Calls for help getting osprey sculpture to new home
While many Greenporters are still lamenting the loss of the Osprey sculpture that had been displayed at the Greenport Yacht & Shipbuilding Company, there’s an appeal for help in preparing the site that will become the bird’s new home at Jean Cochran Park in Peconic.
Tracey Orlando, daughter of the man who first gifted the statue to Greenport, is seeking the services of a concrete company to create the footings to support the 25-foot column from the World Trade Center on which the sculpture has been perched.
Ms. Orlando is the daughter of Jim Miller of Miller Environmental who offered the sculpture to the village in return for temporarily housing his heron sculpture during a legal battle with neighbors. But the village never took possession of the sculpture, according to Mayor David Nyce. He said while he favored doing so, members of the Village Board had concerns about insuring it and harboring it in Mitchell Park.
The sculpture landed on Steve Clarke’s dock at the shipbuilding company when the Village Board failed to accept ownership. In the years the osprey has stood on the dock, it has sustained a number of cracked or broken brass bars as a result of high winds and boats hitting the dock, Mr. Clarke said.
The sculpture is being repaired at the shipyard by, Roberto Julio Bessin, the artist who created it.
When it’s ready to be flown west to Peconic, Ms. Orlando needs the services of a helicopter company to carry the 5,200-pound sculpture to its new perch where she and her family hope it will attract more visitors.
If you’re interested in assisting with either the creation of the concrete footings or the transport of the sculpture, Ms. Orlando can be reached at (631) 765-6597.
