On Monday October 9, I installed the Totem Pole on 5th St in Charlottesville. I took one last shot of it before dismantling. That night I loaded it up into the trailer for the next morning and I was ready to go.
When I arrived at the site, Jake was there waiting. He's running the boom truck. Boy, that truck was nice to have. without it I would have needed 6 bulky guys and a yorkshire terrier to install it. The site needed a little prep before proceeding. I had to cut the bolts to size and drill holes in the concrete footer. Fit the first head and its base to those corresponding holes and set the bolts in epoxy.
Ole' Jake hooked up the first head and whipped it over to the footer. "Not so high", I thought. Seeing the first couple of heads go up was exciting. In just an hour we had the whole sculpture in place and we were packing up the tools. It went as smooth as I could have hoped for.
2 million cars drive 5th st every year. That's a lot more visibility than I've ever had before. Overall the project to 46 days. That's from the first cut to installation. The sculpture is 11' tall and weighs about 1800 lbs. The woods, from the bottom are: white oak, red oak, cherry, cedar, and black walnut. Next up is a little Red Oak horse commission and a Black Walnut figure that i've all ready started.
~ciao!
Jason
