Artist Jay Alexander, left, helps guide a piece of the limestone sculpture Emergence to its resting place in Buford M. Watson Jr. Park. Lawrence Parks and Recreation employees Terry Hatfield and Brent Hill helped place the stone Friday morning.

Two years of work by a team of limestone sculptors reached fruition Friday as the artists and city workers installed the statue “Emergence” in Buford M. Watson Jr. Park.

The design by Edd Ortiz, Lawrence, was selected by the Lawrence Arts Commission from among 19 submissions to the Kansas Sculptors Assn. symposium two years ago.

After the association became too busy to work on the project, the Midwest Sculptors Guild took up the work. A group of six sculptors worked two or three times a week at Dragon’s Haven Studio until the project was finished. The group included Jay and Ingrid Alexander, Mary Weisert, Denise Detammasso, John Bundy and 8-year-old Kira Alexander, all of Lawrence.

The stone was donated by Bayer Stone and cost the city nothing.

¢ 6News video: Statue donated to local park

“No money has changed hands as far as I know,” Jay Alexander told a passer-by who asked about the cost.

“Emergence” depicts a new plant emerging from the ground, surrounded by grass blades. The piece, carved of cottonwood limestone, includes the central portion and 12 separately carved grass stalks.

“The grass will make it sort of childproof,” Jay Alexander said. “If anybody comes up and scribbles on it, we’ve got a quick cure: Just bring a bush hammer down.”

After checking the fit of all the pieces, Weisert and Detammasso did some last-minute adjusting by hammering at the platform to even it out. The pieces are all epoxied onto the platform. A sealer will keep water from between the pieces, preventing the rock from wearing away.

“Even without seal that’ll be good for a thousand years,” Jay Alexander predicted.

Ceremonial unveiling of “Emergence” and a statue of Buford M. Watson Jr., the park’s namesake, will take place during the Art Walk, Oct. 25-26. The Watson sculpture is set to be up in the park by Oct. 19.