Who is Giant Geo?
While all our friends at the museum always greet guests with a friendly face, there is one team member who stands out above the rest: Geo! Geo is our museum’s mascot, a vibrant and colorful character made from various geometric shapes. Though Geo doesn’t have a traditional face, he’s still one of the friendliest and most recognizable figures here at TCMU. He is often spotted around the museum and Giant Geo can be seen hanging out on the front lawn, adding color and cheer to Heritage Green!
Meet Geo’s Friends: Iconic Greenville Art
You can hang out or take pictures with Giant Geo on the lawn in front of our Greenville museum anytime! But did you know that Greenville is home to many other impressive statues that stand as a friendly face to visitors, just like Geo?
- Joel Poinsett Statue: Located in front of City Hall, this statue depicts Joel Poinsett, a famous visitor of Greenville sat with pen in hand. Poinsett was known for his roles as Secretary of War, U.S. Congressman, and South Carolina state legislator!
- Vardry McBee Statue: Strolling further down Main Street, you’ll find the statue of Vardry McBee, known as the “Father of Greenville” looking over the town he founded!
Statues aren’t the only form of public art that grace Greenville. Many murals are likely to catch your eye!
- Canvas Tower Mural: Right across the street from Geo stands this photorealistic mural, painted in honor of the 50th anniversary of the desegregation of schools in South Carolina. The 8-story mural painted by Australian visual artist and photographer Guido van Helten, features former Greenville school teacher Pearlie Harris and school children.
- Camperdown Plaza: This plaza keeps the city vibrant with new murals every few months, ensuring there’s always something fresh to see! Try to find Geo in this mural by local artists We Art Design!
Giant Geo’s Early Life
Giant Geo joined our family on January 22, 2014, making it over ten years since his grand arrival! (Watch this Instagram Reel we posted to celebrate his 10th anniversary!) Due to his enormous size, Geo was delivered to his new home in front of the museum by crane.
Did you know Geo wasn’t always named Geo? When the museum was first founded, he was known as Mr. Shapey. As we got to know him better, we upgraded to a first-name basis, and Geo was born!
What Shapes Make Geo?
- Head: Yellow sphere
- Torso: Purple cylinder
- Left Arm: Red cone
- Right Arm: Green triangular prism
- Left Leg: Blue rectangular prism
- Right Leg: Pink rectangular prism
Giant Geo Fun Facts
Check out these fun facts about our beloved Giant Geo!
- His head measures about 113 inches in circumference—just under four times the size of an average basketball!
- Geo’s torso is 35 inches tall, roughly the length of four new pencils and one gently used pencil.
- According to our Facilities Manager Ricky, Geo gets a bath every couple of years and will be receiving a fresh paint job soon to ensure he looks his absolute best! He’s still sporting his original paint job 2014.
Giant Geo’s Wardrobe
Geo loves to celebrate holidays and exciting museum events in fun costumes. Over the years, Geo has dressed in:
- A pumpkin for Halloween- Geo’s first holiday look! You may remember this from the fall of 2023.
- A Santa hat for Christmas- Sewn by TCMU’s marketing manager, Geo’s extra large Santa hat was made from several yards of fleece and we used a solid white beach ball for the pom pom!
- Bunny ears for Easter- Geo’s bunny ears arrived in the spring of 2024 to help promote our annual spring fundraising event, Spring & Sprout! A storm rolled through and knocked down the ears so the facilities team had to get extra creative to come up with a way to keep them secure.
- A birthday hat for our anniversary- Ricky, TCMU’s Facilities Manager, created the giant birthday hat and our summer intern Astrid decorated it with decals.
- Pilot gear for the opening of Wings in the Air- To celebrate our major launch of the Wings in the Air exhibit, we dressed Geo up as a pilot, complete with aviator shades and pilot’s wings. The wings were created to look just like the commemorative wings we handed out to guests for the grand opening. Facilities Manager Ricky handcrafted the sunglasses and engineered them in a way to ensure they would not fall off since Giant Geo is lacking something important: ears!
What Does the Future Hold for Geo?
Geo has many more holidays and celebrations coming up, with exciting new costumes waiting for him. What would you like to see Geo dress up as next?
