HAYDEN - Terry Lee hopes to have his "American Worker" sculpture ready for the foundry by the time he holds an open house at his new studio on May 22.

Lee was hired in March by Dean Haagenson, CEO of Contractors Northwest, Inc., to sculpt the $50,000 statue titled "American Worker," and he hopes to have the bronze ready for McEuen Park by July or August.

"It is usually a three-month process once it gets to the foundry, so I want to be done with it by May 22," Lee said on Monday, adding the clay and foam sculpture will be on public display at an open house he is planning at his new studio on that date. "The public is welcome."

Haagenson commissioned the piece of art and plans to donate it to the city of Coeur d'Alene to be located in McEuen Park, which his firm is in the process of constructing.

He chose the construction worker as a symbol of the seldom-recognized American worker.

"You don't appreciate the electrician until the electricity goes out, and you don't appreciate the plumber until the sewer backs up," Haagenson said during an interview in March. "Those are the people who make this country work, and we need to appreciate them."

On Monday, Lee had the core of the body covered in a clay and wax mixture that will be used to mold the bronze statue.

"I made him a little taller than I wanted," he said. "He wound up about 6-foot-6."

Lee was shooting for 6-foot-2.

"I have kind of made him a dude on steroids," he said pointing out the anatomical details he is planning. "I am trying to get the shape of a really fit construction worker."

The sculpture started as a simple steel frame, and then Lee covered the steel skeleton with foam that he shaped into a human form. The foam structure is then covered in a layer of a clay and wax mixture that he uses to sculpt the details of the statue.

He said he will likely use about 200 pounds of the clay and wax mixture to finish the process.

Once he completes that portion of the work, he will crate the 400-pound finished piece and ship it off to the foundry where it will be turned into a series of molds to pour the bronze pieces that will be used to make the finished sculpture.

"They will cut off the arms and the head and make a mold out of each part," he said. "In all, they will probably cut it up into about 30 pieces, and make 30 molds."

The foundry will spray each piece of the sculpture with a rubber material and then cover that in plaster to form the basis of the mold.

Foundry workers will then go through a complicated process of forming the metal pieces. Once that is complete, they start putting the sculpture back together.

"A welder will weld all of the pieces together like a jigsaw puzzle," Lee explained. "Then the welder will do the tooling."

Lee said the welder will make sure there is no visible sign of the welds, and that is when the artist is allowed to inspect the piece before the patina process is started to color the metal.

"They call it 99 percent," he said. "I get to inspect it and point out any welds or flaws that need to be fixed."

During the patina process, Lee said the metal is heated up and sprayed with chemicals that will etch color into the metal.

"A true bronze is kind of a yellow and silver color," he said. "The patina process will take about four hours, but once that is done, I can take it home."

Before it leaves to be bronzed, Lee is inviting anyone interested in artwork to come and see the statue at an open house from 5 to 9 p.m. at his new studio located at 1506 W. Lacey Ave. in Hayden. Interested parties can RSVP by calling Lee at (208) 659-4182.