WALLA WALLA, Wash. — A five-truck convoy from Walla Walla Foundry, its largest bronze sculpture ever completed now in tow, is headed across the country to Boston for the assembly and installation of a highly anticipated monument to historic civil rights activist the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

Jan. 16 — which will be national Martin Luther King Jr. Day in 2023 — will also see the official unveiling of “The Embrace” in Boston Common, which is widely considered the oldest public park in the U.S.

Walla Walla Foundry will have representatives on hand for the introductory ceremonies after working each of its 109 technicians and artisans the past 18 months to make “The Embrace” a physical reality.

The result has been 609 different bronze cast panels that were assembled into a 20-ton sculpture covering 2,260 square feet, and then separated into nine large sections for their 2,900-mile transport to New England.

Accompanying the shipment is a Walla Walla Foundry crew of 10 that will put it all back together and complete its installation at the popular park.

“We are honored to be part of a project of such historical importance, which brings together a community and is a resounding symbol of equity, equality and social justice,” Walla Walla Foundry co-owner Lisa Anderson said.

Walla Walla Foundry worked in partnership with several other groups in making “The Embrace.”

It originated in the mind of renowned conceptual artist Hank Willis Thomas.

His idea was based on an emotional 1964 photograph of King and his wife, Coretta Scott — specifically, his hands on her left shoulder — taken right after he had been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.

Thomas found the image inspiring.

“I wanted to make something that really talked about love,” Thomas said in a June 16, 2022, article by The Boston Globe. “I saw in that moment, how much of his weight was literally on top of her. And I thought that was a really symbolic idea: That she was literally holding his weight.

“And that’s true in so many relationships, and especially relationships of that era with men and women, where the wives had to carry the burden of the man who was getting the award.”

His thought was one of 126 proposals for an MLK memorial in the park submitted in 2017 to both the city and a nonprofit organization, King Boston (now named Embrace Boston).

Thomas and his studio team reached out to Walla Walla Foundry in March 2020, a year after his idea had been selected.

The Foundry signed on and got to work in May 2021.

“Walla Walla Foundry is one of only a handful of facilities that can create sculpture on this scale,” Anderson said. “There was a long vetting process, where our values as a company and our capability were assessed.

“In short, we were chosen because of our values, capability, capacity and skill set. The Foundry is uniquely positioned to work on large scale sculpture projects because we have a large facility, a highly skilled team of craftspeople, and a reputation of creating work of the highest quality.”

Thomas, his studio, the city of Boston and King Boston were calling on Walla Walla Foundry to create and deliver the largest sculpture — in terms of surface area, or square footage — in its 42 years of operation.

Mark and Patty Anderson started the Foundry in 1980.

Since then, it has grown to handle as many as 100 active projects at any given time.

Their children, Lisa and her brother, Jay, now run the Foundry.

Along with several other assignments in their regular workflow, “The Embrace” involved weekly meetings with the Hawk Willis Thomas studio, the city of Boston, Embrace Boston and the many other groups involved.

Those include MASS Design Group, a nonprofit based in Boston, which partnered with Thomas in the proposal; Quarra Stone Company, based in Madison, Wisconsin, responsible for all of the monument stonework; and WES Construction Corp., in Halifax, Massachusetts, building the footings, benches, pavers and lighting in the plaza that will surround the monument.

“On projects of this size, we are coordinating with more than just the artist,” Lisa Anderson said. “There are more logistical layers when an artwork will be in a public space.”

Reassembly and installation of “The Embrace” in Boston is expected to take the dispatched Foundry crew about 10 days.

The plan is to have the sculpture in place by Dec. 16.

Walla Walla Foundry will have created and delivered to Boston a monument that is to be experienced by the huge and diverse metropolitan population, not to mention millions of tourists each year.

“Passers-by will be reminded of our shared human connection,” MASS Design Group stated in its project details. “This memorial will envelop participants, allowing them to be simultaneously vulnerable and protected.

“The memorial will solidify the ideals of inclusion that the Kings defended in their united life of activism.”

Thomas and his studio team visited Walla Walla in October 2022 for a firsthand look at “The Embrace” near completion.

Embrace Boston already had treated a group of 20 people involved with the project to a tour of the Foundry in July.

Jonathan Follett, Foundry president, made two visits to Boston Common in the meantime.

The Folletts and the Andersons also will be in Boston on MLK Day for the official unveiling ceremony, when the Walla Walla Foundry and its 109 employees will redefine the Boston landscape.

Sam Giarratani, a public art manager who worked with Thomas on the design side of the memorial process, said, “We really needed the capacity, and we were really confident Walla Walla could do it.”