is composed of an adult man, adult woman, little boy and little girl
standing atop a pedestal of black granite raising their hands toward a lighted sphere. The granite represents cancer and all the negative emotions that accompany it; fear, despair, hopelessness. The lighted sphere symbolizes the positive emotions which help us overcome cancer; hope , joy and courage.

Don and I were invited to submit work to 2 exhibits at the Ownensboro Museum of Fine Art in Owensboro,KY. The two exhibits are entitled Holidaze, which is a gallery exhibition and Holidazzle which is geared more as a craft exhibit with more affordably priced works. To move the work we rented a Ryder truck. It has a lift gate which made moving the work much,much easier.
Ely is getting loaded into the Ryder truck. Don's posture was so like Ely's I had to get a photo of it. Don's piece River Vessel was loaded next. Don has several small pieces ($280.00) of bronze and stone in the Holidazzle exhibition. I also have a bronze(Persephone Falling) in Holidazzle as well.

Don and Tony Hardesty pick up River Vessel to place it on the cart. The sculpture will be placed on top of it's base at the entrance to the Museum.

Ely is escorted into the Museum.

This is a close-up of Jimson Weed I found it in our lower field.

This is an ultra close-up of a morning glory in my sister Liz's yard, thought this make a nice contrast to the Jimson Weed.


This pretty guy (or girl) is a jumping spider. I found it in the lower field.

A couple of get togethers and Ely readies for a trip

I have several jobs I am trying for right now, but as they are in the sketch stage I can't post anything yet. So, I'll post some photos of other stuff.
There have been a couple of get togethers lately; one is my nephew's 5th Birthday party and a reunion of Don's fraternity at Centre. Some of these guys haven't seen each other in 25 years...

Joe's party was held by a lake in Hoosier National Forest. My sister-in-law Denise is on the left, Joe's sister, Beth, is on the right.

Of course there was a cake - 5 candles - and lots of presents.

After the party we walked up the trail into the woods. Joe had fun throwing rocks into a creek.

My niece, Beth (on the left), brought her friend Destiny.

My brother Mark (on the left) fishing, and my brother-in-law Charlie watching.

Don was invited to a party of his Phi Tau Brothers from Centre College. I went as the designated driver. I had heard a lot of stories about the college days, it was good to finally put faces to names. Great bunch of people. Everyone is posing in from of a banner with cartoons of each person. Check out Don's blog for a closer look at the banner.

What would a party be without the requisite bonfire?

A closeup of spiderwort.

A Green Metallic bee...
Ely will be in the Holidaze exhibition at the Ownensboro Museum of Fine Art which runs from November 6th to November 31st . He will be installed this week, look for him in the next blog.

Home of the Innocents bronzes get patinas, a trip to Hidden Hill Nursery and photos of insects and a spider

The patinas are finished on the sculptures for the Home of the Innocents project. This is Ascension.

This is Metamorphosis with her patina. Next, they will be shipped and fitted to their granite bases

Tom Burkhart called Don about a Blugrass Festival going on at Hidden Hill Nursery. Don couldn't make the show, but I've always wanted to see Hidden Hill and this was a good excuse....

Another group of performers set up in another area at Hidden Hill.

This sculpture was done by Amy Brier. This is an amazing piece. The photo really doesn't do it justice.

This is a sculpture by Matt Weir. He does beautiful work. There is another sculpture right in front of this piece and I wondered what it might look like through the opening at the top of the sculpture....so...

This is what you see....

Hidden Hill has a number of sculptures throughout the property. You have to explore in order to discover them all.

This is a closeup of a Thistle bloom. I didn't see the crab spider until I enlarged the photo on the computer.


This is a hoverfly.


This is a nine spot ladybug. Nine spot ladybugs are in decline in the United States and Cornell University is conducting a study (called the Lost Ladybug Project) asking people to look for them (or other species of ladybug) and send photos so they can more accurately track their numbers. I found this one in the field below the house.

Two Installations

We installed two sculptures from the Yew Dell show. First, Don's Vine bench.

Don has leveled areas for the legs and is now adjusting them

Don figuring how the top goes on the legs.

Final adjustments are made...

The bench installed
Next Miss Jessel will be installed. She's going into a beautiful garden.

This is a hanging sculpture in the garden, metal and glass, wondered what it would look like from underneath, so....

The easiest way to get Miss Jessel to her site - she is way in the back of the garden- is to take the truck through the
adjoining field and come through the gate at the back of the property.

Have to be careful about closing the gates as there are horses in the field. This guy wasn't too impressed with the big yellow truck in his field, guess he's seen it all before.

This photo reminds me of the Farside cartoon with the caption "When a body meets a body coming through the rye" Of course in this case, it's ornamental grass.

Moses, the resident collie, escorts Don to her site.

Final adjustments.

Miss Jessel in her new home.
And here are couple of flowers I saw that day..