Gar Waterman
Encyclopedia
Gar Waterman is an award–winning sculptor based in New Haven
in Connecticut
who is notable for large public art
s projects which beautify public places as well as creations which mimic sealife. He works in marble
, stone
, bronze
, wood, and sometimes glass
. Some of his sculptures resemble "giant insects welded together from scrap metal," according to one account. He creates sculptures which often resemble creatures from the ocean
. Waterman loves curved shapes, sometimes based on nature
, and the imagery of his creations is "infused with marine forms such as shells, skates, crabs and squid" although his work doesn't describe a particular creature. He married his agent and arts organizer Thea Buxbaum in 1997.
and Maine
and lived for a while in Tahiti
. He is the youngest son of oceanographic film maker Stan Waterman
and grew up "exploring the ocean depths" and came to love the "unique living forms" in watery ecosystem
s. Waterman attended Phillips Academy
in Andover
and graduated in 1974 with the school's first co-educational class. He graduated from Dartmouth
in 1978. After college, he moved to Pietrasanta, Italy and lived there for seven years while learning skills necessary to be a sculptor.
s, according to reporter David Sepulveda in the New Haven Independent.
Writer Rob Barrel described his nudibranch sculptures as looking edible. In that respect, Waterman's creations are similar to those of his Andover
classmate Julian Hatton
who has made paintings that looked like edible landscapes.
In addition, Waterman has created shapes which resemble insect
s and also tin men. For example, his creation Gulliver's Fiddle shows a metal human figure pulling a cart which has a fiddle
on it.
Waterman creates works that often depict "organic forms that seem to sprout perpetually," according to writer Margaret Reuland in the Yale Daily News
. In 2008, Waterman won commissions to do work in several Europe
an cities. Some sculptures are entitled Coleoptera and others are entitled Feral Seeds.
Waterman designed the archway which straddles Wooster Street in New Haven. The painted steel arch was 35 feet (10.7 m) by 37 feet (11.3 m) by 3 foot (0.9144 m) in dimension.
Waterman's sculptures have been exhibited at schools and universities as well as in Connecticut
cities such as Waterbury
, Hartford
, Plainville
and New Haven
, as well as Gainesville, Florida
and New Mexico
. He gets stone such as marble
and onyx
from quarries around the world, including one in Pietrasanta, Italy. They appeared at the Riverfront Recapture project to reconnect people living in Hartford
with the Connecticut River
; his sculptures were exhibited at the Lincoln Financial Sculpture Walk at the Riverfront.
In 2008, Waterman's works were selected by the Arts Council of Greater New Haven for exhibition.
and Rhode Island
. At various times, the Worcester studio was damaged by flood
and was broken into by robbers, according to the New York Times. In 1996 and 1997 Waterman and Buxbaum scouted locations in Rhode Island
, and considered numerous locations before deciding to move into an abandoned warehouse in the Westville section of New Haven on Whalley Avenue. The warehouse was purchased in 1997 for $1. The couple considered moving to cities such as Providence
, New London
, and Northampton
but chose New Haven because of its proximity to New York City, good restaurants, and low–priced real estate
. The warehouse which was purchased had 8200 square feet (761.8 m²) and used to be a place where photocopy machines were sold. It has huge sliding doors. Buxbaum navigated the city bureaucracy by presenting a plan for the site's rebirth. But restoring the space was considerable work and expense:
Waterman needed large spaces to create his artwork, sometimes with ceilings which are 18–feet high. The site of his current studio had been inundated by a flood several decades ago.
Waterman's wife Thea Buxbaum is active in the community as well as serving as his agent. In a speech in 2006, Buxbaum suggested that having artists move into a community was good since crime tended to go down "because they (artists) often are at home during the day and act as a deterrent." According to one report, the decision by the city to sell the abandoned properties to the Watermans was financially sound, since the buildings have returned to the tax rolls and the section of the city has had new growth. Buxbaum and Waterman have been active members of their community, participating in discussions; in one meeting, they proposed that the flow of traffic be reversed on one street. In addition, the couple is active in buying, renovating, and upgrading properties in the real estate
market in sections of New Haven
.
and the University of Pennsylvania
.
in 1997 and the wedding took place in several venues including their studio, workshop, and home. Buxbaum was his agent as well as an arts organizer and has become a prominent force in the Westville section of New Haven. The wedding was officiated by the mayor of New Haven, John DeStefano, Jr.
.
New Haven, Connecticut
New Haven is the second-largest city in Connecticut and the sixth-largest in New England. According to the 2010 Census, New Haven's population increased by 5.0% between 2000 and 2010, a rate higher than that of the State of Connecticut, and higher than that of the state's five largest cities, and...
in Connecticut
Connecticut
Connecticut is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States. It is bordered by Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, and the state of New York to the west and the south .Connecticut is named for the Connecticut River, the major U.S. river that approximately...
who is notable for large public art
Public art
The term public art properly refers to works of art in any media that have been planned and executed with the specific intention of being sited or staged in the physical public domain, usually outside and accessible to all...
s projects which beautify public places as well as creations which mimic sealife. He works in marble
Marble
Marble is a metamorphic rock composed of recrystallized carbonate minerals, most commonly calcite or dolomite.Geologists use the term "marble" to refer to metamorphosed limestone; however stonemasons use the term more broadly to encompass unmetamorphosed limestone.Marble is commonly used for...
, stone
Rock (geology)
In geology, rock or stone is a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals and/or mineraloids.The Earth's outer solid layer, the lithosphere, is made of rock. In general rocks are of three types, namely, igneous, sedimentary, and metamorphic...
, bronze
Bronze
Bronze is a metal alloy consisting primarily of copper, usually with tin as the main additive. It is hard and brittle, and it was particularly significant in antiquity, so much so that the Bronze Age was named after the metal...
, wood, and sometimes glass
Glass
Glass is an amorphous solid material. Glasses are typically brittle and optically transparent.The most familiar type of glass, used for centuries in windows and drinking vessels, is soda-lime glass, composed of about 75% silica plus Na2O, CaO, and several minor additives...
. Some of his sculptures resemble "giant insects welded together from scrap metal," according to one account. He creates sculptures which often resemble creatures from the ocean
Ocean
An ocean is a major body of saline water, and a principal component of the hydrosphere. Approximately 71% of the Earth's surface is covered by ocean, a continuous body of water that is customarily divided into several principal oceans and smaller seas.More than half of this area is over 3,000...
. Waterman loves curved shapes, sometimes based on nature
Nature
Nature, in the broadest sense, is equivalent to the natural world, physical world, or material world. "Nature" refers to the phenomena of the physical world, and also to life in general...
, and the imagery of his creations is "infused with marine forms such as shells, skates, crabs and squid" although his work doesn't describe a particular creature. He married his agent and arts organizer Thea Buxbaum in 1997.
Early life
Waterman grew up in New JerseyNew Jersey
New Jersey is a state in the Northeastern and Middle Atlantic regions of the United States. , its population was 8,791,894. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York, on the southeast and south by the Atlantic Ocean, on the west by Pennsylvania and on the southwest by Delaware...
and Maine
Maine
Maine is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States, bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the east and south, New Hampshire to the west, and the Canadian provinces of Quebec to the northwest and New Brunswick to the northeast. Maine is both the northernmost and easternmost...
and lived for a while in Tahiti
Tahiti
Tahiti is the largest island in the Windward group of French Polynesia, located in the archipelago of the Society Islands in the southern Pacific Ocean. It is the economic, cultural and political centre of French Polynesia. The island was formed from volcanic activity and is high and mountainous...
. He is the youngest son of oceanographic film maker Stan Waterman
Stan Waterman
Stanton A. Waterman , is a five-time Emmy winning cinematographer and underwater film producer.Waterman graduated from Dartmouth College, where he studied with Robert Frost, in 1946 with a degree in English. He began his SCUBA diving career in the Bahamas where he owned and operated a diving...
and grew up "exploring the ocean depths" and came to love the "unique living forms" in watery ecosystem
Ecosystem
An ecosystem is a biological environment consisting of all the organisms living in a particular area, as well as all the nonliving , physical components of the environment with which the organisms interact, such as air, soil, water and sunlight....
s. Waterman attended Phillips Academy
Phillips Academy
Phillips Academy is a selective, co-educational independent boarding high school for boarding and day students in grades 9–12, along with a post-graduate year...
in Andover
Andover, Massachusetts
Andover is a town in Essex County, Massachusetts, United States. It was incorporated in 1646 and as of the 2010 census, the population was 33,201...
and graduated in 1974 with the school's first co-educational class. He graduated from Dartmouth
Dartmouth College
Dartmouth College is a private, Ivy League university in Hanover, New Hampshire, United States. The institution comprises a liberal arts college, Dartmouth Medical School, Thayer School of Engineering, and the Tuck School of Business, as well as 19 graduate programs in the arts and sciences...
in 1978. After college, he moved to Pietrasanta, Italy and lived there for seven years while learning skills necessary to be a sculptor.
Creations
Waterman, in his work, examines the "intricate dynamic that exists between the curved forms of nature and structured design of architecture," according to one description. His sculptures are sometimes inspired by seldom seen gastropod-mollusks called nudibranchNudibranch
A nudibranch is a member of what is now a taxonomic clade, and what was previously a suborder, of soft-bodied, marine gastropod mollusks which shed their shell after their larval stage. They are noted for their often extraordinary colors and striking forms...
s, according to reporter David Sepulveda in the New Haven Independent.
Writer Rob Barrel described his nudibranch sculptures as looking edible. In that respect, Waterman's creations are similar to those of his Andover
Phillips Academy
Phillips Academy is a selective, co-educational independent boarding high school for boarding and day students in grades 9–12, along with a post-graduate year...
classmate Julian Hatton
Julian Hatton
Julian Burroughs Hatton III is an American landscape abstract artist from New York City whose paintings have appeared in galleries in the United States and France. The New York Times described his painting style as "vibrant, playful, semi-abstract landscapes" while New York Sun art critic John...
who has made paintings that looked like edible landscapes.
In addition, Waterman has created shapes which resemble insect
Insect
Insects are a class of living creatures within the arthropods that have a chitinous exoskeleton, a three-part body , three pairs of jointed legs, compound eyes, and two antennae...
s and also tin men. For example, his creation Gulliver's Fiddle shows a metal human figure pulling a cart which has a fiddle
Fiddle
The term fiddle may refer to any bowed string musical instrument, most often the violin. It is also a colloquial term for the instrument used by players in all genres, including classical music...
on it.
Waterman creates works that often depict "organic forms that seem to sprout perpetually," according to writer Margaret Reuland in the Yale Daily News
Yale Daily News
The Yale Daily News is an independent student newspaper published by Yale University students in New Haven, Connecticut since January 28, 1878...
. In 2008, Waterman won commissions to do work in several Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
an cities. Some sculptures are entitled Coleoptera and others are entitled Feral Seeds.
Waterman designed the archway which straddles Wooster Street in New Haven. The painted steel arch was 35 feet (10.7 m) by 37 feet (11.3 m) by 3 foot (0.9144 m) in dimension.
Waterman's sculptures have been exhibited at schools and universities as well as in Connecticut
Connecticut
Connecticut is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States. It is bordered by Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, and the state of New York to the west and the south .Connecticut is named for the Connecticut River, the major U.S. river that approximately...
cities such as Waterbury
Waterbury, Connecticut
Waterbury is a city in New Haven County, Connecticut, on the Naugatuck River, 33 miles southwest of Hartford and 77 miles northeast of New York City...
, Hartford
Hartford, Connecticut
Hartford is the capital of the U.S. state of Connecticut. The seat of Hartford County until Connecticut disbanded county government in 1960, it is the second most populous city on New England's largest river, the Connecticut River. As of the 2010 Census, Hartford's population was 124,775, making...
, Plainville
Plainville, Connecticut
Plainville is a town in Hartford County, Connecticut, United States. The population was 17,328 at the 2000 census.-Geography:According to the United States Census Bureau, the town has a total area of 9.8 square miles , of which 9.8 square miles is land and 0.1 square miles is water...
and New Haven
New Haven, Connecticut
New Haven is the second-largest city in Connecticut and the sixth-largest in New England. According to the 2010 Census, New Haven's population increased by 5.0% between 2000 and 2010, a rate higher than that of the State of Connecticut, and higher than that of the state's five largest cities, and...
, as well as Gainesville, Florida
Gainesville, Florida
Gainesville is the largest city in, and the county seat of, Alachua County, Florida, United States as well as the principal city of the Gainesville, Florida Metropolitan Statistical Area . The preliminary 2010 Census population count for Gainesville is 124,354. Gainesville is home to the sixth...
and New Mexico
New Mexico
New Mexico is a state located in the southwest and western regions of the United States. New Mexico is also usually considered one of the Mountain States. With a population density of 16 per square mile, New Mexico is the sixth-most sparsely inhabited U.S...
. He gets stone such as marble
Marble
Marble is a metamorphic rock composed of recrystallized carbonate minerals, most commonly calcite or dolomite.Geologists use the term "marble" to refer to metamorphosed limestone; however stonemasons use the term more broadly to encompass unmetamorphosed limestone.Marble is commonly used for...
and onyx
Onyx
Onyx is a banded variety of chalcedony. The colors of its bands range from white to almost every color . Commonly, specimens of onyx contain bands of black and/or white.-Etymology:...
from quarries around the world, including one in Pietrasanta, Italy. They appeared at the Riverfront Recapture project to reconnect people living in Hartford
Hartford, Connecticut
Hartford is the capital of the U.S. state of Connecticut. The seat of Hartford County until Connecticut disbanded county government in 1960, it is the second most populous city on New England's largest river, the Connecticut River. As of the 2010 Census, Hartford's population was 124,775, making...
with the Connecticut River
Connecticut River
The Connecticut River is the largest and longest river in New England, and also an American Heritage River. It flows roughly south, starting from the Fourth Connecticut Lake in New Hampshire. After flowing through the remaining Connecticut Lakes and Lake Francis, it defines the border between the...
; his sculptures were exhibited at the Lincoln Financial Sculpture Walk at the Riverfront.
In 2008, Waterman's works were selected by the Arts Council of Greater New Haven for exhibition.
Workshop and studio
Waterman has had studios in several locations including Worcester, MassachusettsWorcester, Massachusetts
Worcester is a city and the county seat of Worcester County, Massachusetts, United States. Named after Worcester, England, as of the 2010 Census the city's population is 181,045, making it the second largest city in New England after Boston....
and Rhode Island
Rhode Island
The state of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, more commonly referred to as Rhode Island , is a state in the New England region of the United States. It is the smallest U.S. state by area...
. At various times, the Worcester studio was damaged by flood
Flood
A flood is an overflow of an expanse of water that submerges land. The EU Floods directive defines a flood as a temporary covering by water of land not normally covered by water...
and was broken into by robbers, according to the New York Times. In 1996 and 1997 Waterman and Buxbaum scouted locations in Rhode Island
Rhode Island
The state of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, more commonly referred to as Rhode Island , is a state in the New England region of the United States. It is the smallest U.S. state by area...
, and considered numerous locations before deciding to move into an abandoned warehouse in the Westville section of New Haven on Whalley Avenue. The warehouse was purchased in 1997 for $1. The couple considered moving to cities such as Providence
Providence, Rhode Island
Providence is the capital and most populous city of Rhode Island and was one of the first cities established in the United States. Located in Providence County, it is the third largest city in the New England region...
, New London
New London, Connecticut
New London is a seaport city and a port of entry on the northeast coast of the United States.It is located at the mouth of the Thames River in New London County, southeastern Connecticut....
, and Northampton
Northampton, Massachusetts
The city of Northampton is the county seat of Hampshire County, Massachusetts, United States. As of the 2010 census, the population of Northampton's central neighborhoods, was 28,549...
but chose New Haven because of its proximity to New York City, good restaurants, and low–priced real estate
Real estate
In general use, esp. North American, 'real estate' is taken to mean "Property consisting of land and the buildings on it, along with its natural resources such as crops, minerals, or water; immovable property of this nature; an interest vested in this; an item of real property; buildings or...
. The warehouse which was purchased had 8200 square feet (761.8 m²) and used to be a place where photocopy machines were sold. It has huge sliding doors. Buxbaum navigated the city bureaucracy by presenting a plan for the site's rebirth. But restoring the space was considerable work and expense:
Waterman needed large spaces to create his artwork, sometimes with ceilings which are 18–feet high. The site of his current studio had been inundated by a flood several decades ago.
Waterman's wife Thea Buxbaum is active in the community as well as serving as his agent. In a speech in 2006, Buxbaum suggested that having artists move into a community was good since crime tended to go down "because they (artists) often are at home during the day and act as a deterrent." According to one report, the decision by the city to sell the abandoned properties to the Watermans was financially sound, since the buildings have returned to the tax rolls and the section of the city has had new growth. Buxbaum and Waterman have been active members of their community, participating in discussions; in one meeting, they proposed that the flow of traffic be reversed on one street. In addition, the couple is active in buying, renovating, and upgrading properties in the real estate
Real estate
In general use, esp. North American, 'real estate' is taken to mean "Property consisting of land and the buildings on it, along with its natural resources such as crops, minerals, or water; immovable property of this nature; an interest vested in this; an item of real property; buildings or...
market in sections of New Haven
New Haven, Connecticut
New Haven is the second-largest city in Connecticut and the sixth-largest in New England. According to the 2010 Census, New Haven's population increased by 5.0% between 2000 and 2010, a rate higher than that of the State of Connecticut, and higher than that of the state's five largest cities, and...
.
Teaching
Waterman taught at the Foote School from 1997–2009 as well as the Creative Arts Workshop in 1998. He was a visiting artist at Phillips Academy in 1996, and has taught at DartmouthDartmouth College
Dartmouth College is a private, Ivy League university in Hanover, New Hampshire, United States. The institution comprises a liberal arts college, Dartmouth Medical School, Thayer School of Engineering, and the Tuck School of Business, as well as 19 graduate programs in the arts and sciences...
and the University of Pennsylvania
University of Pennsylvania
The University of Pennsylvania is a private, Ivy League university located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. Penn is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States,Penn is the fourth-oldest using the founding dates claimed by each institution...
.
Personal life
Waterman married Thea Buxbaum in New HavenNew Haven, Connecticut
New Haven is the second-largest city in Connecticut and the sixth-largest in New England. According to the 2010 Census, New Haven's population increased by 5.0% between 2000 and 2010, a rate higher than that of the State of Connecticut, and higher than that of the state's five largest cities, and...
in 1997 and the wedding took place in several venues including their studio, workshop, and home. Buxbaum was his agent as well as an arts organizer and has become a prominent force in the Westville section of New Haven. The wedding was officiated by the mayor of New Haven, John DeStefano, Jr.
John DeStefano, Jr.
John DeStefano, Jr. is the current mayor of New Haven, Connecticut. He was the Democratic candidate in 2006 for Governor of Connecticut, unsuccessfully challenging incumbent Republican Governor M. Jodi Rell. He was also the named defendant in the landmark 2009 U.S. Supreme Court case of Ricci v...
.