Preserving History: Wood sculptures by local artist placed at Washington County Public Library
Volunteer Grady Smith, front, directs Trevor Roupe as he operates a telehandler Tuesday to move the Frontiersman sculpture carved from an ash tree by local artist Perl Totman outside the Washington County Public Library’s Local History and Genealogy Archives as volunteer Roger Kalter looks on. (Photo by Evan Bevins)
Volunteer Grady Smith adjusts a strap connected to the top of local artist Perl Totman’s Frontiersman wood sculpture before it is lifted and moved into place at the front of the Washington County Public Library’s Local History and Genealogy Archives on Tuesday. (Photo by Evan Bevins)
Volunteer Grady Smith helps direct the movement of local artist Perl Totman’s Frontiersman sculpture as Trevor Roupe maneuvers it using a telehandler Tuesday outside the Washington County Public Library’s Local History and Genealogy Archives. (Photo by Evan Bevins)
Volunteers Grady Smith, left, and Roger Kalter line up a wooden sculpture crafted by local artist Perl Totman on a concrete base at the front of the Washington County Public Library’s Local History and Genealogy Archives on Tuesday. (Photo by Evan Bevins)
Local artist Perl Totman’s wood sculpture, the Pioneer, lays on pallets on the lawn beside the Washington County Public Library’s Local History and Genealogy Archives on Tuesday. (Photo by Evan Bevins)
Local artist Perl Totman’s wood sculpture, the Pioneer, lays on pallets on the lawn beside the Washington County Public Library’s Local History and Genealogy Archives on Tuesday. (Photo by Evan Bevins)
Volunteer Grady Smith, front, directs Trevor Roupe as he operates a telehandler Tuesday to move the Frontiersman sculpture carved from an ash tree by local artist Perl Totman outside the Washington County Public Library’s Local History and Genealogy Archives as volunteer Roger Kalter looks on. (Photo by Evan Bevins)
Volunteer Grady Smith adjusts a strap connected to the top of local artist Perl Totman’s Frontiersman wood sculpture before it is lifted and moved into place at the front of the Washington County Public Library’s Local History and Genealogy Archives on Tuesday. (Photo by Evan Bevins)
Volunteer Grady Smith helps direct the movement of local artist Perl Totman’s Frontiersman sculpture as Trevor Roupe maneuvers it using a telehandler Tuesday outside the Washington County Public Library’s Local History and Genealogy Archives. (Photo by Evan Bevins)
Volunteers Grady Smith, left, and Roger Kalter line up a wooden sculpture crafted by local artist Perl Totman on a concrete base at the front of the Washington County Public Library’s Local History and Genealogy Archives on Tuesday. (Photo by Evan Bevins)
Local artist Perl Totman’s wood sculpture, the Pioneer, lays on pallets on the lawn beside the Washington County Public Library’s Local History and Genealogy Archives on Tuesday. (Photo by Evan Bevins)
Local artist Perl Totman’s wood sculpture, the Pioneer, lays on pallets on the lawn beside the Washington County Public Library’s Local History and Genealogy Archives on Tuesday. (Photo by Evan Bevins)
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MARIETTA -- Two wood sculptures removed from Muskingum Park last fall were installed Tuesday at the Washington County Public Library's Local History and Genealogy Archives
"They needed preserved, and we had a space that is appropriate," said Andrea Ralston, information services manager for the library. "You can preserve history in many ways."
The sculptures -- titled the Pioneer and the Frontiersman -- were created by local artist Perl Totman over 900 hours across four years of work in Muskingum Park, according to Roger Kalter, a volunteer who helped coordinate the preservation effort.
The ash trees from which they were carved had begun to rot near their bases and were cut above the damage and removed last fall by city workers in October, Kalter said.
"(They) did a really incredible job," he said.
The sculptures were taken to the library, where volunteers had a limited window to get them cleaned and restained and apply a sealant "before the weather clobbered us in November," Kalter said.
Washington County Career Center Masonry Instructor Casey Strahler and three senior students constructed bases on which the sculptures were placed Tuesday. They were lifted and maneuvered into position using a telehandler vehicle donated by Bridgeport Equipment and operated by Trevor Roupe of Bellville, Ohio. Kalter and volunteer Grady Smith, a local machinist/welder, were on hand to assist.
The sculptures are between 8 and 9 feet tall and weigh up to 1,000 pounds, Kalter said.
"They were too wonderful and too much of our community to just let them go," Kalter said.
Preserving and relocating them was a team effort that involved the library, the Career Center, Bridgeport, Riverview Industrial Supply, American Producers, the City of Marietta, Blue Rock Station, Erb'n Roots, Metaltech Steel Company and dozens of volunteers, some from as far away as Cleveland, Kansas, Utah and South Dakota, Kalter said.
"Lots of bits and pieces, the community stepping up to help," he said.
A tribute to Totman and his work is planned for 6-7 p.m. Friday, May 9, at the library, Kalter said. It will be part of the Art in the Alley Mothers Day weekend activities May 9-11.