Engineers and Such

Work progresses slow right now. Had a few hiccups to deal with in the process for the commission for the Mississippi Museum of Art. The most notable one had to with a requirement by the Museum for me to have an engineer OK the installation details of the commission piece. I will admit this was unexpected and after I got over my initial unease with the matter I went ahead and contacted the suggested engineering firm to hire them to do the drawings for the pole attachments and the slabs bases for the sculptures.

This is a first for me and it indeed was an unexpected expense. I was however pleasantly surprised with the outcome. I had design in mind for the flange system that would bolt down to the concrete slabs for installation and after furnishing the firm, or specifically Tom Schaefer, with a pdf file of my drawing along with specific information about height, material weights, etc, he came back with virtually the same design as I. The only changes were some minor additions in the width of the flange and specific information on the steel thickness and anchor depth and size. In the end I found it was nice to have a real drawing of the items and now know that my idea has been run through the figure mill and will work just fine.

My dealing with Tom and and the Structural Design Group have been easy and fast. He replied to emails right away and was clear with me on costs and any structural issues. If I needed something explained I could call and talk to him personally. I highly recommend this firm and Tom for any structural work any artist might have. I feel very confident knowing than my piece has the firms mark on it. I know I will use him again in the future and now know to make sure these kinds of issues are brought up at the onset of any consultation for future installations and/or commission works.