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"Kinetic Man Makes His Final Move"
Thursday, October 19, 2006
"Kinetic Man Makes His Final Move"
Sony Hocklander, News-Leader Staff
A crowd gathers for the K-Man dedication on May 21.
Photo by Paul K. Logsdon.
Interactive sculpture finds a permanent home in Springfield.
He towers over the Creamery Arts Center and is close enough to wave at Hammons Field.
Welcome back K-Man. You're home at last.
Russ RuBert's interactive sculpture Kinetic Man -- fondly known as K-Man -- was permanently installed Wednesday and Thursday on a concrete patio in K-Park.
Saturday, the renamed southeast corner of Jordan Valley Park will be dedicated to the children of Springfield by the Rotary Club of Springfield Southeast to honor its national organization's centennial.
Backdropped by the ebony Hammons Tower, K-Man is the keynote interactive element, and the first to be installed, in the Rotary club's new 1.5 acre-patch of park intended as a kids' play area. Additional interactive pieces will be added in future phases, says Brent Dunn, centennial project coordinator.
"Because it's going to be so visible, a (24-foot)-tall statue that kids can play on will really change the landscape of Jordan Valley Park," says Dunn.
RuBert, an internationally known artist, created K-Man 11 years ago for an annual festival at the Missouri Capitol.
After, K-Man was stored in conditions not meant for art. A grass roots effort to bring K-Man back to his birthplace was launched in 2002. The sculpture paid a visit to Springfield in September 2002 for the Jefferson Foot Bridge Centennial Celebration, but soon went back into storage.
Brought back last summer, K-Man was in his worst shape, says RuBert, who with assistant Richard Wilson made dozens of repairs -- many costly. They included replacing every bolt on the base, repolishing badly-scratched parts and rebuilding the mechanism that makes K-Man go. More changes were made so the sculpture, originally meant to go up for three days, will last.
"It's like if you have an old building," RuBert says. "By the time you've rebuilt your building and redeveloped it, it's taken you longer than if you built it from scratch."
The time and money he's put into its renovation makes his sculpture a "huge donation at this point," he says. But he hated to see his work be left damaged. And he knows how sentimental many are about K-Man.
"People are excited about this project because it is exciting when it's up and will be great addition to Jordan Valley Park," RuBert says.
City Councilwoman Mary Collette was key to the initial "Free K-Man" campaign. She's thrilled to see him finally back in Springfield for good: "He belongs here."
It's an extremely creative piece, says Jodie Adams, assistant director of Springfield-Greene County Parks.
"When a child can literally go up there with this large piece of sculpture and turn a wheel and see the reaction of arms and legs moving, this is an amazing feat."
The giant's journey
From conception 11 years ago to settling into Jordan Valley Park this week, K-Man's journey is long and checkered.
February 1994: Russ RuBert is asked to create a kid-friendly sculpture for the Walt Disney Children's Arts Festival on the Missouri Capitol grounds. Formally commissioned in April, the artist has only five weeks to breath life (with help) into a 23-foot-tall aluminum creation built, like a friendly robotic Frankenstein, in pieces.
May 13-15, 1994: Kinetic Man, fondly known as K-Man, debuts at the festival that draws 6,000 on its busiest day. Lines of kids wait to crank the handle that makes K-Man walk. The festival and K-Man make repeat Capitol appearances in 1995 and 1996.
June 24, 1995: K-Man visits Springfield, his birthplace, for a KOZK street party fundraiser. Stored briefly in the Discovery Center, there is talk about obtaining him for a permanent Discovery Center exhibit.
1996 to 2002: He doesn't write. He doesn't call. K-Man goes underground.
February 2002: A grass roots "Free K-Man" crusade, led by City Councilwoman Mary Collette, begins with an off-hand remark among friends: "Wouldn't it be great to bring K-Man back to Springfield?"
If they can find him.
Secret hand signals are developed. Cards go out: "Your job, should you decide to accept it, is to locate the storage facility ... where K-Man is being held against his will ... "
Summer 2002: Rep. Craig Hosmer of Springfield puts Collette in touch with Mansion Preservation Inc., which owns K-Man. Hosmer donates an honorarium to allow Collette and Commercial Club of Springfield members to borrow him for the Jefferson Avenue Footbridge Centennial Celebration.
August 2002: A "rescue party," including RuBert and Collette, travels with trucks to Jefferson City. They find K-Man lying scarred and covered with debris on the brick floor of a shed near the prison. Back in the artist's studio, RuBert spends two weeks nursing his sculpture back to health. On Aug. 31, a crane lowers K-Man onto Jefferson Avenue Footbridge plaza for the Sept. 2 event.
Late October 2002: K-Man has overstayed his visa. Controversy swirls. The sculpture is retrieved by members of Missouri Mansion Preservation.
October 2002-May 2004: K-Man goes back into hibernation.
May 14, 2004: The Springfield-Greene County Park Board votes unanimously to accept the donation of K-Man, purchased for $17,500 by the Southeast Springfield Rotary Club as the club's centennial commemoration project for Jordan Valley Park.
August 2004: Benjamin Alexander, formerly with the city, retrieves K-Man from the capitol and delivers him to RuBert's sculpture hospital, er, studio. RuBert says K-Man's damage is worse.
Oct. 8, 2004: The southeast corner of Jordan Valley Park is renamed K-Park.
Fall 2004: The city pours a concrete base, but installation is delayed because K-Man is not well.
Through May 2005: Grinding out scratches, transplanting costly new bolts, building a new base and other artistic surgical repairs take eight months.
May 18, 2005: K-Man, assisted by a crane, settles into his new Jordan Valley Park home. He appears happy, though it's hard to tell: K-Man has no mouth.
Want to go?
What: The Southeast Springfield Rotary Club's dedication of Russ RuBert's movable sculpture Kinetic Man, also known as K-Man, and K-Park -- a section of Jordan Valley Park being designed with interactive structures for kids.
When: 2-4 p.m. Saturday with dedication ceremony that features RuBert and city leaders beginning at 2:30 p.m.
Where: K-Park is in the southeast corner of Jordan Valley Park at John Q. Hammons Parkway and East Trafficway, near the Creamery Arts Center
Activities: In addition to K-Man's debut, free ice cream will be provided by Hiland Dairy and inflatable games will be available through the YMCA.
Information: Brent Dunn at 836-4143
11 - Age in years
5 - The number of weeks it took RuBert and helpers to create him originally
24 - Height in feet from his new base to the top of his head
100 - The estimated weight, in pounds, of each leg
70 - The estimated number of repairs made to K-Man
200 - The number of hours RuBert estimates he's spent working on K-Man in the last two weeks