Sabrina At The Octagon - Who Is That Scantily Clad Goddess?
Our favorite Italian correspondent, Alain, sends in the above photo and asks the following question:
What is the monument entitled to "Sabrina" that sits in front of the Octagon? Have you ever seen it? Who is Sabrina?Roosevelt Island 360 has the answer:
Sabrina is also the patron goddess of Amherst College. A metal casting of her, made by the J.L. Mott Iron Works of New York City, was given to the college by Massachusetts Lieut. Governor Joel Hayden in 1957. The statue was located adjacent to The Octagon building on the Amherst campus until 1885. Roosevelt Island's installation reestablishes the historic setting of Sabrina adjacent to an Octagonal building.Read more about the sculpture here.
And check out the nearby Marriage of Real Estate and Money sculpture by Tom Otterness in the East River between the Octagon and Manhattan Park.
I have always enjoyed what has come to be called "public art" including recent projects such as Christo's Central Park Gates, Thom Sokoloski's Roosevelt Island Encampment and even Olafur Eliasson's current East River Waterfalls. In the near future, I think it would be great to see other examples of "public art", for instance 3D Street Art, come to the sidewalks or waterfront promenade of Roosevelt Island.
All images came from the weburbanist blog highlighting 10 of the world's most amazing 3D street artists. According to weburbanist 3D street art or:
3D graffiti, whether it’s in chalk or paint, on walls or the street, represents a new way of combining the mastery of Renaissance art techniques with the gritty, ephemeral qualities of amazing street art. These 3D street artists gives graffiti a whole new meaning – one that departs from the conventional interpretation of graffiti as vandalism in the form of images and letters scrawled on public property. Artists like Kurt Wenner, Eduardo Relero and Tracy Lee Stum create street art that’s so incredible it is almost impossible to pass by without being sucked in to the worlds they create on asphalt and concrete surfaces.Looks pretty cool to me!
4 comments :
those people would receive a summons here in new york... vandals, you know.
if you think i'm kidding check gothamist and curbed for sagas of ticketed street artists, including a 7-year-old girl.
i think the "vandals" label applies if you mark up private or public property without permission of the owner.
No such problem if done with permission of the property owner.
In European countries, cities have designated areas on pedestrian streets for permitted street artists to work their magic. It's a shame that the US has not been able to get on board with this type of program. It would be great to see most cities set up street art areas, like in Florence, Italy, where the artist could work legally for the public's enjoyment. In Italy the street sweepers come by in the evening to wash away the artwork, but at least it is there for the course of the day and the artists have a viable way to practice their craft.
This is Sabrina by William Calder Marshall
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