Aluminum Rod Ends

The short life of a piece of not-so-permanent art

In his Omaha studio, Les Bruning sketches a 24-foot sculpture that stood for years in the old County-City Building. He was a college junior when he won a contest to build the piece. He went on to have a successful career, and credits that first piece as a catapult. When the building was renovated they couldn't find a home for something so big, so the sculpture went into storage where, in the last 10 years, it was vandalized. The pieces were taken to the landfill. (JACOB HANNAH / Lincoln Journal Star)

The vandals found a way in by climbing to the roof, scaling down a courtyard tree and shattering an unprotected window.

One of them picked up an old chair.

The county had used the old Naval Reserve building for storage for years, filling it with cast-off furniture, fluorescent tubes, Lancaster Manor bed frames, the original courthouse cornerstone.

And two dozen feet of walnut, aluminum and a young artist's ambition.

"The Joining of Two Forces on a Common Plane" had towered over visitors at the County-City Building for nearly 30 years, spanning the two-story atrium from the ceiling down to the floor, near the escalators.

A Wesleyan junior had won a sculpture design contest -- and the $3,000 commission -- to build a piece of permanent art for the building, which opened in 1969 and brought the city of Lincoln and Lancaster County (the two forces) under the same roof (the common plane).

At the time, the piece was a little optimistic. The city and county were grudging roommates, setting their own schedules, controlling their own elevators, marking their own territories.

"It did stand for county-city coordination," said Linda Wilson, a former city councilwoman and a member of the County-City Building Commission. "Which is odd, because it didn't happen at the time."

Still, the piece catapulted the artist. The minister's son from Greeley (and Harrison and Wisner) spent his commission studying at the University of Graz in Austria before returning to Nebraska and what would become a lifelong career as a sculptor and teacher.

And, over the years, the two forces grew closer together -- an interlocal agreement here, a shared service there -- but the piece of permanent art wasn't so permanent. When the city and county moved next door in the late '90s, the sculpture didn't move with them.

The county searched for a new home, shopping "Two Forces" to the senior center, libraries, the airport. No takers.

Aluminum Push Rod(2),Assembly with Rod Ends:Slayer | Aluminum Truck

Precision-machined pushrods shave grams and add style with their vivid red-anodized finish and laser-engraved logos. For maximum strength and durability, threaded steel inserts secure the rod ends. The push rods are sold in pairs, fully assembled and ready to install with rod ends and hollow balls. The parts are a direct fit when used with Slayer’s included P2 rockers. For use with P3 rockers (not included), spacers are required; use item #TRA5133 (red-anodized) or #TRA5133A (blue-anodized).

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