Statue Bases
 

Below is a cast-in-place monolith that compliments the bronze relief sculpture. We created this piece for the front lobby of the Frazier Museum in Louisville, Kentucky. This monolith has a hollow core which appealed to the engineering team because of it's weight reduction qualities. Yet, we were able to maintain full detail since we were still able to cast the monolith in a mold rather than a standardized additive process of building with material over an armature. It was also reinforced with steel, moved with a forklift and incorporated male all-thread studs in back whereby the statue was strongly secured to the faux rock using nuts and washers.

 

(Click on images below to view enlargements)

 

Directly above you see a 22,000 pound cast-in-place cliff like rock feature we created for the eight foot bronze statue.  It functions to set the context for the theme of exploration and York's contribution in pioneering "The Great Frontier", where a plain, mundane, geometrical piece of limestone or granite would not.

The dimensions of the rock feature are 4 feet high, 7 feet 6 inches long, and 4 feet wide. The image below and to the left clearly depicts the 1 foot incline or slope or the artificial rock which was important in capturing a sense of "aspiring to a new height" or "rising up" as York reflects over the cliff's edge and across the mighty Ohio river. Also note the many fossils that we cast on the top of the rock feature. Below and to the right you can see the side profile which clearly shows the bench like rock shelf we designed as a subtle way for visitors to stop and rest under the larger-than-life presence of York. This encourages them to actively engage and experience the statue in all of its grandeur, rather than be intimidated by it and afraid to touch it. After all, they can't hurt it. In fact, it will be around for hundreds and hundreds of years.

The image to the left is a close up of one of the Trilobite fossils in the top of the rock. We were able to incorporate dozens of fossils, some actual fossils taken from nature, and others, like this one, that we added to the mold. Across the Ohio river from where this statue stands is one of the oldest Devonian fossil beds in the country. The geologists working at the state park and interpretive center there, were gracious enough to allow us to take impressions from the fossil beds which we later incorporated into our mold for the creation of this rock feature. We now have even more fossils, in our wax collection, from which to choose.
The image to the right is a detailed photograph of the side wall which functions inconspicuously as the back to the bench area that we incorporated into the rock base. Note the detail of the striations suggesting the passage of time through geological history. Sedimentary rock is the predominate rock indigenous to Louisville, particularly around the Ohio River, where this installation is situated.

Shown here to the immediate left and right are two of many actual fossils found in nature that we attached to the inside of our mold and embedded into our cast artificial rock feature. This is a close up of the portion of the rock feature which also functions as a bench seat. If you look at the image above and to the right (with the orange tree in it) then around the bottom of that bench seat area, you will find these two fossils.

The image to the left shows a sharp contrast between the Post Modem Michael Graves architecture and the historic frontiersman with long riffle and game in hand. The power of this contrast, when standing there with the Louisville skyline as a backdrop, is quite amazing.
In the image to the right, just in front of the bench area, you can see one of two geological shifts (called Geomorphis) that we designed into the rock feature, in order to help suspend the viewer's disbelief.

The image to the left shows both-the tremendous layering of the sedimentary style rock and the biochromatic patina-naturalistic color resulting from our trade secret patina coloration system. And yes, this color is impervious to the elements and ultraviolet light.
And finally, the image to the right shows the second Geomorphic shift implied, by us incorporating into our design, that suggested breaking away and eroding of the rock strata. It can be seen in the darker region of the artificial rock, just below the right foot of the statue.