Thursday, October 29, 2015

A Bronze Horror Story: Scary Lucy

Happy Halloween! What a treat this year that something made from bronze is creating some Halloween buzz – and it’s terrifying!

Below is a pic of a 400-pound bronze sculpture of Lucille Ball that was unveiled in 2009 at the Lucille Ball Memorial Park in Celoron, New York, Lucille’s hometown. No, that’s not an extra from The Walking Dead. That’s the famous comedienne from the ‘50’s famous for the iconic TV show, “I Love Lucy.” Doesn’t really look like her, right?

Photo courtesy of Facebook group, We Love Lucy! Get Rid of This Statue.

The creepy nature of the statue, aptly named “Scary Lucy,” has been the talk of the town for many years now, so much so that it has inspired multiple petitions to get it fixed or removed. There’s even a Facebook group titled, “We Love Lucy! Get Rid of This Statue.”

The sculptor, Dave Poulin, who has created more than 120 commissioned public sculptures, defines his work as “life size and cast bronze.” Which is definitely true for this statue. Unfortunately, Ms. Ball’s features did not translate well. According to CNN, “Poulin said he has been talking to Celoron officials for several years about removing and redoing the sculpture. It seems that cost has been the chief barrier.”

This Halloween, a haunted attraction titled, “The Haunting at The Mall” in New York will feature a live rendition of Scary Lucy. She will also carry the famous “Vitameatavegamin” bottle, but there surely won’t be any laughter from the audience.


Thursday, October 15, 2015

An Atlas Bronze Project: Ground Plates

Last month, a customer of Atlas Bronze came to us and requested ground plates from our stock. We were thrilled because ground plates are Atlas Bronze's specialty products that we make in house!

Our customer wanted ground plates to create award plaques for the Des Moines Concours d’Elegance 2015, a premier automotive exhibition held at the John and Mary Pappajohn Sculpture Park in September. It is an invitation-only exhibition of more than 100 vintage and classic motor vehicles, selected to celebrate the fine art, design evolution and amazing innovations of motor vehicles through the years, as well as the talented designers and engineers who created them.

The award plaques that were created were designated for People’s Choice and Best of Show. You can watch the video of the exhibition here, and at the end you will see the award with the winner!


Our ground plate material is a cost saver and time saver. Since the material is stocked in a ground condition +/- .002 on the thickness (we aim for +/- .000 so if you need a closer tolerance we will mic material upon request). Our bronze flat stock is machined from continuous cast, fine grain plate. Our bars are supplied ground top & bottom. 

A benefit of the ground plates is that there is no milling or grinding necessary on the top or on the bottom – it’s already done for you! No need to block it in, taping it down or tow clamp it anymore!

It was truly a neat experience to see one of our guys actually ground this. Watch the reveal video here!