Greenport Village Board rejects historic art proposal
A plan to bring a multimedia art project to Mitchell Park was voted down by the Greenport Village Board Monday night.
Flanders artist Andrea Cote had presented her idea to install a temporary interactive art piece highlighting village history near the camera obscura in Mitchell Park at a work session last week.
The project, called “A Port of Views,” would have included placing a six-foot concrete compass on the site and would have run next year from Memorial Day through the end of September, Ms. Cote said.
With the Tall Ships Festival scheduled for next July already expected to draw large crowds to Mitchell Park, board members said the project had “bad timing.” They voted down the application 4-0 with Mayor David Nyce absent from the meeting.
“That’s where people line up for the boats during the Tall Ships Festival,” Trustee David Murray said. ” I don’t think it’s the right year for the project.”
“I am not comfortable with any kind of sculpture installed in Mitchell Park right now,” Trustee Julia Robins said.
While disappointed with the board’s decision, Ms. Cote is still planning to feature a small portion of the art project at Floyd Memorial Library in December. Details for that event are still being worked out, she said.
”I am not completely losing hope in the project,” she said.
Last summer, Ms. Cote created an interactive art piece called “Eyes on Main Street,” through which she interviewed and photographed people who have close ties to downtown Riverhead and its history.
