Sculpture Arrives in Huntington Station

 A limestone sculpture has arrived at a Huntington Station plaza, part of the continuing revitalization effort for the neighborhood.

"Generations," a four-piece sculpture depicting a guitar player, grandmother and child, guitar case, and drum, is situated on the plaza at Olive Street and New York Avenue.

   The Huntington Station Plaza took another significant step toward completion recently with the installation of “Generations,” a four-piece limestone sculpture that will serve as a centerpiece for the Huntington Station revitalization project that is in its final stages.

 Denver sculptor Madeline Wiener created the piece, one of her series of "bench people" meant to allow people to sit on as well as view.

    “Generations is a work of art that people can come to the plaza to enjoy and that they can use to enjoy the plaza,” said Huntington Supervisor Frank P. Petrone, who met with Wiener during the installation.  “This sculpture both furthers the goals of the is the Town’s Public Art Initiative and exemplifies the revitalization “smart growth” principle of developing a public infrastructure of beautiful places that become walkable destinations within a community.

An official ceremony welcoming the sculpture will be part of the formal plaza dedication that will be held after the installation of landscaping and completion of other final details of the Plaza’s construction.

  The installation of Generations was the final step in a process that began in 2011 with issuance by the Town’s Public Art Initiative of a Request for Qualifications (RFQ) seeking submissions from interested artists. Following review of the 54 submissions, an Artist Selection Panel unanimously recommended Wiener based on her extensive experience, the quality of her past work,  and the appropriateness of her “bench people” concept for this project location. The town said the sculpture was placed on the plaza with the help of a crane and riggers from Huntington-based C. R. Hamilton.

It also said that though the artist lives in Denver, she had grown up in Brooklyn and often visited Long Island, including relatives in Huntington.

 In addition, a series of interviews with a wide variety of different Huntington Station residents and community leaders helped the artist develop her concept for “Generations,” which "draws upon the importance of music in our community as well as a strong cross-cultural and multi-generational emphasis on families," the town said.

 The artwork arrived in Huntington on Friday, having left Denver on a flatbed truck on April 1.  Design and creation of the work was supported by grants from the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and from Round 6 of the Suffolk County Downtown Revitalization Program, as well as funds from the Town Public Art Initiative.

  Photos of each step in the creation of “Generations” can be seen on the project blog at http://huntingtonstationgenerations.wordpress.com/.  For additional information about the Wiener and other works that she has created, visit www.madelinewiener.com.