A Sculpture's New Campus Home
News Date: 2004/09/29 00:00:00 US/East-Indiana
All artists have unique creative visions. This creativity can be interpreted onto paper, a canvas, or even a chunk of stainless steel. Purdue’s campus has several pieces of outdoor art in various locations with two new pieces in Pickett Park installed this September: “Hope Springs” by Dave Caudill and "Metzger's Granite Wrench" by Andrew Crawford. These two new sculptures are very different; one sits on a pedestal and the other atop a pole. Both greatly enhance the campus’ beauty, but are you aware of all that goes on in order to add them to the landscape?
Before a sculpture can be placed on the Purdue campus, Utility Locator Julie Handy looks at the blue prints of the land or building where the sculpture is going to placed, then travels out to the site and takes a few pictures to use as “before” shots. After this is completed, she marks the areas where underground utilities have been laid. Julie provides this service year-round for all types of campus alterations. She prefers to be out in the sun, and luckily this assignment provided a chance to enjoy a wonderful Indiana fall day.
After the ground has been marked and the proper spot chosen, Dave Wagoner, Bryan Musser, and Overseer Bob Gillespie come out to set the footers for the sculpture. These men do everything necessary to install and remove the works. The base that the sculpture attaches to is actually a series of footers. These footers are dug 36 inches deep into the ground, below frost level. After the footers have been properly set, it is time for placement. The sculpture is shipped from the artist to this team of workers. The workers then place the artwork on top of the footers, and secure them using four true bolts called expansive anchors. These bolts are drilled and then hammered into the concrete base. Next, a welder is hired to secure nuts onto the bolts. Welding the nuts ensures that no one will be able to remove the sculpture without proper tools. However, the sculpture must be removable, as most of the artwork in Pickett Park is on loan for two year periods. Once the sculpture is secured in place, a plaque describing the work is installed, and landscaping is added to the base of the piece.
As you can see, the artist does not just come in, pick a spot, and then set the piece of art. There is a lot of work that must be done in order for the public to view these marvelous pieces. Now the next time you see a sculpture on campus you will know all the hard work behind getting it there.
By: Raven Martin and Natasha Elise Bilka