Arts for Transit and Urban Design

Greenport

Anita Thacher

Illuminated Station, 2005

Lighting and projection on station façade and roof

Illuminated Station takes us to the past when Greenport, and the North Fork of Long Island, was home to farmers, fishermen, storekeepers, and railroad workers. Today Greenport is the hub of a growing population of year-round and seasonal residents, an artists' haven and departure point for vacation spots nearby. Anita Thacher creates evocative light-works - art whose effect is created through electrical illumination. Here she uses numerous lighting techniques. The stationhouse's roof is outlined with LED illumination in blue, and the areas surrounding the building are given a deeper blue light. From inside the building comes a yellow glow suggesting candle light or gaslight. On the station walls and roof, projected light forms images of an American Indian pictograph, emphasizing the importance of the first people to live on Long Island. The man and canoe in the pictograph was made from a plaster cast of an Indian artifact discovered in nearby Orient. Through each work the past meets the present and a special place in the community is made more meaningful by the artist.