Q&A with USCT Statue Artist: Pamela Keller

In early 2022, Giles County artist and professor of art at Athens State University Pamela Sue Keller was commissioned by the Pulaski City Council’s Community Advisory Council on Inclusive Recognition and Acknowledgement to create a statue honoring the 110th and 111th regiments of the United States Colored Troops.

This statue is part of a larger effort to represent the lesser-known parts of Giles County’s history, especially the contributions of individuals from minority groups. 

Keller’s other works can be found in various places throughout the county including: 

• A pair of hound dogs reading Huckleberry Finn at the Giles County Library 

• A Native American family at the Giles County Trail of Tears 

• Portrait busts of 3 past Giles County governors at the Giles County Courthouse

• A veterans remembrance bench at the Rec Center near the graveyard 

“I ask God to help me create works for women, real women, not Mother Goose, real women and people of color,” Keller said. “And I wanted to put those people on pedestals, particularly women, because that's where we have the fewest number of bronze sculptures. And I just wanted God to help guide me there.” 

We hope you enjoy our brief interview with Keller about the impending USCT Statue at Cave Springs Park! 

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What is the significance of this statue? 

The committee came to me to talk about a design of a soldier from the United States Colored Troops of which there were two regiments of USCT troops; the 110th and 111th. And we actually had a few photographs of Giles Countians who served and they were camped on what was called Fort Hill in Pulaski, which is, they call it now Cave Springs Park toward the north end on 31. 

The troops, the regiments themselves did some great things like they forced Nathan Deadwood, Bedford Forrest army to flee Pulaski. They set General Hood and his Confederate Army running away from the battle in Nashville. They protected a trestle down in North Alabama. 

And the people of color in our community are proud and some of them are direct descendants of those soldiers, because the soldiers settled here after the war. 

The main patron of the sculpture thought that if young black men could see how their ancestors stepped into battle for their freedom, they would understand that these were enslaved people, not slaves. You know, they were captured and made to do things but they were engineers and bridge builders and healers. They weren't slaves. They were enslaved. 

So the main patron really wanted kids to look at the sculpture, and be proud of who they were, and maybe study a little bit about their ancestors or about the USCT. 

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Tell us more about the statue you designed and created.

So I did a lot of research, paid a lot of attention to detail. 

I experimented in my studio with prototyping so that every button would be exactly alike. I had an experiment where the buckle of the uniform and the sash badge were carved and then cast in wax clay and the results are really crisp and full of detail. 

I researched the rifle. We talked about whether the soldier should have a gun or not. And most of the team thought that he should but the main patron was against it. But when I drew it out, that gun which is a Springfield 1861, it could look like a walking stick. It's very slim, it's very long. And the way he has it resting near his foot and kind of prompt a little bit pointing over one shoulder. It looks almost like a walking stick and you have to kind of look to see if it's a gun. So we thought we did a good job with that detail of the design. 

There's a peculiar hat that the Union troops wore called it kepe cat Kep IE. And it has this distinct slouch to it, almost like somebody got hit with a book on the front of their hat. The hat is very smooshed in the front. 

So I researched numerous historic photographs. And I documented my research with MLA citations, that these things were these pictures, these facts are peer reviewed. 

We also have Cochrane Pruitt on our team, who is military and knows the precise, the uniform needs to have the distance between the buttons, you know, the exact placement of the sash badge and where they wear their belt, those are all exact, because they're in uniform. So we checked out all that with him. 

In the process, the main patron decided that it would be more effective if the soldier wasn't just standing alone, but was talking to a kid about the wisdom he's learned or the experiences he's had. So we really drill in the drawing a little boy kind of in bedraggled clothes, barefoot. And he's almost slightly bent backwards, just gazing up at this tall, heroic figure. And the soldier has his right hand placed on the boy's left shoulder, but just the fingers are touching every show slightly, so it doesn't look like he's grabbing the boy, or putting pressure on the boy, it just looks like a sweet touch. And they're looking eye to eye at each other. 

Then we used an interesting quality to the design by casting the face of someone who the patron thought would make the ideal looking soldier because I was able to use actual life cast as part of the sculpture and it just looked really good. 

So we, I put it all together, you know, I sculpted on it for I would say maybe five months. And then the committee came to my studio…Then I began the process of taking it down to Atlanta, that’s where the foundry that I work out of is. And we started the casting process, which starts with dismantling the actual sculpture into more manageable sized pieces. 

So at this stage, we're at the wax casting process. And I'll go down I think it's March 14, and work at the foundry that week. And we'll be doing all the wax molds. Plaster wax inside them, heat up the plaster, the wax pours out and then the molten metal pours in, in replace of it. 

So that process of pouring the actual bronze will start after the second week of March. And then we hope to have the figure done by the end of May. And I think they're looking at a Juneteenth opening, Juneteenth being June 19th.