Keeley Civil Spotlight: Spheres of Reflection

Local San Antonio artist, Kaldric Dow, honored and recognized the incredible life and legacy of Martin Luther King Jr. by designing a 17-foot-tall sculpture, titled “Spheres of Reflection.” Kaldric worked with the City of San Antonio and Keeley Construction to erect this memorial in Martin Luther King Park.

The Keeley Construction Civil team was called on by the City of San Antonio to help facilitate the creation of the sculpture and set it in the park upon completion. Keeley Civil worked with local fabricator, Mike Martini, who built the sculpture from Kaldric’s drawings. Keeley then continued to facilitate and grow this partnership by having weekly progress check-ins and detailed, effective communication throughout the entire process. Keeley Civil also served as the liaison between Mike Martini and the City for any changes or questions about the design.

“The city was incredibly easy to work with. They let us run with the job because they had confidence in us that we could deliver a stellar final product that fully satisfied everyone involved.”

-Lucas Orona, Project Manager

After Mike completed the construction of the sculpture, it was sent off to get the rusted finish added, along with painting the spheres with their respective words.

On installation day, Mike Martini and his team transported the final piece to the park. All aspects of the sculpture were set in a specific order and Keeley had a crane ready to set the head that aligned it perfectly per Kaldric’s vision. The team mounted the head upon the concrete pedestal with concrete anchors, followed by the tower that the spheres sat upon. Then, the four rows of spheres were installed. Each layer was set and bolted down until all four were perfectly in place. Finally, anti-graffiti coating was applied to the concrete pedestal and the entire sculpture was cleared and ready for viewing

“This was an interesting project because I had never worked on anything like this before. Leadership and everyone on the team helped guide me in the right direction to ensure a safe and successful project. The fabricator was also great to work with and he helped teach me the process which makes me excited to work on future projects like this.”

-Lucas Orona

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