Christo and Jeanne-Claude:
Wrapped Walk Ways, Loose Park, Kansas City, 1977-78

Wrapped Walk Ways, in Jacob Loose Memorial Park, Kansas City, Missouri, consisted of the installation of 12,540 square meters (135,000 square feet ) of saffron-colored nylon fabric covering 4.5 kilometers ( 2.7 miles) of formal garden walkways and jogging paths.

Installation began on Monday, October 2nd, 1978, and was completed on Wednesday, October 4th Eighty-four people were employed by A.L. Huber and Sons, a Kansas City building contractor, to install the fabric. Among others, there were 13 construction workers and four professional seamstresses.

The cloth was secured in place by 34,500 steel spikes (7" x 5/16") driven into the soil through brass grommets along the sides of the fabric, and 40,000 staples into wooden edges on the stairways. After 52,000 feet of seams and hems had been sewn in a West Virginia factory, professional seamstresses, using portable sewing machines and aided by many assistants, completed the sewing in the park.

All expenses related to Wrapped Walk Ways were borne by Christo and Jeanne-Claude, as in all their other projects, through the sale of preparatory drawings, collages, as well as earlier works and original lithographs.

The temporary work of art remained in the park until October 16th, 1978, after which the material was removed and given to the Kansas City Parks Department for recycling, and the Park was restored to its original condition.