One Columbia for Arts and History and the City of Columbia are proud to announce the installation of a second sculpture resulting from the public art pilot program.
Commissioned with a generous donation from Agapé Senior, the piece entitled “Moments” was created by artists Shaun Dargan Cassidy and Tom Stanley. Both artists are faculty members in the College of Visual and Performing Arts at Winthrop University.
“Agapé Senior is pleased to support the City and One Columbia’s public arts initiative by funding this sculpture. Our company works to improve the communities in which we serve through local chambers and Rotary clubs, as well as non-profit support, and now with the corporate headquarters on Main Street, this opportunity just seemed like a great fit for us. Plus, I am a graduate of Winthrop University so having the artists from my alma mater create the piece, this project came full circle for me personally.” says Scott Middleton, Founder and CEO of Agapé Senior.
The stainless steel sculpture is composed of open box structure with an attic above and a tree root system below evoking memory and a collected lifetime of stories. These elements combine into a new sapling that grows up from these symbols of one’s life moments.
Artist Shaun Cassidy explains “’Moments’ was designed to use recognizable imagery to act as triggers to provoke associations with memory, decay, growth, the past and the future. The sculpture is intended to be both contemplative and aspirational and to provide a quiet moment of beautiful visual poetry on Main Street.” Cassidy adds, “We are grateful to One Columbia for the opportunity to create a significant permanent work in such a prestigious location in Columbia.”
“Not only is this a great addition to Main Street, it also serves to demonstrate public art’s power to transform Columbia into a true City of Creativity,” said Columbia Mayor Steve Benjamin. “None of this would be possible without strong public/private partnerships with great businesses like Agape and we’re very excited about what the future holds.”
“It is a privilege to work with businesses like Agapé that have a strong dedication to making Columbia the finest city it can be,” Lee Snelgrove, Executive Director of One Columbia for Arts and History states. “This sculpture in particular reflects the values of our City in how we’re taking unique elements of our past to create new growth. Art is an important part of our identity.”
A public announcement ceremony will be held on Thursday, February 5 at 10am at the sculpture on the 1600 block of Main Street.
The installation of this sculpture would not have been possible without the joint efforts of multiple departments of the City of Columbia, the City Center Partnership, and the Greater Columbia Community Relations Council.
Artists interested in submitting their qualifications for consideration for future projects can find the call for artists on the One Columbia for Arts and History website at onecolumbiasc.com.