Robert of the Red Hen team sculpts Mars geology features into foam at SAM, Biosphere 2

Red Hen Industries has returned to SAM, and this time they brought more than a set rescued from a Hollywood landfill. founder Danica Vallone and manager Demian Vallone arrived with sculptors Steve, Kat, and Robert. This first of three crews will be on-site for one week, followed by the crew that will shoot concrete over the sculpted foam, and then the painters who apply the final look and feel of the Mars geology.

Matthias, Sean hanging tarps around the Mars yard construction at SAM, Biosphere 2 SAM team members Luna Powell, Matthias Beach, Sean Gellenbeck, and Kai Staats are on site, working in shifts to provide support and clean-up for the Red Hen team. This is following a month in specific preparation, each day crossing off items on the long list of TODOs, including the purchase of tools and products to support the foam carving, shipping a specific blend of concrete from the Arizona/California border, hanging 200 linear feet of plastic tarps from the roof structure to contain the foam bits and eventual concrete, and a system for containing the foam for eventual recycling or integration into “styrocrete” such that nearly none of the product ends up in the landfill.

Day 2 starts at 7 am tomorrow and runs again until 8 pm, and so on for nearly three weeks. Hollywood never sleeps!