The second hand is complete, and that means we can lower the WTC I-beam into place on this sculpture now. Here is a time-lapse video of that process: first craning the 500-pound I-beam into the hands, then welding it directly to the hand sculptures for a permanent attachment.

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Now that’s some shiny public art! Just got the first of the two hand sculptures back from electropolishing, and it’s looking good with all the surfaces and welds all shined up to a nearly mirror finish! Love how it reflects the surrounding environment.

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Thought this view of the hand being moved around in the shop looked interesting, and decided to share it:

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Work continues on the 9/11 Memorial sculpture. This public art is requiring a massive investment of labor, each of the nearly 3000 parts requiring custom fitting to the overall shape. Below is a photo of the progress and a video showing one of the parts being fit.

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Work is continuing on the 9/11 Memorial sculpture. Lots and lots of parts for this public art…

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Currently we’re in the process of making a 9/11 Memorial Sculpture, and I have a section of an I-beam from the World Trade Center. It’s sobering to look at this thing and think about the fact that this was a strong, straight beam prior to the attacks of 9/11/2001. Part of the process of making this public sculpture involved turning the one length of beam into three: we have a fourteen-foot long section of I-beam, and need one ten-foot section for the sculpture itself, then two smaller sections that will be used for indoor displays about 9/11.

I made a short time-lapse video of the process mostly using a camera we recently set up in the studio to document the progress of sculpture projects. It’s less than two minutes long, but covers the entire process of cutting and slightly smoothing the raw edges (so they won’t cut anyone that touches the beam):

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Some video showing the initial phases of a work of public art we’re making for a 9/11 memorial using a real beam from the World Trade Center:

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