Duke Ellington Memorial

K & A

0Duke Ellington Memorial

	Client:	New York City Arts Commission
	Sculptor:	Robert Graham
	Designer:	Robert Graham


	Location:	New York City, New York

K&A Scope of Work: Scanning, enlargement, foam machining

Project Description: The first public art work commissioned by the City of New York in many years, the Duke Ellington Memorial sits on the northeast corner of Central Park near 110th Street and 5th Avenue. Sculptor Robert Graham was commissioned to do the memorial and asked K&A to enlarge the statues that make up the three legs of the piano as well as the 9 ft tall statue of the Duke himself.

K&A scanned the small maquettes at Scansite in San Anselmo, CA, a leader in the new technology of digital scanning using Cyberware 3-D digitizing equipment. K&A also developed novel machining techniques to machine the female statues and the large foam statue of Duke. After machining in 18 pound per cubic foot foam the statue was sent to Artworks Foundry in Berkeley where the statue was cast in bronze. To avoid welding the intricately tooled full size sculpture, the head and body, which were cast separately, were fitted and held together mechanically rather than by welding and chasing.

Graham chooses the digital scanning and enlarging techniques in part because it is the most accurate way of translating his original models into full size sculpture and partly because the hand of the artist is interpreted not by another craftsman, as in traditional enlarging, but by machines and digital technology.

Progress Photos:


First cut	Finish cut


Close-up of statues under Duke's feet	The Duke Ellington Memorial	"Assisted by: Kreysler & Associates"

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Last updated: 09/21/06