News:

Long overdue maintenance happening. See post in the top forum.

Main Menu

Cyrus Avery Centennial Plaza

Started by MichaelC, April 01, 2007, 01:43:26 PM

Previous topic - Next topic

sgrizzle

quote:
Originally posted by carltonplace

Any suspects?



Vandalizing Route 66? I suspect Eisenhower.

AngieB

Signs are back! Saw them yesterday morning on my way to work. I hope they are more secure now.

rwarn17588

It's up temporarily (for the Route 66 Marathon) until the city can install a protective mesh on the rear of the sign to deter thieves.

So the sign will be up for a short time, disappear again, then return for good.

AngieB

They really need to do something about the flags on the plaza. Some are hanging by one corner and all are ragged. Looks like crap.

sgrizzle

Saw that on friday. Guessing they didn't buy quality flags.

Oil Capital

quote:
Originally posted by TulsaMINI

They really need to do something about the flags on the plaza. Some are hanging by one corner and all are ragged. Looks like crap.



Wow.  That didn't take long...
 

Townsend

quote:
Originally posted by Oil Capital

quote:
Originally posted by TulsaMINI

They really need to do something about the flags on the plaza. Some are hanging by one corner and all are ragged. Looks like crap.



Wow.  That didn't take long...



Sure it did.  Oklahoma wind?  We burn through flags left and right at my office and we have them clipped.

Oil Capital

quote:
Originally posted by Townsend

quote:
Originally posted by Oil Capital

quote:
Originally posted by TulsaMINI

They really need to do something about the flags on the plaza. Some are hanging by one corner and all are ragged. Looks like crap.



Wow.  That didn't take long...



Sure it did.  Oklahoma wind?  We burn through flags left and right at my office and we have them clipped.



My comment actually had a deeper meaning   ;-)
 

bacjz00

Since this thread is active again, I've been meaning to ask...

In front of the semi-circle of state flags, there are small monuments in a similar arrangement.  However, it looks like there are  monuments missing on the left side.  Is that intentional or are they planning on completing the semi-circle?  It looks unfinished, but I haven't even been up close to see what they are, so I'm not even sure about the context of those monuments.
 

sgrizzle

Those are informational plaques. Once the statues get installed, there may be additional plaques talking about the statues.

Vision 2025

There is a large bronze monument (entitled East meets West) in development that will be installed in the semi-circle.  At this point, from communication with the artist and foundry, it appears to be at least 7 or more months away from final completion.

There are several issues which caused delay, one is the complexity of the piece and a second is that the artist was injured in a fall and lost many moths of being able to work on it last year.  Having seen portions of the piece it will be well worth waiting for.
Vision 2025 Program Director - know the facts, www.Vision2025.info

AngieB

I meant to post this a couple of days ago...

The flags have all been replaced! Much better!! Thank you!

AngieB



Townsend

Per TW:

Massive bronze sculpture for Route 66's Cyrus Avery Plaza nearly ready




QuoteClint Howard has cast a bronze sculpture or two - but not one like this.

Not a larger-than-life monument of a larger-than-life personality to be displayed alongside one of America's iconic roadways.

Not one of Cyrus Avery, accompanied by his wife and daughter, driving a Model-T along Route 66.

"It is a huge undertaking," Howard, owner of Deep in the Heart Art Foundry, said during a phone interview from Bastrop, Texas. "And it's fun. But still, it has been intimidating at times because we want everything to look perfect."

Tulsans will get the chance to see just how close to perfect the bronze sculpture - named "East Meets West" - really is next month when it is unveiled at the Cyrus Avery Plaza at the intersection of Riverside Drive and Southwest Boulevard.

The unveiling will end work that began in 2003, when Tulsa County residents approved $1.2 million in Vision 2025 funds for the project - part of $15 million allocated for Route 66 projects.

The sculpture was scheduled to be finished in 2009, but the contract was modified to allow for delivery this year.

Howard and his staff have been working on it for about six years.

The sculpture, by Texas artist Robert Summers, features Avery and family in a Model T as they encounter a horse-drawn carriage on its way from the west Tulsa oil fields.

At 135 percent actual size, the sculpture will weigh nearly 20,000 pounds, stretch more than 60 feet from end to end, and rise 15 feet in the air.

Avery, a former Tulsa County commissioner, is considered the father of Route 66 because he lobbied Congress in 1926 to make it a national highway stretching from Chicago to Los Angeles.

At the time, Tulsa was figured to be the perfect spot for the road to cross the Arkansas River because of the 11th Street Bridge.

Howard estimates that by the time the sculpture is complete, his foundry will have cast and welded nearly 1,000 pieces of bronze.

It's the detail of the "East Meets West" sculpture that separates it from other large pieces Howard has done.

"This is definitely the most complicated, based on all the components and the levels of detail," Howard said. "We have all the pedals in the floorboard, the key in the ignition, the brake assembly."

Summers delivered a table-top version of the sculpture to Howard in 2006. Howard then began the process of creating a mold, beginning with the creation of a Styrofoam version of the sculpture.

After covering the Styrofoam sculpture with an oil-based clay, Summers returned to sculpt the statue with the detail of the table-top version.

"Then we make a mold on it," Howard said.

Working on sections at a time, he and his staff poured 2,000-degree bronze into ceramic shells - then knocked off the shells.

"Then we started reassembling the statue from all these castings we have made from bronze," Howard said.

"Originally it was one-fifth life size, and now it is 135 percent life size.

"You are talking about 8 1/2-feet figures for the people, cars and wagons. Everything is oversized."

Howard said it will take at least one 18-wheeler, maybe two, to transport the sculpture to town next month.

"It will come up to Tulsa in four sections, plus maybe some miscellaneous parts," Howard said. "I am planning on it taking two weeks (to assemble) and hoping it can get done faster."

Read more from this Tulsa World article at http://www.tulsaworld.com/news/article.aspx?subjectid=11&articleid=20120912_16_A1_CUTLIN343055