The entrance to the Tracy Hills development at Sierra View Drive is now marked by a landmark sculpture, installed over the weekend and designed to make an impression for years to come.<\/p>\n
\u201cTree of Reflection\u201d is the work of Terrence Martin, who built the stainless steel sculpture on a commission from Integral Communities, the developer of Tracy Hills, which donated the artwork to the city.<\/p>\n
Martin and the Tracy Hills developers brought the proposal to the Tracy Arts Commission in early 2023. The sculpture is a representation of the kapok tree from the Amazon rainforest, similar to other works that Martin has completed through his business, Jagged Edge Metal Art.<\/p>\n
\u201cJohn Stanek (Principal for Integral Communities) saw another tree I had previously done in Petaluma. Similar style, different materials, and it had a seating feature around it,\u201d Martin said, describing his work in front of Mary’s Pizza Shack on McDowell Boulevard in Petaluma, part of that city\u2019s public art program. \u201cHe said, he wanted something like that, just bigger and better. So this is what we came up with. It’s about 30 feet tall, and it’s 30 feet from tip to tip anywhere on spans.\u201d<\/p>\n
Martin created the tree at his workshop in Pilot Hill southeast of Auburn, near the upper reaches of Folsom Lake, where he could build the sculpture in sections suitable for shipping. Last Thursday it arrived at its destination, the roundabout intersection where Sierra View Drive meets Corral Hollow Road.<\/p>\n
First a crane set the bottom part, the tree trunk, on the base, a 6-foot-thick concrete slab in the middle of the roundabout, and the top part, with its 10 branches and leaves, was set on top. Martin shared a video of the top part being lowered into place, describing it as looking like an alien spaceship, or a 10-headed hydra, landing. The tough part was lining up the holes where the segments had to be bolted together, and then welded.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt just went really smooth. I can’t believe we did it. Every obstacle we overcame, somebody would figure it out. The crane operator was helping all along the way. We picked it up with three limbs and then flew it right in there and they got these pins, alignment pins, that we drive in there.\u201d<\/p>\n
By Friday he was welding on the mirror-finish stainless steel tiles that make up the exterior surface of the sculpture, a task that would take a couple more days.<\/p>\n
\u201cI developed these tiles so that I can form them around shapes without them buckling,\u201d he said, describing them as being star-shaped, so that the tabs can be bent to fit together around the shape of the structure.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don’t know how many tiles there are. It probably would have been fun to keep track. This is one of three projects that I\u2019ve skinned with these tiles, and I will tell you, it is challenging. I mean, it works good, but it is a workout.\u201d<\/p>\n
Having completed major art projects for cities and businesses, Martin is experienced in creating works that will serve as long-standing landmarks. Examples of his work can be seen at www.jaggededgemetalart.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cThe whole thing is stainless steel: the base plate, the internals. There’s nothing on it that will rust. Not one thing. Even the transformers are stainless,\u201d he said. The mirror-like finish of the exterior surface will interact with light from surrounding sources, and from the illuminated glass rocks embedded in the leaves.<\/p>\n In designing the internal structure he considered the wind coming across the hills, one of the first things he saw about the site when he visited the location 3\u00bd years ago to see how his work would fit in with the new community and the surrounding hills leading into Corral Hollow Canyon.<\/p>\n \u201cThere’s so much cross bracing that’s going on in this thing. It looks like another galaxy going up to the top of this,\u201d he said. \u201cWhen the skin wasn’t on it, when I was doing the frames, the engineer stopped by my house \u2026 and he looked at it and he said, \u2018What in the world are you doing?\u2019 He said, \u2018That is a lot of tubing,\u2019 and I said, “That’s not tubing. It’s solid.\u201d<\/p>\n The artwork got its initial approval from the Tracy Arts Commission in early 2023, and the Tracy City Council approved the description, a series of drawings and a proposed budget of about $483,000, to be paid by Integral Communities, on April 15 of this year. The council, on a unanimous vote, accepted the donation of the work as part of the city\u2019s civic art collection on Aug. 19.<\/p>\n