Howie Mees of Mees Distributors takes a look at a sculpture being made for Great American Ball Park. (Tony Jones photo) | ZOOM |

        The signature of Great American Ball Park will be chiseled in limestone.

        A huge sculpture, called a bas-relief, will greet all fans who pass through the ballpark's main entrance, Crosley Terrace.

        Carved into the limestone are some of Cincinnati's most famous landmarks such as the Roebling Suspension Bridge, the PNC Bank building and the Museum Center. There also are images of three baseball players of Hispanic, European and African descent.

        Ray Berberich, designer and project manager for the sculpture, said bas-relief was popular in the 1930s and 1940s, but has fallen out of vogue. That made it a perfect medium for his message.

        “It's an art form that seems timeless,” Mr. Berberich said. “We wanted something that says you're in Cincinnati, and we wanted something that would pay homage to the Reds' rich history. It's a metaphor, bridging the past with the present.”

        The 33 chunks of limestone measure 50 feet high, 20 feet wide and weigh a total of 335,000 pounds, making the bas-relief one of the city's biggest metaphors.

        “It's going to be an icon, one that immediately identifies the ballpark as being in Cincinnati,” said Mike Sieving, construction executive for Hamilton County.

        Although the county is building the stadium, with taxpayers footing more than $330 million for the ballpark and infrastructure improvements, the Reds are paying for the bas relief, along with about $9.7 million in other features such as the playing field and concession equipment. Reds officials declined to comment on the sculpture's cost, but the limestone itself runs about $50,000.

        Mr. Berberich said the medium of bas relief is very expensive to produce when the stone is carved by hand. The cost of this project was reduced with the use of a machine.

        Dayton artist Mark Reedy took Mr. Berberich's vision for the piece and transformed it into a clay model, measuring 2 feet by 4 feet. The model was scanned into a computer, which controls a $500,000 cutting machine with diamond saw blades that shaved off tiny slivers of limestone.

        It took months of around-the-clock shaving to pull the images out of stone.

        Howie Mees, vice president of Mees Distributors in Cincinnati, said the limestone relief is the largest project his company — in business since 1937 — has ever taken on. Mr. Mees' employees will spend the next few weeks smoothing out the sculpture's rough edges by hand.

        “We could have spent another 18 months on the machine, getting the finish just right,” said Mr. Mees, whose company also produced the Man O' War sculpture at the Kentucky Horse Park in Lexington. “But we got it close and now our guys can smooth it out.”

        Mr. Berberich said the sculpture, which faces the city's skyline, is visible from Fort Washington Way and will be part of public space just outside of the ballpark. The limestone matches many of the city's buildings and will take on slightly different looks, depending on the time of day passersby see it.

        “We put the model in a dark room and had a light shine from the top and the bottom,” Mr. Berberich said. “From day, people will get a lot of dream shadows from the sun shining down on it. The shadows will be fairly pronounced because we have more than four inches of relief in some areas.

        “At night, it will be up-lit. So there will be a great variation of lighting effects. But it's part of the cityscape, so it will be illuminated most of the night.”

        The sculpture, which will be framed by gigantic hunks of limestone, will be set in place late next month. The Reds hope to unveil the artwork during the last week of September. The park opens next spring.

Astros 1, Reds 0 Reds Box, Runs Boone remains optimistic Graves garners consideration for his first start Icon in limestone will greet Reds fans Owners make some moves toward players Diamondbacks 7, Cubs 0 Phillies 5, Cardinals 3 Pirates 3, Brewers 2 Braves 7, Dodgers 5

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