Repair Shop

The Pinwheel sculpture I made and sold a few years ago for the Alaska Botanical Garden Outdoor Art Show was in desperate need of repair. The customers who had purchased the piece told me that high winds directly off of Cook Inlet had damaged all three metal pinwheels shortly after they placed it in their yard. I originally designed the piece so the pinwheels would actually move with ease but the sculpture wasn’t designed or reinforced to move fast or continually. I used galvanized metal so the pinwheels would be impervious to the weather but was too weak. The majority of the sculpture is made of ¼” steel plate and was more than sturdy enough but the

poor pinwheels flew so fast they spun right off of their bolt mounts -repeatedly! Though I love them, Kinetic sculptures are in a whole other arena that I don’t have too much experience in. The repairs were tricky because I no longer had any of my patterns and had to re-cut and

weld three new pinwheels. At least I was able to use the old pieces as templates and guides. More importantly I feel so much better knowing the sculpture goes “home” tomorrow and doesn’t look so broken and sad!

For those of you sweltering in the summer heat how about a FREE trip to the Antarctic?! Kristen sent me this from the National Science Foundation: The Antarctic Artists and Writers Program furnishes U.S. Antarctic Program operational support, and round-trip economy air tickets between the United States and the Southern Hemisphere, to artists and writers whose work requires them to be in the Antarctic to complete their proposed project. It does not provide funds for salary, materials, completion of the envisioned works, or any other purpose. Hurry, the deadline is September 12, 2011. Here is the link.