Client: Sewanee Military Academy Alumni group

Overview

Members of the graduating classes of Sewanee Military Academy at the University of the South commissioned this life-size bronze sculpture to honor the last cadet to ever graduate from SMA as a tribute to the high standards of the school’s mission and to the graduates of the academy.

Goals

Sewanee is a beautifully designed campus and most buildings are made of quarried local stone. The sculpture needed a quarried local stone base and had to look like it was an original part of the campus so I chose a traditional patina and worked with local stone masons to create the base.

Process

The Sewanee Military Academy had a teams of about a dozen members. I interacted with the entire team a few times, to hear the vision and then two members of that team took the lead for over a year to work with me directly on the accuracy of the historic uniform, the school-assigned rifle details and the overall posture and presence of the cadet. This required several in-person visits to the studio. The details, down to the date on the class ring were very important to the group. They were well pleased.

Additional Information

Using 3D scanning technology, and CNC milling, I created a form armature based on a model wearing the historic uniform, borrowed from the archives.