Ithaca College

Rob Licht, Preparator for the Handwerker Gallery was recently a visiting artist for SUNY Cortland at their Outdoor Education Center on Raquette Lake in the Adirondacks.  

Rob Licht, Preparator for the Handwerker Gallery was recently a visiting artist for SUNY Cortland at their Outdoor Education Center on Raquette Lake in the Adirondacks.  Over the weekend of September 20-22 Licht worked with Art students on the grounds of historic Camp Huntington to create an environmental sculpture titled Wilderness Bisect.

The camp was originally owned by Thomas C. Durant, who helped build the Transcontinental Railroad. The sculpture installation acknowledged that effort by connecting opposite sides of the peninsula with a 2200 foot straight line of surveyors tape.  The students worked in two teams from opposite sides; where they met was marked  by the placement of a golden railroad spike in acknowledgment of the famous event  attended by Durant and others at Promontory Point, Utah in 1869.

The work examines the complex history of the Adirondacks and connection of wealthy robber barons to the eventual preservation of the Adirondack wilderness. It also serves as transect, providing viewers the opportunity to objectively assess the wilderness and reflect upon it.

Licht will give a talk on the work at SUNY Cortland at a later date.