Shell shock: Sculptor appalled by mounting

The bases of the $40,000 sculpture on Manasota Key have the artist and others shaking their heads.

MANASOTA KEY -- A Scottish sculptor who created the 1-ton steel shell on Manasota Key says his meticulous design is ruined by a botched mounting.

To the shock of the artist and some islanders, Charlotte County had the $40,000 sculpture mounted on three gray bases that are normally used to secure metal utility poles.

"This has never happened to me in 35 years where I've seen something installed so badly," Malcolm Robertson said from his home outside Edinburgh.

Robertson said he is "embarrassed" with the finished product on the Manasota Key roundabout in Englewood.

He compared the appearance to a "UFO that looks like it landed on a tripod and it's about to walk off."

The county isn't thrilled with the exposed footings, either, and is looking to buy artificial rocks to hide the bases.

Robertson spent months designing the piece from his computer in Scotland, figuring out the dimensions of the sculpture's 520 stainless-steel ribbons so they matched the proportions of a conch shell. "The shell itself is an exercise in the mathematics of nature," Robertson said.

He said the work ultimately reflects upon him and not Charlotte County, who paid General Contracting Services of Placida $86,400 to install the shell in late September.

"People will say when looking at it: 'What the heck are those things underneath? They look ridiculous,'" Robertson said.

When the sculpture was designed two years ago, renderings showed the shell resting against a base of large rock slabs.

"It was supposed to look like the shell washed up on the beach and stayed there," said islander Tom Dignam, who donated $5,000 toward the work.

Manasota Key residents, through their taxing district, paid $20,000, the Gulf Coast Community Foundation of Venice paid $10,000 and the remainder of the funds came from residents and local businesses.

The problem with the original design is that the large, stair-like rocks created a hazard for drivers on the roundabout, said Dawn Harrison, the public-works department liaison for Manasota Key.

So the base features smaller rocks, and the footings are designed to crumple and release the shell if it is hit by a car traveling more than 30 mph.

The break-away bases, Harrison said, also contain electrical conduits for the surrounding lights and a drip-irrigation system for the roundabout's landscaping. Workers need to have access to the conduits, and fixed rocks would make that impractical, she said.

While Harrison defended the project's appearance on engineering grounds, she said county officials didn't believe the footings would turn out to be such an eyesore. "We weren't aware it was going to be an issue," she said.

A seemingly modest art installation, the shell project strained the relationship between the county and the island's advisory committee, and the backstory on the conch is a finger-pointing drama in its third year.

"This is a fiasco that could go on forever," said Dignam, who resigned from the advisory committee because of the project.

"Anything that could have went wrong with a project, went wrong here," Harrison said.

Islanders say the county cut them out of the project this summer. Harrison said the county had to take the lead because islanders dragged out decisions while the sculpture sat in storage for a year.

In the final phase, though, the advisory committee expects to review samples of artificial rocks to cover the footings, said BJ Galberaith, chairwoman of the resident-run committee.

"We're looking for something that will cover the break-aways, take away the industrial look, and make the artist happy," Galberaith said.

Robertson said he hopes the work will be completed by February, when he plans to return for the dedication. He has a part-time home in Sarasota.

Robertson was the first artist-in-residence at the Hermitage artists' retreat on Manasota Key. His first major American commission was for Sarasota County's Fruitville Library. "Open Book Gateway" depicts three open books assembled into an 18-foot archway of stainless steel.

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