The upcoming School and Campus Design Issue of Landscape Architect and Specifier News saw many firms submit their projects for feature consideration. This project was not chosen for a Feature in the issue, but we at LandscapeArchitect.com thought the project deserved to be showcased online . . .

Texas A&M - and every land grant college in the state of Texas - owes its existence to a Reconstruction-era state senator named Matthew Gaines. For the past 20 years, student groups have tried to get the university to create a monument to him, and this November the installation of the monument finally happened! Gaines, who was Black, now has a full-length portrait monument in bronze set on a granite pedestal in a quiet, beautifully landscaped spot carved out of a central location on the massive campus. It is the first full-body sculpture of a Black Texan on the TAMU campus, letting the Black student body know that not only were their voices heard, but that they also belong on campus.

 
The sculpture shows Gaines, wearing a period cut-away suit, mounting stairs: a metaphor for education helping eveyone rise in life.
He holds a Bible and a Texas Law book - having taught himself to read as an enslaved child, after Juneteenth he became a preacher and then was elected to the state senate. He holds his right hand out, gesturing as he speaks but also offering his hand to help students follow in his footsteps.
Challenges included the need for 25' long piers to stabilize the sculpture base in unstable soil, and the need to control drainage within the plaza.
The sculpture is set in Rudder Plaza, with a small buff-brick plaza, seating and landscaping as well as signage describing major donors. Curtis Russel has photos of the finished plaza.

Team List:

Sculptor: David Alan Clark
Pedestal: Tony Watson, Watson Monument
Landscape Architect: Curtis Russell, SSC