We carried the Fluke sculpture into position with a giant forklift. (photo: Crystal Birns)
With a big sense of relief and the pride of accomplishment, Ene and I installed our Fluke sculpture earlier this week at the Monterey Bay Marine Sanctuary Exploration Center in Santa Cruz. Piero and his crew from Artworks Foundry delivered the 13′ bronze whale tail, carefully carried it into position, drilled holes in the footing to receive four threaded stainless steel rods, filled the holes with epoxy and lowered the sculpture into position. The sculpture will remain covered until the Exploration Center opens this summer.
Next week Dave Pettigrew will sandblast the curvaceous concrete hardscape surrounding Fluke, then grind the sections containing embedded glass, making a colorful, sparkly backdrop to the sculpture. We will return to photograph the completed piece, and look forward to seeing the building and its innovative exhibitions fully occupy the site, which promises to become a major Santa Cruz destination. ???? ??????
Piero adjusts the straps to ensure a vertical drop. ???? ???? ???
The Fluke sculpture looks great at the entrance to the building. ???? ????????? bwin
To read more about the development of Fluke, please click here and scroll down.
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What else is there to say except “congratulations”?!
Will the dark patina remain? I hope so, because it looks beautiful! I imagine years and decades of children climbing across this, eventually polishing certain parts back to shiny brass; the living testament to public sculpture and the public that love it.
– Robb
Thanks Robb. Yes, the patina will remain. It has quite a lot of detail when you get up close, with veins of blue and burnished high spots. The salty air will inevitably make its own patina, combined with the wear from being climbed on, so we expect the patina to slowly change over time, but we tried to anticipate the effect by choosing the dark surface you see. The Exploration Center will periodically seal the sculpture with wax to delay too abrupt a change..