Isle of View

Isle of View

Over the course of a day, Isle of View, a tiny island at the base of the Fine Arts Center, channels hundreds of students from residence halls to classrooms and back. Some linger, accepting its offer of respite and a singular view of the campus pond. Few may know they’re experiencing a work of art.

“I wanted to create a journey, a mythic trip, a natural lifeline from one half of the campus to the other. The island itself becomes a podium, a sanctuary, a place of momentary exile,” says George Trakas, whose art has been displayed at the Guggenheim, Minneapolis’s Walker Art Center, and other major museums. His environmental installations have brought waterways within reach in Europe and America.

Isle of View

To make Isle of View in 1981, Trakas shaped and groomed an existing island, designed two bridges (one, a remarkable, 32-foot-long granite plank), and added a terrace by the water’s edge. Over time, Isle’s popularity and New England weather have taken their toll. A few years ago, Save Outdoor Sculpture, a joint project of American Heritage Preservation and the Smithsonian American Art Museum, listed Isle among important U.S. artworks needing repair.

“Isle is a focal point, a major work by a major, internationally acclaimed artist, at the heart of the campus,” says University Gallery director Loretta Yarlow. “After restoration, we envision it being used for poetry readings, music and dance performances, incorporated into public, self-guided tours of the ‘museum without walls,’ the art and sculptures around the campus, and integrated into the art-history curriculum.”

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