LAND DEAL: Artists Angry About Sculpture Park- Say permanent display would 'set a bad precedent' for East Hampton Town

Riled up about a deal in which East Hampton Town would pay $1.05 million for five acres off Town Lane in East Hampton, several artists made their opinions known at a public hearing last Thursday night.

Under the proposed agreement, the town would allow the seller, a sculptor, to leave six large sculptures on permanent display there.

"You're going to have every artist against you," Ruth Nasca of Springs warned the board. "If it's going to be an East Hampton sculpture garden, then it should include other artists."

Sasson Soffer, an 80-year-old artist who lives in Amagansett and New York City, has owned the land for 19 years. He has placed 30 of his large and small sculptures on the site.

The town-owned sculpture park would be named Grandeland, and six of his sculptures would be the only artwork displayed. Mr. Soffer's arts foundation would pay for installing and maintaining the sculptures.

"We are looking at this as an open space purchase, and not as a sculpture garden," Supervisor Bill McGintee explained at the public hearing. "And as a condition of the open space purchase, he wanted to leave six sculptures on there that he had there for a long period of time."

"We're buying the property based on the appraised value of the land," Mr. McGintee said. "Our focus was to get that open space as a pocket park."

"He's getting no money for whatever the value of those sculptures is," said Councilwoman Debra Foster.

Mr. McGintee said last Thursday that it was not unprecedented or unusual for the terms of a property purchase to include an agreement with the seller on the town's future use of the land.

The agreement to keep only Mr. Soffer's sculptures on this property would have no bearing on the potential future development of a public site for other artists to show their work, Mr. McGintee said.

If the town goes through with the purchase of the Soffer land, Ms. Nasca said at the hearing, "attorneys will see that this is a way to close an artist's estate."

"I feel this matter sets a bad precedent for the art community here," she said. Ms. Nasca said she had called other artists, and that she had asked the board to postpone a final decision until those she called have a chance to weigh in.

"I appreciate your concerns," said Ms. Foster. But, she added, "frankly, I'm shocked that the artists would not be supportive of this."

"He was so selfless," she said of Mr. Soffer, who had contacted Ms. Foster last fall about a potential deal. "He is so generous and giving. He wasn't born here and he wants to give back to his adopted country."

"I thought this was a win-win for the community," Ms. Foster added. She said the land is "the backyard of an affordable housing area"- the Accabonac Apartments complex - and that trails across the land could provide a safe way for children to get to the nearby youth park on Abraham's Path. "It is a beautiful neighborhood park," Ms. Foster said.

"It's a memorial to him," said Phyllis Hammond, a sculptor. Ms. Hammond is the vice president of the East Hampton Artists Alliance but was not representing the group at the hearing.

"His sculpture will be there forever. That means that his name will be there forever - very cheap," said Aldo Perotto, who is Ms. Hammond's husband.

"It's a matter of reputation," Ms. Nasca said angrily. Mr. Soffer, she said, will be able to say that his sculptures are on exhibit in a public park in East Hampton.

"It gives him an in," she said. "And every sculpture that he sells in New York is worth thousands of dollars more." She said the effect will be to make him "as well known as Jackson Pollock or de Kooning, who lived here."

Mr. Soffer's paintings and sculptures have been displayed at the Whitney Museum, Battery Park, Lincoln Center, and other galleries and museums. He is at work on a piece, "Amal," an Arabic word meaning "hope," that will be placed outside the United Nations building in Manhattan.

Stella Sands, the artist's wife, was at the hearing to listen, she said, but felt she had to speak up. Her husband's foundation has donated pieces all over the world, including in Cuba, China, and Israel, she said. "He likes to do that."

She noted that Mr. Soffer intended to cast new versions of some of the sculptures in Amagansett in bronze and steel for permanent placement at the site, at his own cost.

"Our focus has been, not the celebration of Mr. Soffer's work - which certainly should be celebrated - but to get the five acres of open space," Mr. McGintee reiterated.

The land is zoned for one-acre residential lots and is likely to be developed if it is not preserved, Town Councilman Pete Hammerle said.

"Most artists donate their land," Ms. Hammond said. But past offers by artists to sign over land and studios had been spurned by the town, she said.

Ms. Foster said she had been discussing with Robert Hefner, the town's historic preservation consultant, the potential for obtaining "historic easements" over the houses and studios of East Hampton's well-known artists, to maintain them as protected historic sites.

She noted that the Duck Creek Farm, a traditional farm on Three Mile Harbor that was owned by the painter John Little, who had a studio there, was one of the town's recent Community Preservation Fund purchases.

Ms. Foster said she would like to meet with members of the artists' alliance. "Rather than excluding what I see as a man's generous offer, we reach out to the artist community," she said. "We're very much into the cultural and historic preservation. This is one of the art centers of the world."

The hearing, board members decided, will be held open for written comment, "because we truly want to hear from everybody," according to Supervisor McGintee.

Those who wish to comment on the proposed purchase can submit letters to the town clerk until Friday, Sept. 2. The town board intends to review the comments at a work session on Sept. 6.