(sentimental music) (digger crunching) - Well, it was kind of a sad feeling because, well, my boys were born there and stuff and then, it's been the main thing of Vermillion for a lot of years.

(laughs) - You know, it was sad, but you know, progress is made but there was just a lot of memories in that old building and I'm surprised it actually stood as long as it did.

- It really meant something for the folks that were here.

I look at it as, you know, sometimes you have to destroy those icons in order to build and having a greater facility and that's what they're going to have.

But it was a touch of nostalgia when that was coming down because it was, that's what we had always known.

- From my perspective, it was a very positive thing.

I think that our goal was and still is, to provide the finest health care and wellness that that can be provided to any community and that's what we're attempting to do and I think that's what's taking place.

(sentimental music) - The Dakota Hospital Foundation wanted something to memorialize this, the Dakota Hospital original building that was coming down, to make space for the new Sanford Vermillion facility.

- And so, it started with the conversation really between Tim Tracy and Ari Albright.

You know what?

Ari was already very involved with us in her arts program but knowing that she would have connections and ideas on how we might see that happen.

- We were searching for a way to memorialize the contributions of the corporation in the community, in developing health care in the community.

- And Chris Mayer came over and I think Chris started thinking about it instantly when we talked to him and probably quicker than any of us thought he was going to.

- My idea was to actually utilize the community of Vermillion and the hospital community as well, to create the piece.

So, what I proposed was to invite at least 150 to 200 community members of all various backgrounds, ages, shapes, and sizes, to model for hand models.

So, this whole piece is made up out of the community members' hands.

- [Mary] When he came over and talked about how he thought hands would really represent the history of what was gonna happen for us, I think we just really almost immediately grabbed onto it.

- [Tim] When we presented it to the foundation board, they fell in love with it, with the sculpture.

- It just seemed like the perfect fit and I think everybody's really excited about it.

- The piece is titled Assembly and it's meant to kind of evoke that same feeling, people coming together to work together for a common goal.

- It's an excellent way to commemorate this place and how many people it served.

It's perfect.

I can't think of a better sculpture to present than that.

- To have something that's taking into consideration all the people that spent time or whether they were patients here or employees here, that's nice and it's something that's gonna be there for a long time.

Everybody's gonna get to see it.

- I think it's a great way of commemorating this period of time.

Takes a lot of hands, a lot of people to make these changes happen and a lot of people that have contributed over many, many years, to the quality of health care here.

And this is very symbolic of what it takes.

It takes the whole community to be able to raise this up and have a great facility.

(sentimental music) (slow accoustic music) (drill whirring) - I used a skin-safe silicone mold rubber.

It's a two-part rubber that you have to mix together and then you have a very limited amount of time to work with it once it's mixed.

The process of working with the skin-safe silicone is a little bit lengthy, so I hired current students and former students from my sculpture program to come in and help me make these molds.

It was an enjoyable process to work with all these different people, meet all these different people, hear the stories that all people had, of their experiences with the hospital, of their experiences with their community.

Then you have to make the mother mold.

The whole process takes about an hour's worth of time, once you're fluid with it.

So, we did about 160 actual molds, in something like I think five sessions, five different molding sessions, some being as long as eight hours straight, which is a long day.

And this stuff, this rubber captures every detail, all the pores of the skin, every wrinkle, ever scar, your fingerprints, everything.

(slow instrumental music) (compressed air blowing) (slow instrumental music) (slow acoustic music) (slow instrumental music) (slow acoustic music) (slow instrumental music) (buffer whirring) (slow instrumental music) (crowd chattering) (distant live country music) - Our board began the project nearly nine years ago and successfully collaborated with Sanford Health Network to be able to dedicate what I call this jewel, a true jewel here in Vermillion.

Chris, you've captured our hearts and our souls with your sculpture.

Please do us the honor of unveiling your sculpture for us.

(crowd applauding) (slow sentimental music) (crowd applauding) - I don't think there's a better metaphor for a hospital than hands reaching out, grasping each other, working together, moving together in the same direction.

I hope that it's celebrated not just as a piece for the hospital but as a piece for the community that the hospital serves.

As an artist, as an arts educator, I always want to see more public work happen.

So, I'm thankful to the board members for having this idea, for making it a possibility in the first place and thankful for the community for them lending their hands quite literally to this project, to make it all come together and possible.

It's not my first public commission but it is probably the largest that I've taken on thus far in my career.

It was a huge project, involving so many people coming together, so that's what I'm gonna remember, is the experience of making it.

Often times, for me as an artist, it's working on things, it's making things, it's actually working that is the art for me.

So, it's the experience of working with these materials, working with the people, putting this project together, working with my former students.

All of that is part of building this thing.

Bronze is one of the most stable alloys that mankind has ever created.

As long as it's maintained and the world doesn't become too acidic and acid rain doesn't destroy it, it should last far longer than I'm alive, and far longer than any of us are alive now.

(crowd chattering) (sentimental music)