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"The River"

Riverview Hospital for Children and Youth, Middletown, CT 

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“The River,” built in 1993, divides the common room of this children’s psychiatric hospital diagonally with a multi-leveled platform-stage. A central king-plank and maple and mahogany deck planks establish docks, decks and boats as metaphysical links to the world outside and the nearby Connecticut River. Boat builders constructed the various elements, including the seating structure appearing like a boat under construction. Ten feet above it a birchbark canoe hangs upside down as if resting in a rack. In an interview, the artist said “ ‘The River’ enabled me to revisit my earlier wood sculpture, in structures like the boat frame seat, and required experimentation with finishes like the brightwork employed in fine boatbuilding.” 

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Riverview Hospital for Children and Youth, Middletown, CT  1993

38' x 40’ x 70’ with skylight ceiling  wood, birch bark canoe construction

Fabricators: North River Boatworks; Mullins Custom Carpentry, Canoe: John Zeitoun

Models: Nancy Welch Fasoldt 

A project of the Connecticut Council on the Arts

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