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Sundials of Robert Adzema

Harborside sundial by Robert Adzema

Sunlight and shadow

My sundials are abstract sculptures that measure the apparent motion of the sun throughout the day, the seasons and even the year. These mostly large, public works are carefully laid out, accurate both mathematically and geometrically, cast or fabricated in bronze, steel or stone and permanently set for their exact location. They are intrinsically about sunlight and shadow.

I have been using the science of sundials as the basis of my many successful public art projects since 1976. I endeavor to make sunlight physical and make time and place inseparable. The work is site specific where the forms evolve out of the exact longitude and latitude of the site as well as the surrounding physical and historical landscape and input from the community. I prize good fit, where the form, color, materials, size, scale and content work in relation to both the human scale and the site.

Unique sundial sculptures for public spaces, private gardens and memorials

While many of my sundial sculptures were designed for public spaces, like the sundial at Harborside in Jersey City, NJ, shown above in its setting across the Hudson River from Manhattan, I have also designed smaller scale sundials for private gardens and as memorials. You will find images of my sundials in their settings on pages here of Public Sundials, Memorial Sundials and Garden Sundials. For those interested I have also included a page on the Sundial Design Process.

Should you wish to discuss whether your site might work as a setting for a community, municipal or private sundial, please contact me.