An eternal flame sculpture designed by Washington artist Larry Pogue for the City of O'Fallon will be unveiled this Friday, Sept. 19, at 7 p.m. in a ceremony at the city's Veterans Memorial Walk. The memorial is located at the
T.R. Hughes exit on the south side of Interstate 70. the public is invited to attend.
Pogue will be at the ceremony to comment on his sculpture, a final complement to the existing memorial which includes five individual monuments dedicated to the various branches of armed services-Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines and Coast Guard.
Pogue's eternal flame stands to the right of those five monuments.
Made of stainless steel, the sculpture stands over 10 feet tall and weighs approximately 500 pounds. It has a torch-like appearance and includes a series of five rings that represent the five branches of armed services.
The sculpture will stand in a reflecting pool of water.
Designing an eternal flame sculpture like this was a first for Pogue, who was commissioned for the job by the city of O'Fallon in March. The challenge on this project, he said, was not designing the sculpture, but incorporating a device into it to provide the eternal flame. |
For the Veterans
This eternal flame sculpture designed by Washington artist
Larry Pogue for the city of O'Fallon's veterans memorial
will be unveiled at a ceremony this Friday, Sept. 19. The
stainless steel sculpture stands over 10 feet tall and
weighs approximately 500 pounds. |
"I knew I needed a burner mechanism," said Pogue. "So, with my wife's help, I began by doing some research on the Internet."
After one local company warned Pogue about the difficulties in creating an eternal flame sculpture and even went so far as to suggest he back out of the project because of the challenges it presented, Pogue found a company in Georgia just outside of Atlanta that was more positive about accomplishing his objectives.
"The Gas Products Company Inc. in Georgia said they had been making these burners for 10 years and that it would be no problem to work with me on this," said Pogue, noting the company was actually excited about the project.
"In the past they had worked with eternal flame sculptures made out of cast iron, so they were interested in seeing one made out of stainless steel."
Pogue sent drawings of his design for the sculpture to designers at the company, and they sent back drawings showing him how his design would need to be modified to accommodate the burner device.
A box located beneath the bowl portion of the sculpture holds "the brains" of the burner, Pogue said, noting the lid of the box lifts off to access the device for any maintenance or repairs.
The burner was installed in the sculpture by the staff at the Georgia company. The sculpture is built in separate pieces, and after the upper fixture was ready, Pogue shipped it to Georgia.
Due to the size of this project, the sculpture wasn't built in Pogue's studio, but at Haslag Steel in Washington. Pogue did, however, design and oversee the entire job.
"I designed the sculpture and ordered the steel," said Pogue. "The staff at Haslag did the cutting, welding, and putting it together, and then I did the finish burnishing.
"I feel very fortunate to have had Haslag's help on this," Pogue added. "A job like this is just too heavy and cumbersome to do in my studio."
Haslag also helped Pogue with installation of the sculpture at the veterans memorial in O'Fallon.
The unveiling of Pogue's sculpture this Friday in O'Fallon will be a special moment for the artist. This project was unique, he said, and presented him with new challenges.
"This took a lot of coordination between myself, the gas company, electric company and Haslag," said Pogue, describing his role in the job as both "architect" and "foreman."
Pogue, who is a veteran himself having served in the Navy from '62-'64, added that it was "his honor" to be asked to design this eternal flame.
"I did it with those who gave the ultimate gift of life in mind that this is our thank you to them," he said.
"O'Fallon is one of the fastest-growing cities in the state of Missouri, if not the nation," he remarked, "and it was nice to be able to work with such a progressive city that appreciates sculpture." |
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