The sundial sculpture by Robert Dhaemers on the Oakland campus resembles three interlocking triangles.
Title: Sundial
Artist: Robert Dhaemers (1926-2014)
Materials: Corten Steel
Size: 26 feet long x 16 feet high x 6 feet wide
Location: In the courtyard of the Physical Sciences and Mathematics building on the Oakland campus.
About: Robert Dhaemers was born in Minnesota and moved to the San Francisco Bay Area in 1945. After he earned his bachelor’s and master’s in Fine Arts from the California College of Arts and Crafts, he joined the faculty of Mills College, where he taught art from 1957 to 1984.
Dhaemers wrote an article for Mills Magazine in 1970 describing his process for the design of the sundial. Richard Wistar, head of the Department of Physical Sciences and Mathematics, asked Dhaemers to create a sundial for the department’s new building, dedicated in May 1970.
“What an interesting and exciting challenge,” Dhaemers wrote. “But what do I know about sundials, except that they cast a shadow and indicate the time?”
Known for his sculpture, jewelry-making, painting and print-making, Dhaemers decided on a simple, free-standing design. Thinking back to one of his previous sculptures, one that people could sit on, he decided that the sundial should serve double duty as a bench.
Resembling a sculpture of three interlocking triangles, the sundial’s 2-inch thick steel plates create the dial’s gnomon (the part that casts a shadow) and supporting structure. Hour markers are on the lawn and brick patio around the dial. The sundial weighs about 5,700 pounds.
Dhaemers wrote that it was a gratifying commission to create a scientific object and teaching tool that reflected all of the department’s disciplines.