weather vanes New Hampshire %Percent for art awards

Story of the Weathervane

In 1998 Osmundsen won the New Hampshire % Percent for Art Competition Award for his Weathervane design "Sighting the Course" to be placed on the Cupola of the newly built Welcome Center, in Seabrook, New Hampshire, on I-95 N.

The 'Ancient Mariner' is sighting an early Sextant or Octant, which the artist researched and examined at Mystic Seaport Museum in Mystic CT.

The sculpting process requires direct forming of copper sheets which are then braze welded together. The forming process know as 'Repousse' which is French, meaning 'to push out' is executed by hammering the copper sheet into a negative mold. These sections are then assembled and welded into place.

Coloring the Copper Statue is known as 'Patina'.  

When you have a new copper penny, that is the way the copper sheet looks before and after it is formed and cleaned. Copper naturally reacts to various chemical compounds, i.e. Nitrates;- Copper Ferric Bismuth.  Those three aforementioned would turn copper to 1) Blue-green, 2) Red-Brown 3) White.

The Armature and turning setup.

Inside the 'Mariner sculpture' is a copper tube framework known as an 'Armature;. It is not unlike your skeletal system, however at a center balance point and transiting from the 'Hat and Head' down through the left leg and foot is a copper tube;- closed on top and open at the foot, it accommodates a stainless steel solid rod which is fixed well within the cupola. The top of the rod is cupped with a ball bearing with rotates on the closed shaft, at the head.