Anderson University sculpture depicts academic, spiritual aspects of student life

The Stringer-Rainey Fountain Sculpture – representing the final piece of construction of the new Thrift Library at Anderson University – was unveiled during recent Founder’s Day ceremonies.

The original work, commissioned by the Rainey family of Anderson and the Stringer-Rainey Foundation, depicts students engaged in such activities as reading the Bible, playing the violin, working on a laptop computer, dancing and writing. At four corners of the fountain sculpture, water jets are framed by four literary works – the Bible, a history of South Carolina, “Hamlet,” and “The Sound and the Fury” by William Faulkner.

“The work includes the idea of the university experience,” said sculptor Marc Mellon. “In this environment you grow intellectually, spiritually and through the arts.”

Mellon is one of America’s premier figurative sculptors in bronze. His commissioned projects include bronze busts of former President George Bush (in the collection of the National Portrait Gallery of the Smithsonian Institution) and Pope John Paul II (in the papal apartments, The Vatican).

The unveiling capped Founder’s Day activities on the Anderson campus. Greenville businesswoman and philanthropist Minor Mickel Shaw was the keynote speaker. She commended Anderson University for the high number of top teachers it places in South Carolina schools each year and urged the student body to become active in improving South Carolina’s schools. She spoke of a recent medical mission trip to Tanzania where children have few educational opportunities, but sacrifice everything for those they do have.