Casting Sea Stars for Ocean Beach
"I wanted an opportunity to put a piece of art into the public realm with some kind of permanent location," said professional artist Charles Gadeken. "And it's a pretty rare opportunity in the city of San Francisco to put any piece of permanent art (on public display) that doesn't require a million-dollar bond, which is really what public art requires in the city of San Francisco. And it's real difficult to get over that particular hurdle. So this was a really rare opportunity for me to get in there and to get something at some semi-permanent level, somewhere in the boundaries of San Francisco, which is a city I have learned to love.
"Getting to sit down with a fire on Ocean Beach and look at the water and the ocean and this natural environment is just like a million-dollar experience that's free, that anybody of any class, poverty level, whatever, they can all go do that. It's an equal moment for the world to enjoy nature in its magnificence."
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Feb. 2007, San Francisco: Charles Gadeken and John DeVenezia put a layer of clay over the initial wood and wire frame to start what would eventually become the first Sea Star fire ring.
Gadeken had to keep the clay moist, a challenge that even interrupted his smoke breaks.
DeVenezia puts the fiberglass layer on the Sea Star.
Gadeken and Karen Tarapata check the rubber mold and fiberglass for leaks.
Gadeken’s studio at The Box Shop, with the Hand Of God hanging from the rafters and a horse sculpture in the background.
Gadeken creates the inner frame for the Sea Star with rebar and chicken wire
Just before they poured concrete into the mold.
Rebecca Anders assists Gadeken and DeVenezia in removing the Sea Star from it’s rubber mold.
Careful, now is not the time for mistakes.
The finished product is loaded onto the truck. It was so heavy that Tarapata and another Box Shop tennant had to sit on the back of the forklift to counter-balance the weight.
Delivering it onto the beach, July, 2007.
Debut of second Sea Star fire ring, circa fall, 2007. Rudy Evenson, Ocean Beach Project Manager for the National Park Service, supervises the operation.
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