'Inspiration' installation

It took a lot of perspiration and patience to get Lansing's new sculpture in place

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At 7 a.m. Thursday, a flatbed truck backed into the parkinglot of the Lansing City Market and aimed a 24-foot-long wooden crate toward theriverbank.

Two workers unbolted one end of the crate. The morning suncaught a gleaming curve. Something very large, sleek and silver was sleepinginside — something from California.

Was the majestic humpback whale being returned to the GrandRiver at last?

The size and shape were right, but the curves were toosmooth. There was only one explanation. Postmodern, interactive sculpture hascome to Lansing.

“Inspiration,” Lansing’s new one-ton bauble, had finallymade its way to Michigan from the California workshop of artist James T.Russell.

It took a bit of coaxing, but by the 1 p.m., the curvyribbon of stainless steel — a gift from the Lansing 150 Foundation and a rosterof private donors — was bolted to its permanent home between the City Marketand the Shiawassee Street bridge. By late afternoon, the welding and polishingwas done, and the piece already looked at home.

Russell and his crew have installed such swirls all over thecountry, but the wide hips of “Inspiration” posed a special problem.

“The only way to get this sculpture here, it was so wide,was to do it in two pieces,” Russell said.

That meant that the one-ton, 20-foot-high sculpture had tobe welded together at its pointy apex in the City Market parking lot.

There was no time to lose. Even while lying on its side inthe crate, this creation was clearly ready to come out and play. The stainlesssteel was already providing inexhaustible riffs of reflection and distortion onanything that came near it, from wooden slats, to yellow tape, to protectivewadding, to the workers’ faces.

While directing the work, Russell looked more like aputtering uncle than a temperamental artist. He wandered restlessly, fiddlingwith tools and equipment. While the welders set up shop, he methodically pickedup dozens of screws let over from the unpacking of the crate and dropped theminto his Arizona Iced Tea can. He walked to a nearby Dumpster, lifted the lidand dropped the can inside.

A slow ballet of lifting, balancing and wrangling began. Twohalf-ton hunks of metal had to be lined up and welded together precisely andseamlessly.

When the halves were within inches of each other, Russellshrugged off his methodical shuffle and came alive. He addressed the sculpturelike a boxer, hugging the two halves while his assistants made precisely aimedtungsten welds.

Russell has described “Inspiration” as the culmination of alifelong artistic passion — the fusion of the male and female “principles.” Bymelding a vertical tower with an inviting aperture, Russell has bestowed thecity with conceptual, never-ending sex on the river.

When the subject is raised, Russell’s deadpan face curlsinto a grin.

“This is like a climax,” he said.

When the two halves were one, Russell took a rare break on afolding stool.

“I wanted a small weld,” he explained. He pointed to thesculpture’s site on the river below. “When we weld it in place down there,we’ll use an arc welder and we’ll polish the welds, so we have the security.”

“I don’t usually do those things in the field,” Russellsaid.

“I choreographed the whole thing, and so far everything’sgone exactly as I’ve anticipated. We should have it up today.”

But the assembly wasn’t the trickiest part of the job.

“When we erect it and put it in place is the most delicate,”Russell said.

Usually, Russell’s work goes up in front of a casino, a townsquare, or a corporate headquarters, without a natural feature in sight.

“The best thing about this site is the river,” he said.“It’s beautiful.”

“It’s great that the Rotary Foundation afforded me theopportunity,” he said. “It’s a privilege to be here and create a work of artthat’s going to last another 150 years.”

After lunch, a bigger crane lifted the newly fusedsculpture, swung it slowly over the bluff and lowered in into place. Joggers, bikersand strollers circled around the site with a puzzled glance. Some stopped towatch.

Russell and his crew fiddled with the triangular footingswhere 20 bolts, one inch in diameter, anchor the sculpture a foot deep.

The first try was not a success. The feet didn’t match thebolt holes in the two footings, so the whole sculpture had to be swung around180 degrees.

The crane operator swiveled the sculpture in mid-air,showing off one of its most striking features: It seems to change shape whenviewed from different angles.

The mid-day sun, at its hottest so far this year, addedperspiration to the inspiration.

This time, the fit was better, but not perfect. The crewhitched a chain to a nearby tree and tried to winch the sculpture apart so itwould plunk down onto the base.

At the same time, two amused workers were putting finishingtouches on the small plaza built for the sculpture.

“Is it going to fit?” one of them asked a member ofRussell’s crew.

“We’ll make it fit,” came the reply.

After a half-hour, the sculpture’s feet were planted to thebase, but not evenly. There were still unseemly gaps. The crew would have toshim the space with extra metal plates, weld them down and cover it all withdecorative flashing. Russell went back to the shed and dragged an armful ofC-clamps to the site.

By 5 p.m., the welding and polishing were winding down. Whena brief shower followed the 80-degree heat, “Inspiration” got an instantwelcome to fickle Michigan weather.

"Inspiration"
Dedication ceremony at 2 p.m. Sunday, May 15, on the Grand River Walkway between Lansing City Market and the Lansing Center; mayor Virg Bernero and sculptor James T. Russell are scheduled to appear.
At 3 p.m. Sunday, a time capsule will be placed inside the "Construction #150" sculpture outside Lansing Community College's Dart Auditorium.

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