American-Canadian artist
George Trakas is a sculptor who was born in Quebec City in 1944 and has lived in New York City since 1963. Many of his projects are site-specific installations, and he describes himself as an environmental sculptor. He often recycles local materials and incorporates them into his work.[1][2] Trakas taught sculpture at Yale University for 13 years and has also taught at other schools.[3]
Education and honours
Trakas graduated from Sir George Williams University in Montreal and then went on to earn a bachelor's degree in art history at New York University in 1969.[1] He received a Guggenheim Fellowship in 1982,[4] a National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship in 1989, and the American Academy of Arts and Letters Medal for Sculpture in 1996.[5] Emory University awarded him an honorary doctorate in 2011.[3] He also won the Foundation for Contemporary Arts Grants to Artists award (2017).[6]
Personal life
George Trakas married Susan Rothenberg, a painter, in 1971. Their daughter Maggie was born in 1972. They divorced in 1979 but remained close until Rothenberg's death in 2020.[7]
Works
Notable recent examples of Trakas's work include a waterfront nature walk at the Newtown Creek Wastewater Treatment Plant in Brooklyn, New York; another waterfront installation adjacent to the Dia:Beacon museum in Beacon, New York; and public art in the New York City Subway at the Atlantic Avenue – Barclays Center station.[8][9]
The following table contains a partial list of works by George Trakas.[10]
| Title |
Location |
Description |
Year |
References
|
| Pont Épée |
Thiers, France |
Set of walkways and bridges on the Durolle river next to the "Creux-de-l'enfer" |
1985 |
[11]
|
| Beacon Point |
Beacon, New York |
Angling deck, boardwalk, & restored bulkhead in Long Dock Park on a 25-acre peninsula adjacent to Dia:Beacon museum |
2007 |
[8]
|
| The pathway of love |
Santomato, Pistoia |
A path made of iron and wood that crosses a romantic forest alongside a stream |
1982 |
[12]
|
| Shoreline Nature Walkway |
Brooklyn, New York |
Nature walk adjacent to the Newtown Creek Wastewater Treatment Plant |
2007 |
[13]
|
| Hook (Archean Reach), Line (Sea House), and Sinker (Mined Swell) |
Brooklyn, New York |
Public sculpture inside the Atlantic Avenue–Barclays Center station of the New York City Subway |
2004 |
[9]
|
| Reconnections |
Belmullet, Ireland |
Footbridge across a canal in County Mayo that has since been replaced |
1993 |
[14][15]
|
| Self Passage |
Humlebæk, Denmark |
Site-specific sculpture leading to a waterside platform, in the Louisiana Museum of Modern Art's sculpture park. |
1989 |
[15][16]
|
| Berth Haven |
Seattle, Washington |
A cedar and steel lakeside deck on the premises of an NOAA facility. Rests on foundations remaining from the site’s prior use as navy airfield. |
1983 |
[17][18]
|
| Source Route
|
Atlanta, Georgia
|
Site-specific sculpture in a wooded area of the Emory University campus
|
1979
|
[19][20]
|
Gallery
-
The "pont Epée" in
Thiers.
-
Newtown Creek Nature Walk: "Vessel" entrance
-
Newtown Creek Nature Walk: Whale Creek, sewage plant in distance
-
Newtown Creek Nature Walk: steps into the water
-
Beacon Point, view of entire site, looking westward toward
Newburgh, NY.
-
Beacon Point, looking northward, showing mouth of channel that runs through the piece.
-
Beacon Point, looking eastward, showing other end of the channel.
-
Line sculpture in the former control house of the Atlantic Avenue station.
References
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