Giving birth to 'The Chanticleer'

Sculptor Bryan Rapp, newly hired as the first artist-in-residence for the visual arts program in the Thomas W. and Robin W. Edwards College of Humanities and Fine Arts, has started constructing a new interpretation of Chauncey, called “The Chanticleer.”

The 12-foot mascot sculpture will greet visitors to Brooks Stadium once that complex is expanded from 9,124 seats to around 19,000 as part of the Chanticleers’ move to the Sun Belt Conference and Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS).

“With two entrances, one on 544 and one into the TD Sports Complex, there was a feeling that we needed a more visible Chauncey for fans entering the football stadium,” said Easton Selby, chair of CCU’s visual arts department. “The first Chauncey is slightly larger than life size and more interactive. The new guy will be larger and more intimidating.”

Here’s Rapp’s report on the new chicken on the block, er, campus.

All is going well with “The Chanticleer.” We began making the platform deck to construct the armature in April across U.S. 501 in the theater warehouse and decided it made more sense to complete the armature process over there.

In May, I fabricated a steel armature and applied spray styrofoam to give it a form. Since then, I've been carving, and presently, I am waiting to confirm an order for rubber and plaster molds.

Once I know for sure that those materials are on the way, I'll start to apply the 2,500 lbs. of wet clay and begin the actual sculpting part.

My goal is to have the detail completed by mid-August, and make molds before the start of the fall semester. Once the molds are completed, I'll move the molds back over to Edwards and begin the waxwork and reconstruction of the sculpture in wax.

My goal is to then carve the wax chicken up into two-foot sections and begin the sand mold process, and maybe get a few bronze pours in by the end of the semester.