The Pillar Sundial by Rochester native artist C. Anthony Huber is a large-scale public sculpture that unites material form with the measurement of time. Rising as a vertical column of cast concrete, the work anchors itself in the Rochester landscape, registering both the permanence of stone and the fleeting passage of sunlight.
At its base, the sculpture incorporates fourteen concrete discs, each 24 inches across and 12 inches high. The top twelve discs represent the months of the year: each is incised with markings that match the exact number of days in that month, with a small metal dot indicating the first day. Leap years are noted by a quarter incision on the first day of February. The bottom two discs symbolize the summer and fall equinoxes, linking the calendar to celestial movement.
The design is infused with layers of numerical symbolism:
24-inch diameter discs represent the 24 hours in a day.
The 8-inch interior supporting pole signifies the traditional 8-hour workday.
The stacked height of the 12 calendar discs equals 365 cm, mirroring the 365 days in a year.
Discs with first-day dots are divided into quarters, referencing the quarterly structure of business and economy.
Unlike traditional horizontal sundials, the vertical pillar emphasizes duration and continuity, using solid material to capture the ephemeral play of shadow. The result is both a functional and poetic marker of time—where human calendars, natural rhythms, and celestial cycles converge.
Installed in Rochester, Minnesota, the Pillar Sundial stands as both a civic landmark and a personal gesture: a Rochester-born artist offering his hometown a monument to the intertwined passage of days, seasons, and years.
