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Checking
out the art: a guest at the opening reception at the
Saratoga train station. Photo by: John Whipple
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A
Spiffy Depot and Public Art, Too
When
the Capital District Transportation Authority set out to revamp
the charmless brick box greeting Amtrak passengers stepping
off the train in Saratoga Springs, it did more than spruce
up the seating and add a coffee shop. Working with the Saratoga
County Arts Council, CDTA drew on the city’s image of itself
as a cultural way station between New York and Montreal to
create a new showcase for local artists. The result, a combination
of architectural ornamentation and exhibit space, may prove
as notable for the precedent it sets as for its effect on
the facility itself.
Unveiled at a reception last Thursday, April 1, the decorative
artwork created by Groupe DMM, a collaboration of painter
Anne Diggory and sculptors Alice Manzi and Beverley Mastrianni,
consists of a 54-foot-by-15-inch silver-on-green brushed-aluminum
frieze over the front entrance and a crisscross linoleum inlay,
also in the station colors, on the waiting room floor leading
to the two platform doors. Track lighting along one wall will
allow for ongoing exhibits as part of the Arts Council’s Art
in Public Places program. A future retail space will house
an exhibit of individual work by the DMM artists until June
15.
Guided by project architect Janet Null of Argus Architecture
and Preservation in Troy and a panel appointed by the Arts
Council, the three city-based artists managed to incorporate
images of New York, Saratoga, and the Adirondacks into their
designs.
“It
goes from geometry to nature,” Diggory explained.
The frieze is a flowing series of vignettes that starts with
the Big Apple’s angular skyline and merges into such recognizable
local landmarks as Spit and Spat, the popular Congress Park
fountain. Also included were thoroughbreds, ballet dancers
(“we discussed whether to put that in,” Manzi said, noting
that the symbols used had to “be meaningful 20 years from
now”) and the mansions along Union Avenue. A mansard roof
is a nod to the Victorian railroad station that anchored downtown
for generations until the tracks were moved to avoid busy
street crossings in 1956. At the far end, Adirondack peaks
refer to a plan to bring back tourist train service to the
mountains.
Although it was the first time they had worked together, each
of DMM’s members has done commissions before and was well-known
to the panel that awarded the station job. The artists themselves
seemed proud that, two years later, they’re still friends.
“The
collaboration was easier because each of us has been working
for 25 years. We didn’t have anything to prove,” Diggory said.
“But because we’re such strong individuals, we had to learn
to give and take.”
Perhaps harder to deal with were the limits of the long, narrow
space they were allotted by the architect. Three- dimensional
elements of the frieze had to be simplified until they became
basic silhouettes in order to remain recognizable.
“There’s
so much you could have done on different sections of the building,”
said Manzi. “But there was no option of that. By the time
it got to us, it was, ‘This is your job.’”
Still, CDTA may add more art to the grounds, including a possible
sculpture garden for the station’s grassy plaza. About 1 percent
of the rehab project’s total $5.9 million budget went to art,
according to project manager Kristina Younger. Sculptor Manzi
would like to see that formula, already a requirement in New
York City, become law statewide. She recently convinced state
Assemblyman Paul Tonko (D-Amsterdam) to sponsor a bill earmarking
1 percent of all state-funded building projects toward art
as a way to keep upstate artists busy.
“Here’s
jobs for us, guys!” Manzi proclaimed over the clamor of a
northbound train pulling in.
—Kathryn
Ceceri
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