How many people does it take to move a two-ton sculpture of the Blessed Virgin out of the studio, into a truck, sixty-five miles down the road and into a niche in a church? We had quite a crew out there! I arrived at the studio of Malcolm Harlow in the Shenandoah Valley at ten in the morning. Malcolm was there with the Cambodian sculptor who had helped carve the piece, Chantou Oeur. The two of them were building a ramp to move the sculpture laterally out of the studio. They "got all Egyptian on us," as the Australian sculpture-mover quipped, and put wooden rollers beneath the base of the sculpture. They rigged a chain and cable to a giant old tree with a wrenching system. JC, the woodworker who did the door handles in the Harlow's home, was there operating the wrench. He'd adjust the chain and the sculpture would move forward a few inches along the wooden rollers. Then Chantou and Malcolm had to attach straps to the sculpture to lift it ever so slightly in order to move the rollers to the front as they rolled out the other end. Somehow I got in charge of operating the pulley system to lift the sculpture. "Pull up, Sarah!" It is amazing that a woman of my stature was able to lift such a heavy object using physics. (To all you kids out there- pay attention in science class, you'll need it!) Then the folks from Canal Street Studios, Andrew Logan and his brother Chris visiting from Australia, arrived with the crane and a truck. So how many people does it take?One stonecarver, a Cambodian artist, a woodworker, a sculptor (that's me!), another artist, two Australian sculpture-movers, a photographer and a small audience.
Once we got the sculpture on the truck, the movers wrapped her in a blanket and strapped down the marble. We were on our way! When we got the church, there was no problem using the crane to lower the Virgin onto a dolly designed especially for extra heavy objects. (Again with the physics!) They got the Virgin into the church with no problem, but we had to erect a pulley system able to lift the object and place her in to the niche. The sun set as fatigue overwhelmed our crew. So, we decided to get some rest and resume work the next day.
Work resumed the following morning, but we still couldn't get it in place. So, we had to leave things undone while the crew from Canal Street Studios went home in search of better equipment. They returned with a small fork lift.
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