Randall's Island Park

The Daily Plant : Wednesday, November 1, 2000

BRONZE-CAST HABITATS ON EXHIBIT IN CITY PARKS

Image courtesy of Steve Tobin

BRONZE-CAST HABITATS ON EXHIBIT IN CITY PARKS

This morning, artist Steve Tobin and a crew of workers will install seven innovative sculptures in two city parks. The installation of pieces as tall as 18 feet and as heavy as 4,000 pounds will require the assistance of a forklift, and is guaranteed to make passersby look twice. Tobin's sculptures are bronze castings of the towering termite hills that inspired him when he visited Ghana in 1996. Termites there bind together dirt, saliva, and excrement, and live inside the resulting towers.

Seen from a distance, each termite hill might be a peak in a mountain range, or in New York, the abstract jewel of an urban skyline. The newly renovated Theodore Roosevelt Park outside the American Museum of Natural history, and Montefiore Park, located in West Harlem across the street from a school, make ideal locations for a blend of architecture and artifact to occur. The works, transported across the ocean, emphasize the value of cross-cultural exchange. They highlight the structural in nature and the art of functional design.

The artist describes his work "as monuments to the insect gods and glory of nature." Tobin took rubber impressions of actual mounds and cast them later in bronze in his studio. The termite mounds are part of a twelve piece series which includes a sample of the clay hill that Tobin glazed and fired. This piece will be on display inside the American Museum of Natural History. Next year, Tobin plans to return to the village of Nswam in Ghana to build giant kilns over abandoned mounds and glaze and fire entire termite-made structures. Also on display at Roosevelt Park is Roots, a representation of the root system of a dead oak tree the artist excavated from his farm property in Pennsylvania and cast in bronze. Fabricating this sculpture involved more than 2000 individual castings; the result reveals the beauty of the half of a tree normally obscured from view. Tobin's works will be on exhibit for the next six months.

CONGRATULATIONS TO THE MANHATTAN SOFTBALL TEAM

The Manhattan Softball Team defeated the previously unbeaten Bronx Team 10-1 at Randalls Island on October 2nd for the Parks employee championship. Manhattan pitcher, Jack Rohan, hurled a one-hitter. The offensive attack was a total team effort. Manhattan outscored their opponents 34-2 in their three game playoff run. The members of the Manhattan championship team are Chris (Robin Hood) Caropolo, Frank (Cheech) Mazzuca, Jay Cuevas, Scott (Scottoobee) McAuliffe, Joe Reyes, Ray Henderson, Tom Vinetti, Jack Rohan, Danny (Comrade) Mercado, Angel Figueroa, Armand Laboy and manager, Al (Ring Buoy) Vinetti.

THIRTEEN YEARS AGO IN THE PLANT
(Wednesday, November 4, 1987)

GRAND MARNIER ADOPTS JOAN OF ARC MONUMENT

Mayor Edward I. Koch, Commissioner Stern, Ambassador of France Emmanuel de Margerie and Director of the Grand Marnier Foundation Michel Roux joined other dignitaries and guests last Friday to unveil the restored Joan of Arc Monument at Riverside Drive and West 93rd Street in Manhattan.

The bronze equestrian statue, returned to its original splendor through a $34,500 donation by the Grand Marnier Foundation, was unveiled in 293-acre Riverside Park overlooking the Hudson.

QUOTATION FOR THE DAY

I saw spiders marching through the air, Swimming from tree to tree that mildewed day In latter August when the hay Came creaking to the barn.

Robert Lowell (1917-1977)