2003 Prize - Helm Roberts
At the 2003 NASS Conference in Banff, Alberta Canada, Fred Sawyer presented the fourth Sawyer Dialing Prize to Helm Roberts for his design and construction of the Kentucky Vietnam Veterans’ Memorial. http://www.kyvietnammemorial.net/
The certificate read in part: “In recognition of his understanding that the spirit of a sundial can not only stir the imagination but also help to heal the heart and preserve fond memory, as evidenced in his design of the Kentucky Vietnam Veteran’s Memorial.” Helm also received the Sawyer Prize cash award and a beautiful special edition of Jim Tallman’s Spectra Sundial in etched glass.
Helm Roberts then gave an intriguing and moving presentation, “Making the Memorial – the Design, Theory, and Construction of the Kentucky Vietnam Veterans Memorial” at Frankfort, KY. The gnomon is made of stainless steel, and the end point of its shadow annually touches the engraved name of each of over 1100 soldiers on the anniversary of the day of death. The political and mechanical issues are fascinating, resulting in a truly artistic triumph. http://www.artisanindustrials.com/world-of-sundials/spectra-sundial-frankfort.html
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2002 Prize - John Carmichael
At the 2002 NASS Conference in Tucson AZ, Fred Sawyer presented the Sawyer Dialing Prize to John Carmichael. Fred presented John with a trophy equatorial dial by Tony Moss and a certificate of appreciation for John’s work in recognition of his efforts to bring dialing to a high tech world and his demonstration that it is still possible in that world to prosper as a traditional craftsman of high quality heliochronometers.
John produces a wide variety of sundials, principally in stone and glass. Many are on public display in parks while others are in private buildings and homes. Visit John’s website at http://www.sundialsculptures.com/ to see the many dials he has produced.
In response to the award, John presented his paper on “Polar Axis Gnomons with Multiple Styles.” In his talk, John outlined his idea for a project to use the structure of the McMath-Pierce Solar Telescope as the gnomon for a sundial. Although the telescope tube is at the correct polar angle for use as a gnomon, the design is complicated by its size and thickness. The style width creates different shadows projected from different edges of the structure as the day passes and the fuzziness of the penumbral shadow complicates the reading of the time.
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2001 Prize - Robert Adzema
At the 2001 NASS Conference in Montreal, Canada, Fred Sawyer presented the Sawyer Dialing Prize to Robert Adzema, with the award given “in recognition of his demonstrations, in sculpture and in print, that with a sundial we can experience light as a tangible form and “time and place” as inseparable.” Fred presented Robert with the certificate of recognition and a beautiful trophy equatorial by Tony Moss. Robert will donate the Sawyer cash prize to a worthy cause.
Robert describes “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 about sunlight and shadow.”
For more of Adzema’s work, read about the Suffern Free Library Sundial in The Compendium [Vol. 8 No. 4] December 2001 or visit http://www.robertadzema.com/
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2000 Prize - Fer J. de Vries
At the 2000 NASS Conference in San Francisco, CA, Fred Sawyer announced the presentation of the first annual Sawyer Dialing Prize to Fer J. de Vries “in recognition of his many years of dedication to dialing, and in gratitude for his development of Zonwvlak and his always helpful encouragement and support of the global dialing community.”
Fer could not attend the conference, but he sent a letter of appreciation asking that the cash award be donated in his name to the University of California Regents for use as a one-time prize fund for U.C. Berkeley’s Architecture 140 course where students are required to make a sundial.
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