Creation of Ida B Wells statue on Beale Street - Commercial Appeal
kajasada.blogspot.com
Behind the creation of Ida B Wells statue on Beale Street
Ida B Wells statue stands at Beale Street and Fourth. Here's an inside look at how it was created and Wells' history in Memphis.
Ray Padilla, Memphis Commercial Appeal
The Commercial Appeal followed the process of Ida B. Wells-Barnett's statue throughout 2021. The statue was created by Andrea Lugar and made possible with the help of her family and the rest of the artisans at the Lugar Bronze Foundry in Eads, Tennessee.
The statue stands on the corner of Beale Street and South Fourth Street, next to First Baptist Beale Street Church, and was unveiled on Friday, July 16.
Prior to the sculpting of the Ida B. Wells statue, sculptor Andrea Lugar, of the Lugar Bronze Foundry in Eads, Tenn., researched her subject which included readings about and from Wells, along with fashion during the 1890s and multiple images of Wells-Barnett throughout her life.
- Photos by Ariel Cobbert
Lugar posed in a series of images in a dress from the 1890's borrowed from Theatre Memphis which she used during the sculpting the statue of Ida B. Wells statue. She also lined the walls of her studio with photos of Wells.
After selecting the time period Wells would be portrayed in the final statue, a small clay model of Wells was created by Lugar. This was used for her reference as she moved to the life-sized version, instead of creating multiple 2D sketches.
The life-sized statue of Wells sits inside Lugar's studio in Eads. The statue stand over six feet tall.
After the clay statue was completed, it moved to the mold-making process. Here, Terrance Payne applies a plaster over the liquid rubber to hold the rubber in place at the Lugar Bronze Foundry in Eads on May 26, 2021.
The rubber material holds all the details of the clay model that Lugar created.
Emily Hogan rolls out clay to help separate the molded statue prior to casting it with the plaster. The process is key as it allows them to segment the statue into manageable parts.
The team uses a two-part liquid rubber to cover the entire clay statue. Because the rubber is flexible, they make a plaster to cover the rubber.Ariel Cobbert / Commercial Appeal
Once the plaster sets, the team is able to remove with the rubber attached inside of the solid plaster — which holds all the details of the clay statue. Wax is then poured inside the rubber and left to harden. The wax is then removed and the pieces are dipped into a liquid ceramic shell, turned upside down and heated, allowing the wax to flow out, leaving the details. This process is called lost-wax casting. Bronze is then poured into this cast shell.
After welding segments of the bronze statue together, Payne and Mesler use grinders to remove lines created by the joined segments and match the original clay model. More than a dozen different segments were welded together to create the final statue which weighs around 300 pounds.
The completed statue of Ida B. Wells sits at the corner of Beale and Fourth Streets in Downtown Memphis, near the historic Beale Street Baptist Church.The completed statue of Ida B. Wells sits at the corner of Beale and Fourth Streets in Downtown Memphis, near the historic Beale Street Baptist Church.The completed statue of Ida B. Wells sits at the corner of Beale and Fourth Streets in Downtown Memphis, near the historic Beale Street Baptist Church.JOE RONDONE/THE COMMERCIAL APPEAL
0 Response to "Creation of Ida B Wells statue on Beale Street - Commercial Appeal"
Post a Comment