Haven't had the time or the motivation to blog of late. BooHoo. The semi-latest news is that we were able to repair the damage on the marble ball and get the whole project wrapped up in time for some punk-ass kids to use the walls for ramps for their bikes. Damaged them pretty badly. Once again, though, the City of Paramount stepped up and repaired them - doing a fantastic job in the process.

Tags: Memorial, Commission, Public Art

Well, made it home from an installation gone awry in Paramount, California. We arrived on site early on Tuesday morning to find the "Upholding" sculpture broken. Our truck driver had done everything he could to try to minimize the damage after he spotted it happening, but things still got pretty messed up. I probably shouldn't get into details at this point due to legal and insurance issues, but suffice it to say that mistakes were made. Everyone at the City of Paramount involved in this project was on the ball and very professional in helping us get through this, and I'd like to say a big "Thank you" to them now. They managed to rent a TiG welder and I was able to reposition and re-weld the plates back into place. The marble ball was bruised and chipped, but should be repairable (we are already scheduled to fly back out in March to finish things up). In addition, a couple of the concrete wall sections shifted on the trailer, resulting in a big chip right near one of the plaques. The pre-cast company did send along a patch kit, so we were able to get most of the damage repaired - but more attention is needed. John and I put in a long, hard, frustrating 12 hour day, but we were able to get all 7 wall pieces and the sculpture itself placed. Not too bad, I guess. (Click on the image below for more pics.)

Tags: Memorial, Public Art, Commission, Doh!