Communities and institutions of all types and sizes have utilized monuments and pieces of public art to enable experiences that create value for everyone. What doing so can look like varies based on the space and opportunity, but the impact that such pieces can enable in the short term and long term is evident. However, that impact can be taken to another level when such pieces are as practically useful as they are aesthetically pleasing.
That combination is evident in the work of Robert Adzema. He has created sundials and other sculpture for public plazas, schools, libraries, museums, memorials and gardens both public and private in the US and Europe, all of which illustrates how this combination of usefulness and enchantment has opened up countless opportunities for him and for the communities where his pieces reside.
Stopping to Mindfully Engage
The way in which monuments and sculptures can influence the identity of a specific area have been well documented. That impact is part of the reason that Adzema respects the insights and ideas that members of a community can sometimes present to him in order to establish a theme for a given space. That understanding and outreach means his work can be that much more easily acceptable, but it’s taken to another level thanks to the functional aspect of his sundials.
In 2001, Adzema was awarded the Sawyer Dialing Prize from the North American Sundial Society. That recognition underscores the balance between the practical nature of his pieces with the ideological impact they can also represent to a given space or community.
“I pride myself on the functional aspect of my work because the whole emphasis with the sundials is that viewers can engage with them on multiple levels,” Adzema said. “Sometimes it will just be on the level of whether or not the sundial is providing accurate time, so viewers might compare what they see on the sundial with what they see on their watch. Other times, people might stop to appreciate the piece just because the design of it strikes them. Regardless of the reason, these pieces compel people to stop and mindfully engage. The sundials connect them to a moment in time in a way they never would have otherwise.”
Pulling people out of their element and compelling them to engage is a powerful concept on multiple levels. With this element of time, Adzema’s pieces provide a real sense of place to build physical connections to universal concepts. In doing so, the pieces have been able to provide an identity for spaces and institutions to further enable a whole different level of connection.
Influencing the Space
“Analemma” is a figure-eight shaped sundial located at Port Richmond High School in New Jersey. It is a graph of the changing declination of the sun and the equation of time for the entire year. It features a noon mark and solar calendar (analemma) cast into the plaza below. The identity of the school as a port town influenced the nautical theme of this piece, but it also incorporates imagery that is about something much more relevant to the identity of the school itself.
“When I was working through the concept for the space, I talked with someone who was a guidance counselor for the school,” Adzema told The Monumentous. “I had the basic design established, but he said what I needed in the sundial was a rudder, which was all about his perspective as a guidance counselor. He provided direction to kids that rudders provide to ships and he felt the piece should illustrate that. People can interpret the shapes on the piece however they’d like, but what’s there aren’t just a bunch of abstract shapes. The sculpture contains numerous symbols that have been created to celebrate the spirit of the school in the present and future.”
By focusing on that spirit, “Analemma” has become part of the space where it’s been installed. Students and faculty use it as a means to identify where they want to meet and events of various types can be held there. It’s a symbol and icon that represents the school and surroundings, which underscores what kind of opportunities can be opened up when these connections are made.
Opportunities and Development
The direct and indirect economic impact of monuments and sculptures can be incredibly powerful for stakeholders. However, the cultural ramifications of such pieces can be just as notable, as they can positively shape an entire community. When that happens, possibilities related to everything from events to development can be opened up. Pieces like the ones Adzema makes can establish both by speaking to these types of economic and cultural opportunities.
“Personally, I think it can be a case of shooting the arrow and then drawing the target around where the arrow lands,” said Adzema. “If you put a good piece of art someplace things can be developed around it. The direct economic opportunities are there too, because once I’m gone from a job any merchandising that might be associated with a piece is the last thing I’m thinking about. That sort of thing can happen because these pieces have an identity and that can be a shortcut to a connection.”
That connection can come out in unexpected ways, and it’s done so for Adzema. He mentioned that one of the most powerful developments he’s been part of was when someone told him that his “The Great Sundial Cutout Book” helped them re-anchor their life by giving them a new sense of time. It speaks to the larger power of what these pieces can do when they make a connection to something far greater.
Few can grasp the kind of impact that such pieces can have on communities in the present and future, but Adzema’s sundials illustrate the potential for doing so on both viewers and for stakeholders.