Ta-da! My Log Takes a Trip to ArtPrize

All day yesterday was spent figuring out how best to get my beech log ready to be transported to my exhibition area on Grand Valley State University's Pew Campus in the heart of Grand Rapids. I spent a couple of days physically looking for just the right base/support system that would keep the log up off the ground and accessible to be worked upon.  The challenge was to reuse/recycle something that would not be ugly, dangerous or require too much fussing and adapting to the purpose. I brought home several possible solutions from the Clark Material Handling warehouse and then about 2a.m. Thursday I saw what I needed right in own gallery window! It was the wheeled cart I'd used in the first ArtPrize to support a hanging sculpture for my display at Huntington Bank (a wonderfully gracious hosting venue, by the way!) The cart was hidden under its display shelf, but when I removed the skirting and took a measure, I was elated. The next afternoon I began searching for the proper sized rod or tube to attach to the log that would slip into the pipes on the cart. My friend, Alan Weathers stopped by and was kind enough to lend a hand and back and mind to helping me. We managed to carefully rotate the log so it was belly up and hen lifted the cart on top to mark where the "feet" would be inserted.


After cutting pieces of steel rod to the proper length with a reciprocating saw, I drilled the holes, mixed a bit of epoxy to secure the rods and then placed the cart onto the rods..well, that would be the ideal story.... The fact is that the rods were not perfectly aligned on one end so we took the cart off and I adjusted one hole and then another and after six or seven times, the rods slipped into the pipe sleeves properly and so the log now could move–well, if it was right-side-up it could move.

Now it was time for my Granny Smith green forklift (which I named Gramercy Melville for a kind applegrower who befriended me on a Scottish train once) to do his part lifting the log upright. But Gramercy would not start so I put the battery charger on while Alan and I rotated the log manually and got the straps placed in preparation. It took three false starts/battery rechargings before I realized that I had not turned the propane on! Duh! It was nearly dark now, but with the forklift happily sipping fuel and the hydraulic forks lifting the log while Alan pushed down so the casters couldn't roll away, we did it! The log was ready to roll–and did so smoothly and easily. During the waits between battery chargings, I cleared the path to where the flatbed would pick her up in the morning and reveled in how much more space I have in my outdoor covered work area now.

The other pre-Friday task was to arrange to transport a couple tons of sandstone we'll be providing for students and others to carve at ArtPrize in order to understand what the reductive sculpture process is like. Holland Alloys, a casting company in Holland has generously donated their sandcores, a non-toxic waste-material from making molds, for carving workshops I've done for various schools. So I asked again and sure enough, they said, Yes! I visited Todd Anderson, their plant manager to discuss logistics. He offered to sort pieces of from five to fifteen pounds into big reinforced cardboard boxes that could be transported on skids.

So I contacted a couple of towing companies to see if we could haul the sandstone and the log at the same time. Henry at Holland Towing said he thought we could so that's what happened. He loaded about 3500 pounds of stone at the front of the bed and the winch rolled the log up behind them. We strapped everything down securely and I followed to Grand Rapids. My view:

 

In Grand Rapids, we were met by Ellen Sprouls, the GVSU ArtPrize director and Leon from Pioneer Construction who made sure that my load got lifted off of Henry's flatbed truck and placed precisely as requested by their heavy-duty lift truck. Here's a partial side-view (I was too involved to take very good pix) of the load on arrival and below is how it looks now.

I screwed stakes into the grass and attached cables to be sure the log will not be reported careening through traffic with joyriders aboard. While doing this I was approached by two Kendall students who were shooting stills and video of every ArtPrize artist they can find. So they gathered some images that I look forward to seeing projected on a big wall outdoors next week.

After dropping off some materials for one of the upcoming high school workshops, I drove home to open the gallery. The weather seemed like it might rain and as I had forgotten to take my tarps, I phoned Ellen to ask her to cover up the sandstone and my log if possible. She scouted for coverings and called me back to ask me to phone Saugatuck painter Jim Brandess to see if she could use some of his plastic. I did; Jim said "Sure"; Ellen took care of it.