Many of you who follow us, have seen the previous pictures and heard the stories of Laurie's Bench. (Look at previous post for pictures of the making of the bench). For those of you who have not, Laurie's Bench is a very special project we were commissioned to do over a year ago by a local National Park Service employee, Steve. A very dear friend and colleague of his had died in a tragic kayak accident a year or so before, and in order to honor her memory, the impact she'd had, and her love for the Verde River in Arizona, they wanted InConcrete to create a bench that would be placed near the head waters of the Verde River. The very discovery and location of many of these natural springs were found by Laurie. And thanks to Laurie's tireless work - much of it on her own time - this vital source of water to many parts of Northern Arizona is much better off. Yay SCIENCE!
One of Laurie's oldest frends at Granite Creek just below the bench site.
But, now back to the bench. After spending over a year getting to know Laurie as best we could, and visiting the areas she studied, we'd come up with the design for the bench we thought would honor her best. Laurie's husband had had a plaque made that he wanted incorporated in the design and he also supplied us with Jadite dinner plates that had been Laurie's favorite. Because of her important and impassioned scientific work on the springs and headwaters of the area along with the fact that she loved everything River - the obvious theme was to have a river run through the bench. In the bench, Laurie "resides" in the headwaters, and the river flows throughout the bench with Laurie's plates inlayed underneath clear glass "river rocks" to signify water. There are cottonwood leaves, river rocks and pebbles and additional colored glass that makes up the river. The concrete color was chosen to blend as seamlessly as possible with the surrounding area.
Below are pictures of the placing of the bench. Approximately 40 people close to Laurie took the long trek out to this beautiful area. Lots of hands helped to carry and place the bench, and many special stories were exchanged. This was and always will be a very special project for us at InConcrete.
Steve and Shelley help to place the rebar stanchions that will keep the legs to the stool secure.
All level. Weird, it doesn't look like it.
Whalen mortars in the legs.
The site is ready. Legs are set, for tomorrow's placement.
Laurie's family and friends each take a section to carry.
Getting it just right.
Before we could even glue the top in place, Laurie's nephew came to say hello.
"The Headwaters"
Cottonwood leaf detail.
InConcrete would like to thank everyone involved that found us for this project. We hope to do many more like it. It has more meaning than anythig else we've done. Contact us for pricing of your own bench.
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