Jon Barlow Hudson
Ohio Outdoor Sculpture Inventory
Made: 2017
The artist and committee together identified pertinent quotations about public service to engrave in a running frieze around the top of the monument and inside one of the seats, engaging the viewer in circling and sitting in the sculpture. Then Jon got to work. His starting point was an 8-by-6-foot granite surface plate fabricated by Lawley Precision Surface Plate in Wyoming, Pennsylvania. He had obtained this massive piece from Wright Patterson Air Force Base.
“With the surface plate standing vertical, one sees both its polished face, and its opposite side, which is the natural, raw texture left by the a metal-wire block-cutting process. I wanted to bring attention to both surfaces. On the already highly polished face, I wanted to continue that surface treatment in the seat. I planned to add contrast by also polishing the interior of the elliptical seat cut into the textured side,” Jon explained.
First using a core drill and 5 inch diamond core bit to set the depth of the seat as the block was prone, he then brought in a crane to lift it to its standing position and used a Stihl chop saw with a 14-inch diamond blade, followed by a 9-inch diamond disc on a two-hand grinder, for the rest of the rough cutting. After breaking out the stone to create the seats, he did the fine shaping with a 4-1/2-inch diamond disc and a Braxton-Bragg Viper Contour Blade on a Bosch grinder. Final polishing of the seats was done with a Zec 36 grit disc followed by series of seven diamond polishing pads on a water-feed air polisher.
This new addition of public art, both imposing and intimate, was installed in November 2017, in Cooper Park, a central downtown square. It serves as a gateway into the park from the northwest, leading to a spectacular new public library building on the south side of the square. Daniel Cooper, an original settler and Dayton’s second mayor, established Cooper Park “to be an open walk forever.” It is thus fitting that a monument dedicated to public servants and the common good should reside in the City’s first community greens.
Cooper Park
Dayton, OH 45402
Montgomery County
Pennsylvania Granite
Length: 6.6 feet
Width: 16 inches
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