Aggie Spirit

Location: Dixie Chicken, 307 University Dr, College Station, TX 77840 

Description: Aggie Bonfire Redpot – single male figure, wearing jeans and a T-shirt, wearing a U.S. Army “liner” helmet, left arm raised with hand upward and forward, holding an axe in his right hand, striding over two logs. 

Artist: Edd Hayes

Dimensions: H: 82.5 in, W: 40”, D: 30”

 

 

PRESS RELEASE: May 10, 2005, College Station, Texas 

The Arts Council of Brazos Valley will install and dedicate a life-size bronze sculpture of an Aggie Bonfire Redpot at the north entrance of Bottle Cap Alley on the Northgate Promenade in College Station at 10:30 am, Thursday, May 12, 2005. 

Dr. P. David Romei, Executive Director of the Arts Council, said the sculpture will stand upon a 10,000-pound block of polished black granite and will become the focal point of Northgate. The sculpture is named “Aggie Spirit.” The sculptor is the well-known artist Edd Hayes of Spring, Texas. Work on the sculpture began last fall and is part of the Arts Council’s Public Art Program. 

Romei said the Arts Council’s board of directors decided last year to commission a sculpture for the Northgate area that would demonstrate and reflect the special bond between Aggies and College Station/Bryan. Funds for the sculpture were made possible by grants from private donors, College Station, Bryan, and Brazos County. Mark Dudley of Dudley Construction donated the infrastructure foundation work required to sustain such a massive stone and the sculpture. Rocky Choate Monuments mastered the installation and engravings. 

“Aggie Spirit” is representative art that reflects the strength and hope of youth, the willingness of Aggies to work together to achieve great results, the upward vision of a country blessed by God, and the Aggie Ring, that most important symbol which unites Aggies the world over. According to Romei, the most outstanding symbolism of the sculpture is the more than 100 years of Aggies working together with courage and determination to win America’s wars on battlefields all over the world and thereby securing freedom and prosperity through strength and faith in their fellow Aggies and Americans. 

Netta Simek, the President of the Arts Council and wife of Major General John Simek, US Army Retired, Class of 1958, said, “Bonfire represents the determination of young people to envision a goal, work to achieve it and create bonds and friendships that last for their lifetimes. It is a unique expression of the Aggie traditions that we hold so close to our hearts, that we value in our community, and that we freely share with all who want tomorrow to be better than today. This sculpture will be a constant reminder of our special culture and of what it means to be an “Aggie.”

The Arts Council of Brazos Valley is proud that its 25th work of public art is “Aggie Spirit,” and we encourage everyone to attend its installation and dedication.

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