The weather has been playing tricks, it's early Spring and outside there's snow and icy rain. If you work outside then the work can be difficult and miserable, a good forecast can be wishful thinking. In scheduling outdoor art installations, there's too many fixed factors that prevent rescheduling: coordination of rental equipment, material deliveries and the crew. Sometimes, you just have to put on your warmest clothes and a raincoat and make the best of it.
In this project, the client had a bronze sculpture in need of conservation, pinned to a stone base about 6' tall that was cracked and in need of replacement. A design for a new limestone base was accepted and manufacture of the base started. As a first step, we had to de-install the sculpture, rig it to the ground for the conservators to do their magic and remove the old base. Because the actual work site was out of town for myself and the crew and all the steps needed to start the project was already in motion, we decided to go ahead and start. The rain was a problem. I had brought extra rain coats and gloves and we soaked thru all of them. I had the crew sit in the truck with the heater on high for a little bit of comfort in between the de-install steps with our gloves on the heater vent trying to dry. It was actually a lot of fun. The crew was great, when you work with people you love, the work can be creative and inspiring. The rigging of the sculpture went perfect. For safety, we waited until the next day to dismantle the base. We would need to use electric hammer drills to break it up. The forecast was suppose to be better.
