Gear Up!, by SIU Carbondale alumnus John Adduci, was recently installed at the university’s Glenn Poshard Transportation Education Center. (Photo provided)
August 07, 2025
New sculpture symbolizes success at SIU’s Poshard Transportation Education Center
CARBONDALE, Ill. — Gear Up!, a new 25-foot tall, fabricated aluminum sculpture, will serve as a daily reminder of what Southern Illinois University Carbondale aviation and automotive students can achieve.
Located near the southeast entrance to the Glenn Poshard Transportation Education Center, the 5,000-pound artwork was created by SIU Carbondale alumnus and renowned sculptor John Adduci and installed in mid-July. It features 10 gears and is illuminated at night by an LED fixture from existing lighting on an exterior wall.
For a “seamless architectural integration,” Adduci, who earned his Bachelor of Arts in fine arts in 1971, said he chose a blank wall near the south main entrance of the building, “theoretically connecting the sculpture to the facility” in parallel to SIU, where “interconnectivity and teamwork bring upon world-changing ideas.”
“The sculpture points to the intellectual growth of SIU’s students,” Adduci said, adding that education doesn’t occur in a vacuum.
“Though each piece is distinct, their connective cogs point to the importance of teamwork, synergy and active conversation,” he said. “Mirroring the physical form of SIU, autonomous thinkers come together as a cohesive, productive whole.”
Adduci said that the gear imagery on multiple levels represents “a near-universal symbol of mechanical technology” with an ascending form of motion and “a comment on technology and innovation and progress.” The gears at ground level provide a large bench with separate seating that lends itself “to an outdoor forum for everything from casual get-togethers to formal staff meetings,” he said.
“We’re all influenced by the places and people that surround us. Just as Southern Illinois University laid the groundwork for my artistic education, SIU’s physical infrastructure and supportive environment were the central inspiration behind Gear Up!” Adduci stated in his original proposal to the Illinois Capital Development Board (CDB). “Through a series of interconnected gears, Gear Up! brings a common motif to life. From ground level to several stories above the ground, the gears appear to move upward as they travel toward the sky … an apt metaphor for SIU’s Transportation Education Center.”
Sculpture funds from TEC project
The sculpture is the final piece funded for the $62.8 million facility opened in 2012 and came from building funds through CDB’s Arts-in-Architecture program. The state sets aside one-half of 1% of any construction budget on CDB-built facilities to buy art for buildings by artists who live in the state. Artists must submit design proposals in the competitive process. Another sculpture, Velocity by alumnus John Medwedeff, was installed at the TEC in 2021.
Gear Up! was commissioned in 2015 but held back until 2018 by then Gov. Bruce Rauner and state budget cuts but restarted by Gov. J.B. Pritzker, Adduci said. The project was then delayed by the COVID-19 pandemic before being completed in 2021 and stored until installation.
Adduci said he had one assistant helping him with fabrication in his studio — a converted Chicago “L” system substation, where the piece was also assembled. There were also two people on the installation crew.
Carol LePere, a supervising architect and engineer in SIU Carbondale’s Facilities and Energy Management, said both sculptures “reflect nicely on the aviation and automotive programs in that building and telling their story.”
The more than 187,000-square-foot facility is considered the premier transportation education center in the Midwest and among the top such facilities in the country.