New York artist selected to contribute boat sculpture for Dublin's Art in Public Places program
A 25-by-18-foot boat sculpture made by the hands of a New York artist will be added in 2023 at the M.L. “Red” Trabue Nature Reserve, the 90-acre Dublin park with entrances at 6835 Avery-Muirfield Drive and 6566 Post Road.
Titled “The Boat in the Field,” the permanent artwork will be the latest to be commissioned by the Dublin Arts Council as part of its Art in Public Places program.
The $150,000 commission, awarded to Ilan Averbuch of Long Island City, New York, was announced Jan. 25 by Dublin Arts Council executive director David Guion after a recommendation was presented to Dublin City Council on Jan. 24.
Speaking from his studio in the Queens borough of New York City, Averbuch said he is pleased to have been selected to install his work in “such a beautiful park.”
Averbuch said his career in sculpture began with using tree bark and other natural materials found in his yard while a child in Israel and continued during his education at schools in New York and London.
Guion, who was one of the eight members on the jury who selected Averbuch, called the artist’s presentation “alluring.”
“It raises my curiosity level and promotes discussion, interpretation and response," Guion said. "The intended meaning of the artwork is not just about the artist’s expression but about the viewer’s own experience and how the viewer interacts with this unique creation."
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The sculpture will be 25 feet tall, 18 feet wide and 15 feet deep and created from recycled industrial materials in Ohio, such as stone and COR-TEN weathering steel, Cooper said.
“The sculpture will be long-lasting and require very little maintenance,” Cooper said.
The sculpture site will be in proximity to but out of sight of Karrer Pond and the juncture of a paved and natural path at the park, she said.
The stone skeletal structure of the boat will be raised about 15 feet in the air “as if frozen in mid-flight” on a skeletal tower made of vertical beams, Cooper said.
Averbuch described his piece as a blending of two images, a boat and the rising beams, meant to depict the desire to journey and voyage but also to have “rootedness.”
Averbuch’s work exists in public and private collections in Canada, Denmark, Germany, France, Israel, Switzerland, and throughout the United States, Cooper said.
According to the project’s timeline, the sculpture is slated for installation in summer 2023.
Averbuch will do “prep work” at his New York studio and transport material to the nature reserve, Cooper said.
Cooper said Averbuch was a finalist in 2016 when the Dublin Arts Council searched for an artist for a project that resulted in "Feather Point" at Thaddeus Kosciuszko Park.
For further information about Averbuch, go to Ilanaverbuch.com
The M.L. “Red” Trabue Nature Reserve features restored wetlands, vernal pools, a fishing pond, arboretum, biking and walking paths and wildflower and prairie grasslands, Cooper said.
Dublin’s Art in Public Places program began in 1988 and includes 21 large-scale permanent, site-specific installations valued at $3.8 million, Cooper said.
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This article originally appeared on ThisWeek: New York artist selected to contribute boat sculpture in M.L. "Red" Trabue Nature Reserve for Dublin's Art in Public Places program
