PROCESS

The sculpture took 20 months to create with a team of 18 artists. Thirty-foot sections of the ship were carefully disassembled with chainsaw and hand pull-saws. Iron held many internal connections together and had to be carefully worked around and removed. Salvaged planks were milled and air-dried for 9 months, and then kiln dried another 3 months. Once the shape of the sculpture was modeled and then translated into a three dimensional model, the surface was divided into a series of horizontally stacked tiers. Each tier was divided into vertical panels. The perimeter of each of the panels was cut out using three-axis CNC (rather than four or five axis which meant jigs were needed so that each panel could be rotated in order to accommodate undercuts). Once the perimeter of each panel was cut, the fluted surfaces were carved by hand using die-grinders and angle-grinders. The interiors of the flutes were all lined with sleeves of wood with grain running opposite the panel. This choice was made anticipating adventurous viewers’ attempts to climb the sculpture. The finished surface of the wood was sealed with tung oil and citric solvent.

It took 30 days to install the sculpture. Months of preparatory structural work preceded the actual installation. This included reinforcing weight-bearing piles under the building (in the water) and reinforcing ceiling trusses to accommodate the weight of the sculpture as well as cutting openings in the concrete floor and ceiling of the building. Because the building is on the National Register of Historic Places, it was a complicated process securing permission to make these alterations and incisions. A small letter-writing campaign from local, regional and national organizations and individuals helped to convince regulatory officials to grant permission for the project. Because the ship had also been listed on the National Register of Historic Places, there was a strong argument for folding one historic layer of material into another. One of the goals with the sculpture was to draw attention to the history of the natural environment of the site. Before the city existed, the area where the museum now stands would most likely have been a stand of old-growth trees, each similar in scale to the finished sculpture.

Engineering the sculpture was a complicated project. Hans-Erik Blomgren and Clayton Binkley (ARUP) were awarded a national engineering prize for their work on the sculpture (see the link by Blomgren describing the process: Arcade 2012). The team of LMN Architects, Coughlin Porter Lundeen, CDI Engineers, Sellen Construction and the Seneca Group made alterations and reinforcement to the piers, trusses, ceiling and floor of the building. Gary Gill engineered the connection where the sculpture engages the ceiling of the building. Jeff Hudak built the digital parametric model of the sculpture and directed CNC milling and steel cutting through collaboration with the University of Washington’s School of Architecture. Roger Waterhouse directed the rigging and installation of the sculpture. Chris McMullen fabricated the upper steel support ring.