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We are well into the first year of this monumental project. Much of the groundwork has been completed, and we and are well into the actual “meat and potatoes” of sculpting this piece. The focus is on the actual sculpting of life-sized sides of the spike. Two sides have already been sculpted and the foundry has begun casting the first side in metal.
Thank you for your generosity and support of this project. We will continue to update this page as our work progresses.
The artist, Douwe Blumberg, conducting site research off Interstate 15 at Exit 365 outside Brigham City in Box Elder County.
The artist holding a transcontinental railroad spike from the original grade, loaned from the National Park Service. The spike was scanned and used it to inform the overall shape and dimensions of the sculpture.
Digital “sculpt” using computer software of the “East” side depicting the Union Pacific workforce.
A full-scale panel is “rough cut” from sculpting foam. An example of the Union Pacific workforce side in sculpting foam.
Each “rough cut” foam panel is covered with sculpting clay. The foam becomes the underlying form upon which the artist lays on the clay and then sculpts each detail/figure by hand.
A detail from the panel on the Union Pacific side.
The second panel is focused on the innovation and technology that made the transcontinental railroad possible.
Each panel is brought from Douwe Blumberg’s studio in Kentucky to a foundry in Oklahoma where a mold is made.
