The Florence Griswold Museum in Old Lyme, has unveiled Anticipator, a temporary outdoor sculpture by New York-based artist Matthew Geller. A noted sculptor in the field of public art, Geller designed a work for the Museum grounds that combines a recycled tree trunk with three “bionic” limbs forged from Corten steel. These perforated branches emit colored light and mist through fan-like blossoms.
The tree used for the installation, a Star Magnolia that died a year or more ago, has great significance since it is documented that Miss Florence had the tree planted during the 1920s. “It would have been hard to find a better tree than this,” stated Geller. “Anticipator continues the bond between this landscape and the creation of art begun by the artists of the Lyme Art Colony.”
Playful, accessible, and unexpected, Anticipator offers elements of surprise that encourage visitors to interact with it and eac
New York-based artist Matthew Geller walked the Museum’s grounds with Curator Amy Kurtz Lansing last fall to determine the best location for his outdoor sculpture, Anticipator.
h other, fostering a sense of community as they stroll the grounds. Geller often incorporates mist into his works as a means of sparking conversation among viewers by subtly changing their surroundings. The mist—in constant flux as it is influenced by the slightest changes in the temperature, humidity and wind—transforms the environment, influencing how visitors perceive light and air against the backdrop of the Lieutenant River, a subject of interest to the generations of artists who have painted in and around the Florence Griswold House.
The sculpture’s futuristic combination of natural and artificial forms plays off the historic site—the tree trunk has been salvaged from the grounds and the exotic blooms recall Miss Florence’s interest in non-native species, many of which she planted around her house. A new biomechanical hybrid that is part plant and part machine, Anticipator shapes its environment in an almost animate way, introducing the elements of mist and light and eliciting feedback in return.
This sensitivity to and interaction with its environment are key aspects of Anticipator, whose title even derives in part from the heat anticipators in thermostats that turn off the furnace just before the desired temperature is reached. A fusion of nature and technology, Anticipator strikes a balance between the two.
Anticipator has been made possible by a grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services for The Agora Project—a two-year initiative expanding the use of the historic grounds as a site for learning and as a community-gathering place or “agora”—as it was called in ancient Greece—creating a richer experience for Museum visitors. Matthew Geller’s Anticipator is a cornerstone of the project, bringing art outdoors to inspire conversation and reflection.
For more information, visit www.matthewgeller.com or www.florencegriswoldmuseum.org