Page 11 - HIWT Spring 2013 World of Welding

hiwt@welding.org HOBART INSTITUTE OF WELDING TECHNOLOGY

OF A MOUNTAIN MORNING

Of a Mountain Morning, installed at Mission Hospital in Asheville, North Carolina, is the work of Catherine Murphy.

Beautiful colorations, achieved through the use of copper The metal was brazed using oxygen and acetylene and phosphor
and stainless steel, make this unique piece of art a favorite at - copper. To create the texture on the trees, an air gun was
Mission Hospital in Asheville, North Carolina. Of a Mountain used with customized tooling. The piece was reinforced on the
Morning is the work of Catherine Murphy who was a student back side by angle and copper pipe. Stainless steel angle and
at Hobart Institute in 1979-80. plate were used to offer the piece structural integrity and the
installation framework. A structural engineer was responsible
Using combined talents, tools, and ingenuity, Catherine for determining the proper ice load and structural requirements.
worked with Jason Emory over a period of four months to The combination of the components weighed approximately
design and create the 20 ft. X 20 ft. masterpiece that is installed 500 pounds.
on the outside of the Orthopedic West Wing of the hospital, six
stories high to provide a view of the mountains. The scene The clouds were torch colored; the mountains were darkened
incorporates three mountains, five clouds, and two evergreen with liver of sulphur and torch colored; and the trees were
trees along with two groves of deciduous trees. treated with a green patina chemical solution. The finished
project was clear coated to provide years of protection from
The mountain scene and clouds were created by first cutting the elements.
a silhouette die out of plywood. The sheets of copper were
then tacked together and placed over the silhouette die and
hammered to achieve the three dimensional form of the (Continued on page 12)
mountains.

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