Simmons' story

Linda Rouvet was working on a graphic design project focusing on Charleston ironwork when she met blacksmith Philip Simmons. She could not find very much written on the subject, so a professor advised her to consult with Simmons.

That was more than 25 years ago, and like many, Rouvet became an admirer of Simmons and an apprentice in his shop on Charleston's East Side, she says.

During that time, she heard Simmons tell the "Story of Charleston" in iron to many schoolchildren. The late blacksmith's gates grace numerous Holy City homes and gardens.

Simmons, Rouvet says, dreamed of constructing panels featuring those symbols but never did. So today, she is leading an effort to get them designed, made and placed in a public location in Charleston to honor the much-celebrated blacksmith, who died in 2009.

Citizens and Friends of Charleston Society, an organization of businesses, churches and other groups, is pursuing the project called "Philip Simmons Opus."

Rouvet, who is a retired graphic designer, says she will unveil the project Saturday at the Mall Park greenspace at Columbus and America streets. The area will be dedicated as the Philip Simmons Mall Park, the result of an effort by the group Concerned Citizens of the Peninsula/Lowcountry. The park is in the same area as Simmons' Blake Street blacksmith shop.

Citizens and Friends of Charleston Society plans to formally petition City Council at its Feb. 23 meeting to have the memorial installed in Cannon Park on Rutledge Avenue as the official Charleston memorial to the late blacksmith.

Each of the eight panels would be 4 feet wide by 12 feet tall and together take up 32 feet, Rouvet says. Each panel will include symbols Simmons used to express certain periods in Charleston's history. The memorial would be interactive and feature Simmons telling the story in his own voice.

"I recorded it when he was speaking at a school," Rouvet says.

The first panel would depict "Creation" with a 5-point star and fish elements from Simmons' Smithsonian piece; the second, "Indians" with spears and wiggle-tails depicting "fire"; third, "Farmers" with a rice sheath; fourth, "Horseshoe" with a Palmetto tree recalling the South Carolina flag's design; fifth, "Wagon Wheel" featuring a Charleston wheel from the 18th century and snake; sixth, the train the Best Friend, showing a train wheel from the 19th century; seventh, the "Industrial Revolution" with a car/truck/bus including the "Bus of Defiance" and an egret; and eighth, depicting "Heaven/Eternity" with a cross and heart, elements from the "Heart Gate" design.

Yaw Owusu Shangofemi, blacksmith instructor at the American College of the Building Arts, is using the elements in Simmons' designs to create the memorial panels, he says. The panels will be made of forged steel and should be completed next month.

"Linda had been talking to Philip Simmons about this project for the last 10 years," says Shangofemi, who moved next door to Simmons and began an apprenticeship under him in 1978. Shangofemi never stopped consulting with Simmons even when he opened his own shops in Atlanta and in New York, he says.

Ade Ofunniyin, the provost at the American College of the Building Arts and Simmons' grandson, met Rouvet and learned of her interest in carrying out the project when he returned to Charleston a few months ago.

"I was familiar with his dream, but I was not aware of her relationship with him and assistance in doing this until I met her a few months ago. It sounded like something that would honor my grandfather," Ofunniyin says.

"Since I worked with Yaw for the last 20 some odd years and in fact trained with him in my granddad's shop, I would say that he is the likely person (to design the memorial), outside of those guys who are within the shop now. I would think that he would do all that he can to honor my grandfather, his legacy and his work," he says.

"He was an artisan in his lifetime and called attention to the fact that African people contributed quite a bit to the aesthetic building art and beauty of Charleston," Ofunniyin says.

He says it does not matter to him where the memorial is installed, but that according to Rouvet, his grandfather wished to have it in Cannon Park.

"I am inclined to represent the project," Ofunniyin says.

Reach Wevonneda Minis at 937-5705 or wminis@postandcourier.com.