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Charles E. Gagnon

Charles (Chuck) E. Gagnon (1943-2012) was the only professional sculptor in Rochester, MN during the late 20th century. He primarily created relative sculptures out of bronze, along with some bronze and paper reliefs. His works of art came in all shapes and sizes and were crafted to inspire peace, beauty and hope, focusing on positive emotions and can be found throughout the Mayo Clinic, Rochester, MN and all around the world, notably in Germany, the Vatican, the Virgin Islands, and Kenyon College, OH.

Early Years

Charles Eugene Gagnon was born on February 24, 1934, to Eugene and Inez Gagnon in Minneapolis, MN. From an early age, Chuck expressed a love for art, often drawing and carving soap, wood, clay, and even potatoes. Following family tradition, Chuck attended De La Salle High School. Chuck created a job of retrieving golf balls from ponds at local golf courses to help pay for his high school education. After graduating high school in 1952, Chuck joined the Navy until the Korean War ended in 1953. After the war, Chuck went to college to get a degree in teaching. In 1957 through 1958, he was one of ten US students chosen to teach in military-dependent schools in Germany. In 1960, Chuck graduated from the University of Minnesota with his Master's Degree.

Professional Years

As much as he enjoyed teaching, Chuck couldn't shake his love for art. In the early 1960s, Chuck was offered his first studio by Dr. and Mrs. Rome, who offered their carriage house. He worked mainly with figurative sculpture, focusing on the poise and grace of dancers at the time. Sculptures such as the Dancer Stretching and Dancer at Rest emphasize detail of how a dancer carries their body. During this time, Chuck started the Art Department at Lourdes High School in Rochester, MN in 1962. He met his soon to be wife, Aryln, in 1963, and married her in 1964. The concentration and use of simple bases can be seen in the sculptures he created during his honeymoon in Tuscany, Italy. Later, in the 1960’s, Chuck completed a commission to create Saint Francis and the Birds, which expanded his work to incorporate doves. The sculpture connects the human and nature relationship that Saint Francis characterized through his life as a patron of nature.

1970s

As his career progressed, Chuck received a commission to create a sculpture in gratitude for an exceptional education at Kenyon College. The Renaissance Man and Woman were created to inspire the future graduates to enlighten themselves in scholarship and equality and was installed in 1973. The piece also memorialized the first year woman were allowed to attend Kenyon College. The second half of the 1970s decade was full of commissions for personal and public portraits. The Mrs. M and Young Boy were commissioned for individual collections. Mayo Clinic commissioned the bust of Conrad N. Hilton for the lobby of the newly built Hilton Building. The one hundred and twenty-seven distributors of Anderson Windows commissioned a bust of the founder Fred C. Andersen for corporate headquarters in Bayport, Minnesota. During this time, Chuck was acknowledged in the Documentary of International Biography, Who’s Who in American Art, Who’s Who in the Midwest, and Who’s Who in America.

1980s

Later in his career, Chuck began to implement more nature into his sculpture. As seen in Metamorphosis, roots are drawn on to the bronze to show life reaching upwards to expand. Similarly, the movement of roots was used to show the growth of life in Celebration/Emergence of Life. At the end of the 1980s, Chuck received a commission from the city of Rochester to enlarge his Peace Fountain for a focal point for downtown. The Peace Fountain was unveiled in the Peace Plaza in 1989 during Rochesterfest.

1990s

In the 1990s, Chuck invoked doves to create the uplifting tones of his pieces. In the Spirit of Peace, the figure releases doves upward showing an exhilarated expression. Chuck was commissioned by a family in Texas to create the Guardian Angel as a family legacy. In Smokescreen, the dove sits upon the encompassing smoke as a light beyond the darkness. Chuck was awarded the Rochester Mayor’s Gold Medal of Honor for Artistic and Cultural Achievement and was honored by having his sculpture, St. Francis and the Birds, added to the Vatican Art Collection in Rome in 1993.

2000s

In the early 2000s, Chuck received a commission to create an enlarged Peace Fountain for a German company’s international headquarters. The fountain was a few feet taller than the original fountain was was commissioned to inspire peace in future global generations. Chuck’s personal project, the String Quartet, was inspired by years of concerts and performances and the musicians are captured playing classical water music. Chuck’s final commission was for the Flying Hawk. The hawk realizes the spirit of flight as the sculpture soars upward. The Flying Hawk was installed on St. John Island of the US Virgin Islands.

Death and Legacy

Charles E. Gagnon passed away in 2012 due to several brain tumors. He remained cheerful and like his work, spread positive emotions until the day he died. Chuck's legacy lives on through his work, which is spread around the work in private and public collections. His studio and home have been converted into an art museum and sculpture garden in Rochester, MN. It is open to tours and hosts events to continue sharing Gagnon's art with the world.