MONROE — A new statue in front of Solid Rock Church will portray Jesus Christ inviting followers to “Come Unto Me.”

Two Cincinnati artists have been chosen to design the new 51-foot-high statue that will replace the “King of Kings” monument destroyed when it was struck by lightning June 14.

The collaboration of Steve Brauch of Glasshand LLC and Tom Tsuchiya was chosen from six artists to design and sculpt the full-standing statue of Jesus Christ with an outstretched pose, said Ron Carter, administrator of Solid Rock Church, located at 904 N. Union Road in Monroe.

The church board chose Tsuchiya and Brauch — whose company’s previous work includes the fiberglass Big Pigs in downtown Cincinnati and Frisch’s Big Boy — over artists from Canada, Cincinnati, Colorado and Texas. “We liked the design. Also, the local aspect of it gives us an opportunity to review their work in progress so if there needs to be minor tweaks, we can do that,” Carter said.

The statue will stand on 11 feet of boulders and rocks with water flowing out of the rock into the reflecting pool in front of the statue. The structure will be constructed of a steel substructure with a lightning suppression system installed, he said.

The church unveiled an 18-inch tall replica of the statue on an audio visual screen to its congregation during services on Sunday.

“They responded very favorably,” Carter said, adding that he hopes the general public likes it as well.

“They can be inspired by it,” he said.

The work is scheduled to be completed by the end of 2011.

The two Cincinnati artists selected to design the new giant Jesus statue at Solid Rock Church say they are excited by the challenge.

“I never worked on a sculpture of this scale before, so from a sculptor’s perspective this is a really exciting piece,” said Tsuchiya.

Rebar and hardware cloth will cover the substructure defining the general detail of the statue. Urethane foam will cover the wire mesh and will be sculpted into the refined detail of the statue. It will be finished with a top coating of acrylic-based aggregate to resemble limestone.

“There’s a lot of preliminary work before the sculpting starts,” Carter said, including calculating how much steel will be needed for the statue.

Plans call on the artists to work on the head and hands during the winter months and to begin constructing the body in the spring, Carter said. The head and hands also will be attached to the body then, Carter said.

Tsuchiya said he and Brauch, whose company is located in Woodlawn, have known each other for about decade and have worked on some small projects together in the past.

“Basically, I’d design some sculptures and then he and his firm would fabricate my ideas. … Usually, we never did anything where they were joint projects; it would be me going to him to have something made,” he said.

Glasshand specializes in complex molds and limited production runs from public and commercial art to roller coaster bodies, according to the company’s website at www.theglasshand.com.

Contact this reporter at (513) 483-5219 or dewilson@coxohio.com.