Crandall Canyon Miners' Monument

The Setting

2008-08-27T11:38:00.001-07:00

We had a beautiful evening last week when we were working at the site, and it occurred to me that some people may be unaware of the beauty of the setting for the monument. The monument will be located at a roadside rest area on one of Utah's most beautiful scenic highways (and I am completely un-predjudiced). It sits within Huntington City limits at the base of Huntington Canyon. The monument will face the Huntington Cemetery which is an absolutely lovely setting. These photos were taken last week.

Removing forms

2008-08-22T11:25:00.000-07:00

It is such a relief to have the pedestal, planter and sidewalks poured. Now the scouts can get on to their projects, electrical, irrigation, landscaping, retaining wall, planting and sod. The foundry asked for a template of the pedestal top so that they can fit the rough cast bronze of the monument to it. It seems easy enough, but yet another difficulty arose. The complex design combined with the concave front of the monument made form removal extremely difficult. Dan tried to hurry things along and pry it off so that the other disciplines could get started, but the concrete had not cured sufficiently. The exterior corners of the concrete must be strong before the forms are removed, or there will be a lot of difficult repair work to be done. It was painful, but the decision was made to leave the forms for another 24 hours. It took a joint effort; Dan, Julie, Doug and the boy scouts, but FINALLY the forms were off and we could begin to see the colors and shape of the final monument. A short burst of the "Hallelujah Chorus" was heard in all our hearts!

The Concrete Pour

2008-08-19T11:05:00.000-07:00

The big day has arrived at last! It has been such a long time coming. There were some last-minute decisions to be worked through--the Geneva Rock Concrete does not carry the same colorants here in Carbon/Emery Counties as they do in Orem. We had selected a liquid colorant, but all they use here is powder. Even if we had gotten the colorant and brought it down for them, they are not set up to use liquid. So. The color and formula had to be reconsidered. Another twist that had to be worked through was a retaining wall. My original plans had contained a gentle slope starting from the sidewalk, but that design was altered to include a retaining wall. Time constraints and costs required that it be built of block, but the colors of block available in Price, Utah are not consistent with color of the monument. I cannot change the color of the monument so that it coordinates with a paver. A compromise was reached with masonary paint--but even that has to wait until the concrete is poured and the landscape set. Dan Whittle, Dan Allen and his brothers, and some eagle scouts were the workers of the day.
One last minute kerfluffle required bringing the engineers back on the site. The coordinates for the sidewalk, etc. had been drawn from the back of the monument rather than the front, so some last-minute tweaking was required to get the forms and the monument to work together. The engineers came immediately and everything worked out.

Preparing for concrete

2008-08-17T10:51:00.000-07:00

The next step in the process has been extremely complex. Dan Whittle, my excellent concrete specialist, (along with son, Ryan and grandson, Jacob) has been spending days and days building the inverse form of the pedestal shape that I want. The design continues to evolve even at this date, with improvements created and weaknesses discovered. It has been a LONG process because everything must be calculated and the final form is "backwards" or "inside-out" from what the finished pedestal will be. There has been a bit of angst regarding timing, the date for the unveiling has been set, invitations have been sent out, and we are all working to get our jobs done. It is a bit of choreography, trying to get each project, ie, sidewalks, electricity, irrigation, landscaping and a flagpole, all done around the monument. But there is no way to rush the form-building. It has to be right, or the rest is out of kilter. Dan Allen is working with one of the EagleScouts to lay the sidewalks,

Movers and Shakers

2008-08-14T12:11:00.000-07:00

When the term "Movers and Shakers" was invented, they MUSt have had Huntington City Councilwoman Julie Jones in mind. This is one hard working woman! As the council person in charge of parks and cemetery, Julie has taken it upon herself to improve the rest of the site as an appropriate setting for the Crandall Canyon Miners' Memorial. She knows everyone and has a strength of purpose that is not easily dissuaded. Working with city employees, utilities, local business, the football team, the boy scouts and Eagle Scouts, local volunteers and local draftees, she is getting the job done. The pictures show some before and after, but they do not tell you how blisteringly hot it has been nor how many hours and hours and hours of Julie's time and muscle it has taken to accomplish these things. She is a marvel, and the site is going to be beautiful.

Building forms

2008-08-09T12:08:00.000-07:00

Dan and Ryan at work on forms for concrete pedestall

Preparing the Park

2008-08-08T12:01:00.000-07:00

Time is growing short and there is still much to be done. :) These photos show the flurry of activity that has been going on at the site. The top photo shows both concrete specialists, Dan Whittle who is doing the pedestal, and Dan Allen who is doing the sidewalks; Utah Power placing a meter so that the park can have electricity, the engineers taking readings so that they can lay out the sidewalks.
Another photo shows the boyscouts digging the trench for the irrigation which will need to be laid to the planter in front of hte monument,
The third photo shows the layout of the site from the flagpole to the information booth

Bronze Pour Friday, Aug.8, 11:30

2008-08-06T23:12:00.001-07:00

If any family members are interested in seeing the bronze pour, I would love to have you visit the foundry with me. It doesn't last very long, but it is an elemental, primal thing to see the molten metal being poured. If you have any questions, please contact me via email. kjtempleton@yahoo.com

Finished in the slurry room

2008-08-06T22:22:00.000-07:00

The dipping in the slurry room is finished. Each segment of the panel has been dipped in slurry and sand the required amount of times, forming a thick coating over the wax, the sprues and the pouring cup.

Once the coating has thoroughly dried for the last time, these odd-looking structures are placed in the kiln. The high temperatures of the kiln fire the ceramic slurry and create a strong ceramic shell. The wax melts and the metal hangars slip out. The entire section is tipped over and drained of its now liquid wax, leaving a 3/8" cavity where the wax (for the panel) was. What were formerly coated wax sprues are now ceramic conduits or passageways for the molten bronze to get to the section. The shell around the pouring cup is now a receptacle that make it easier to pour the bronze into the section.

On to the slurry room

2008-07-31T18:46:00.000-07:00

Once all sprues are on and checked, the wax sections move on to the slurry room. Here each wax is dipped in a ceramic slurry, drained, coated with sand while the slurry is still wet, then hung to dry completely. This process is repeated 7 times creating a thick ceramic/sand coating over the entire wax panel, sprues, and pouring cup. Again, an important process as the resulting ceramic shell will determine the shape of the finished bronze. It takes about 10 working days for a wax to make it through the slurry room.

Spue Cups added

2008-07-31T18:01:00.000-07:00

Once the wax panel is cut apart, a hangar/pouring cup is attached to each section with more sprues. The hangar facilitates the rest of the process through the foundry. The sprues keep the sections flat.

Once the sprues stabilize the sections, the waxes are "chased". Details are sharpened, any air holes are filled, any warpage is corrected. Any changes that need to be are made now, because the bronze will take the exact shape of the wax.

I must say this is a vital part of the bronze process, an artform which requires people who can think inside-out, so to speak. Sprues become the channel which the molten bronze will follow as it takes the shape of the wax. Waxroom personnel must judge where the strongest flow of molten bronze will need to go in order to take the shape of the wax panel. Concerns are: rounded junctions from cup to sprue to panel for reduction of turbulence in molten metal (which could cause incorporation of air resulting in holes in the bronze). Position of sprues also needs to prevent air locks when metal is molton, air escape routes must be planned . . . in short, it is a challenging part of the process, and good waxroom people can make all the difference in the quality of the finished bronze.

Pouring the waxes

2008-07-31T15:39:00.000-07:00

Once the mold/mother mold is ready, three layers of wax are poured into it. This is a SKILL, in our case Fillipe is the artisan. The only photo I have of Filippe in action is with a smaller mold, and even so it takes a lot of muscle to rotate the mold so that the wax flows evenly in all directions. The first layer is called the print layer since it picks up the most minute details of the mold. This wax is at 220 degrees, so it looks like most of it runs back out of the mold, but that is the goal. The next two layers are at 180 degrees. Each layer is poured as soon as the earlier one sets, but before it is cool. The trick is to keep the layers adhered to each other, prevent air bubbles from occurring, keeping the entire finished wax at 3/8" to 1/4" in thickness, AND cover all the highest points completely. Fillipe is an extremely capable waxman.

The wax "panel" has to be subdivided into smaller units for the bronze pour. The goal is to keep the largest measurement at about 24" maximum. To prevent the thin wax from warping, the next stage --adding sprues--is done before the panel of wax is cut apart.

Sprues are solid lengths of wax which will eventually act as a conduit for the molten bronze. They look strange, but they should make sense soon.

Mold finished, Waxes poured

2008-07-31T10:19:00.001-07:00

The mold is finished and the waxes have been poured. These photos show the finished mold for the bronze panel of the monument. The blue substance was painted on and allowed to dry between coats. Once the blue latex/silicone "print mold" thad become thick enough, a "mother mold" was created using a foam spray. That is the yellowish form under the blue mold in the photograph. The purpose of the rigid mother mold is to stabilize the softer blue mold. Both forms are needed. The blue latex/silicone mold is very flexible so that it is easily removed from the finished wax. It is so flexible that it cannot hold its own shape during the wax pour. The mother mold keeps everything firmly aligned.

Hurry up and Wait

2008-07-25T02:03:00.000-07:00

There are many different aspects to consider on the monument. Huntington City is having an electric meter installed so that the monument can be lit on both sides. Five young men are utilizing the creation of this park area to earn their Eagle Scout badge. One is in charge of each aspect of the area. ie one will work on sod, another the walks and planter, etc.

With so many people involved and a serious deadline already set, I've discovered an extra layer of activity/anxiety about the project. Dan Whittle, our excellent concrete man, was set to come down around the 30th of June, but had some serious problems with his truck, and other small jobs, that he has been unable to come down as planned.

Dan has been ready to pour for months, but has had to wait on us. Now we are ready, but his schedule is stretched very thin. Hopefully he will be able to come up for air soon and we can start the concrete.

I am learning to compromise and trust. :) Not an easy lesson, but a valuable one. Mayor Hilary Gordon and Councilwoman Julie Jones are and have been wonderful to work with all the way through this project. The Eagle Scouts add a "whole 'nother" dose of energy and excitement to the park.

Breaking Ground for the Monument

2008-06-29T01:53:00.000-07:00

Coordinating all the aspects of the excavation, Huntington City generously provided Mike and his backhoe. It took a surprisingly short time to have our space dug. Mike has done this sort of thing for a year or two. Hopefully we will get the concrete poured soon.

Site Selection

2008-06-20T16:25:00.001-07:00

As you can tell from the photos, site selection has been an ongoing thing, but we have settled on the spot and are ready to begin excavation in about 10 days. Dan Whittle, the concrete specialist; Mayor Hilary Gordon, Gary Arrington, Lisa Chamberlain, Ryan Whittle and I met to discuss various options for actual placement. The result is what I think the best possible location and orientation for the monument. The snow photos give you an idea about the spectacular scenery which will be visible above the monument.

Dan and Ryan placed stakes, painted the ground, and we are set for excavation to begin the first week of July!

Mold-making in progress

2008-06-16T16:12:00.000-07:00

After a week of being away from the sculpture, and going through my own form of post-partal depression, I made a quick stop at the foundry. As planned, the mold is well underway. The blue color you see is the mold material itself. It is still quite thin and will need more layers. The thin partitions that you see running down the front of the panel will separate the next stage of the process into three parts. These smaller parts are much more manageable than trying to work with the entire panel at once. You can see an additional extension on the top and ends of the panel. These simply create edges for the mothermold, a hard bodied form that helps the mold to maintain its shape.

The yellow, wavey shaped form is a separate project that the foundry is working on. It has nothing to do with the miner's monument.

Clay and text finished

2008-06-10T14:25:00.000-07:00

All the text that needed to be affixed to the panel of the monument is in place. We checked and rechecked everything we could think of, then left the panel in the capable hands of the Metal Arts Foundry crew.

The next step is creating the mold. The panel will be molded intact, but the mold will separate into three sections. Each section will contain 3 of the portraits. It will take about three weeks to make the mold. I will try to get photos throughout the process.

Out of the Studio, Into the Foundry

2008-06-06T21:57:00.001-07:00

It has been a long time coming, but the finished sculpture went to the foundry this morning. We had to disassemble the wall, which meant taking one of the portraits back off the wall. The two panels fit nicely in the back of the truck and rode without a hitch to Metal Arts Foundry in Lehi. The folks there are generous to a fault and eager to help the process move forward. Their staff unloaded the panels and located us in the mold room. There they reassembled the frame and we reassembled the sculpture. Again, everything went without a hitch.

We added an additional 3" of height to the background to give the large text plenty of space above the miners' heads. The text across the top of the monument will read, "Crandall Canyon Mine, Huntington, Utah, August 2007. Those letters were ready, cut out of masonite. Using a template, we were able to place each individual letter. These need to be sealed with clay to the background of the panels.

The two paragraph body of text which tells the story of events had been formed on a clear polymer sheet. All the "kerning and leading" is completely set (thank goodness!) The task with this text is to be set into the clay so that the texture between lines of text matches that of the rest of the panel. When in bronze, the letters will appear to emerge out of the panel. We got a good start on both lettering formats today.

I also met with Kevin Maag and Brett Wright, foundry owners and monument specialists, and Dan Whittle, concrete specialist. We worked out final details, dimensions and logistics for getting the concrete pedestal underway and set the entire project off on the next steps to completion.

The Final Portrait

2008-06-04T23:00:00.001-07:00

What a day! :) God knows what He is doing, I am convinced! Today marked the final portrait, Manny Sanchez, going up on the wall and Manny's family helping make it what it is. Perhaps it is because I have had so much practice with Manny -- I believe that I have done four "studies". :) It has been frustrating not being able to catch Manny's likeness and personality earlier, but each new rendition has been better than the last. I am very pleased with the portrait that is going on the wall. More importantly, so is Marta. Manny's appearance completes the circle of nine. I had planned to take the completed sculptures to the foundry tomorrow, but felt the need to spend a day with the "finished" work. Up until now the focus has been mostly toward the individuals. Except for a few tweaks, the individuals are done. I want to spend a day examining the work as a whole, seeing if there is someway to "take it a step further". :) Of course the other side of that coin is that it gives me 24 hours to screw up the entire thing! :) . . . .As I remarked in an earlier post, God looks after fools and sculptors.

Rescuers complete

2008-06-04T00:46:00.001-07:00

A major accomplishment today -- I was able to finish the rescuers' portion of the monument. Brandon Kimber's was one of the first portraits to be finished. Both Dale Black and Gary Jensen's have taken a while to get to this stage. Through the help of Wendy and Gail Black, and Rob & Lola Jensen both portraits made a huge improvement today. It still surprises me how what seems like the smallest of changes can bring a portrait "to life". I use photographs to get as close to a likeness as I can, but it is those details of depth, and the idiosyncrasies of personality that make all of the difference.

Placing names on figures / reflective tape

2008-06-02T23:38:00.000-07:00

Another recent discovery and darned good idea from my neighbor who is a miner -- Genwal required that the miners have their names on both sides of their helmets. For the monument, I was becoming less enthusiastic about creating a space for names on the background by each man's shoulder. Keith suggested putting it on their hats and it made absolutely perfect sense. Another requirement underground is that each miner have 18 square inches of reflective material on their helmets. I have come up with what I think will be an indicator of reflective material. We have marked and stippled, with a fine-wire tool, a space on each man's hardhat that represents a strip of reflective tape. When the sculpture has been cast in bronze, I will apply a dark patina on those "reflective" patches, then lightly sand the surface. What SHOULD happen is a mixture of dark brown, and gold-metallic color. :) I THink this will give the sense of reflector material.

Figuring out the text

2008-06-02T23:10:00.000-07:00

Text will be placed on several parts of the monument. We are reaching a point where the size, font, and positioning are important. I spent a long time with Melissa up at Metal Arts Foundry selecting the font. I wanted something graceful but strong. It took a while but we found two fonts, Caeldera and Futura, which go together nicely. Caeldera will be used for all of the titles, Futura for the body of the text.

Modeling gear

2008-06-02T23:01:00.000-07:00

There are some things that no photos can tell you, ie the amount of strain placed on various types of clothing and gear. Neighbors and friends who are miners have generously supplied us with sample clothing these miners would have warn. Sheila Phillips, Brandon's mom, went to the mine and got a hard-hat w/headlamp for us to use. These props have been invaluable. We have had one of my portrait busts modeling the hardhat, but we conscripted sweet Kent into service as a model. It has helped immeasurably to be able to pose Kent in gear, in various lighting situations. Bas relief sculpture is very influenced by what is NOT there. It sound odd, but true. Having Kent demonstrate what would be there gives us a better understanding about what can be left out.

Gear and clothing

2008-05-22T00:00:00.000-07:00

Now that the portraits are finished (except one), and their position on the wall has been determined, we can focus on getting the gear and clothing in place. My dear friend, former studio partner, and excellent sculptor, Lisa Chamberlain, is helping me with this stage because we are chasing a deadline that is already past. In positioning the men I adjusted heights to reflect the differences in height in the men. Variations in poses, clothing and gear create an interesting pattern of lights and darks. Whenever possible --using photos of these men in their mining gear-- we make each man's clothing authentic. For several of the men, however, no photos are available. For these we select photos of other miners who are standing in a similar pose and use that miner's clothing as a model.

Kerry "Flash" Allred

2008-05-21T23:10:00.001-07:00

We finished Kerry (Flash) today. Kerry's family has been extremely helpful in bringing the portrait to completion. I work from photos, but no one has photos of all of the angles needed to create a sculpture such as this. The families provide information (Kerry's son Ty has profile most like his dad's, so I studied Ty to complete Kerry) and alert me to things that don't seem quite right. If you look at the sculpture of Flash w/o helmet and compare it to the sculpture w/ helmet, you will notice: larger nose, more protrusion on bottom lip, curling hair slipping over his collar, more definition of facial hair and more emphasis on his glasses. These are small changes, but they made all the difference.

Putting Portraits on the Wall

2008-05-20T12:58:00.000-07:00

There have been many emotional roller coasters in the creation of the monument. This week offered a new one. We are now at the place where the portraits are literally being added to the wall. That would seem like a great moment and in a sense it has been, but there is also a delusional sense that if I can keep their portraits off the wall, perhaps I can protect the individuals. It is very strange, I know. The amount of time that I have spent with their photographs and their families, and the prolonged time sculpting their portraits has made these nine like friends and family to me. It is very hard to add their faces to this wall . . . .

God watches over fools and sculptors

2008-05-16T23:11:00.000-07:00

Despite the obvious emotional and physical demands of a project such as this, there have been many surprising coincidences. That is to say, things going right in spite of me. When I planned this project, I intended to sculpt the profiles of the miners-- the 6 men killed in the initial cave-in facing one way, the 3 rescuers who were killed facing the other. It became apparent, however, from the very first portrait, that looking the men in the eye would create a much more powerful sculpture. Fortunately, I was able to find photos of each of the men that allowed me to pose them in the general orientation that I wanted, but let their eyes make contact with me, the viewer.

Last night I learned that in the mine, coal miners never look each other in the face. It makes sense, but it had never occurred to me. The miners' headlamps shine out in front of them. If you look another miner in the face, your light blinds them, and when you look away, their eyes take time to accommodate to the darkness again. So. Miners face one direction, but look to the side when talking with someone. It turns out that the faces as they appear on the monument are posed exactly as the miners would look at each other--with the general orientation of their head in one direction with their eyes making contact to the side. Hmmmmm. Friends who are miners laughed that they did not always recognize co-workers when they are on the surface because they never really see their faces underground.

A related discovery that will affect the look of the monument . . . Each miner is required to have 18 square inches of reflective tape on their clothing / helmet while they are underground. Miners can and do decorate their helmets with decals/tapes, etc in patterns. When underground, they identify each other by these reflective patterns. I love that whole notion of knowing each other by reflection in a place so utterly devoid of light. My neighbor, who is a coal miner, commented that his first reaction when he saw the monument at this stage was that the helmets were bare, so how could you know who the men were? Lisa and I have been doing some research to find photos of these men to see if we could create the sense of these reflective patterns on the helmets.

Adding the portraits to the wall

2008-05-16T13:41:00.000-07:00

Enough of the portraits are finished that we can begin putting them on the wall. Everything is still in the clay. Once the portraits are mounted we will finalize clothing details. It is exciting to see the monument actually take shape.