Don Drumm designs piece for new Bath Elementary School

by Laura Straub

For 18 years, Bath Elementary School students started their day by walking past a Don Drumm original, their beloved eagle mascot sandblasted into the brick wall of the school.

“It’s right where the kids go in, so you can see it or feel it, and it is quite large,” Drumm said.

The old Bath Elementary is being demolished, and a new building is scheduled to open on Aug. 29. Drumm is putting the finishing touches on his plan to install a new work of art in the building.

Drumm, 84, who operates out of his studio and gallery in Akron, works in different mediums. His expertise, however, is in the building trades. He has done many sandblasting projects, some in local schools. Each is a creative – and dusty – process, in which Drumm paints the design onto the brick wall then calls in his blasting team to cut away the painted sections. This reveals dimension and a slightly darker color of brick.

This time around, Drumm has something else in mind.

“I’m doing a cast aluminum mural inside using things I think will delight the kids,” he said.

Drumm will fill a 20-foot-wide by 8-foot-high wall with whimsical aluminum renderings of a sun, a quarter moon, leaves and, of course, an eagle.

“I worked on a landscape design with the sun in one area and the moon in another. Maybe some birds, and an eagle or two,” said Drumm. “It will also have these leaf patterns that form sculptures in their own right.”

With his plan drawn up and approved by Revere Superintendent Matt Montgomery, Drumm solicited his group of five foundries to provide the castings that will make up his piece. Each casting will come to Drumm’s studio rough, and he will cut off any extra metal. Then Drumm will paint each with a patina to accentuate the silver color. Finally, he will run them through a system of wire brushes that will put a light luster onto each component.

“When they are finished and looking how we like, we will have them attached to the wall,” Drumm said.

Although aluminum is three times lighter than bronze or steel, the castings will be fitted and hung to a 3/4-inch piece of plywood hidden behind the drywall, using stainless steel screws, which will ensure they are secure. As he attaches each casting, Drumm will look at its dimension and texture, using those factors to help find its perfect position.

“The design is still underway,” Drumm said. “Even though we know roughly what we want to do, the final design has yet to be formed.”

The name of the project is a work in progress, as well. According to Drumm, his projects are generally abstract, and he prefers not to name them.

“They are meant to be accepted for the material look, the beauty of the artwork and the way the shadows occur, and yet everybody wants to name it,” he said.

So he tentatively plans to call the work “Visit to Bath.”

Drumm said he plans to finish the project by the end of August, in time for a dedication ceremony.

“It is going to be a fun thing for the kids,” he said.

Featured image photo caption: Local artist Don Drumm (l) stands in front of the eagle he designed at the old Bath Elementary with Revere Superintendent Matt Montgomery. Photo courtesy Revere Schools