Retired Wildwood Architect "Aspires" to Second Career in Public Art

Wildwood resident and retired architect Rod Callis has been named the winner of the Chesterfield Arts’ University Sculpture Competition, beating out nine other students from six colleges with his idea for a sculpture named "Aspire" that will invoke the image of a growing plant.

The organization launched the competition as an effort to pair its public art efforts with its community outreach and create career opportunities for emerging sculptors. Callis, 66, is studying outdoor sculpture at St. Louis Community-College Meramac.

Last summer, the arts organization invited students from within a 125-mile radius of Chesterfield to tour the proposed sculpture site, which is located at the south end of the pond in Chesterfield Central Park.

Callis said when he began studying the area, he focused on the views from and to the sculpture and how people would interact it with it. He decided the art needed to “grow from that location.”

Following this vision, he came up with the idea for four shielded spires, of varying heights, that would be reminiscent of plant shoots. They would be white in color, allowing them to pick up various hues depending on the time of day, the season and the lighting, and fairly large in size.

“I wanted it be something you can walk among and step inside and experience,” he said.

Stacey Morse, CFA’s executive director, said the idea of making it interactive was a key element in helping the selection committee makes its decision.

The budgeted cost of the project is $15,000 and Callis plans to help keep his costs in that range by fabricated the sculpture from a single piece of pipe.

The sculpture will be unveiled during the final summer concert at the Chesterfield amphitheater in September.

It also might be the first of many. Morse told the Chesterfield City Council during a presentation unveiling the winner that she hopes to make the competition something that occurs every other year. 

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