ARTIST STATEMENT: Winter in the Summer House activates the site of Olana’s “summer house,” a structure for which no physical evidence remains, but was depicted on an 1886 Landscape Plan of Olana. The installation takes the form of a hexagonal gazebo constructed entirely of gold framed mirrors, reflecting views of Olana’s landscape and viewshed, and allowing the public to inhabit the role of artist and compose their own views. The mirrors are engraved with a composite drawing of an icy landscape of melting glaciers and protest signs, reproduced from a meticulous full-sized drawing.

When visitors enter the structure, the drawing is made suddenly visible by sunlight filtering through the engraved lines. These engravings serve both as an homage to Frederic Church’s famous paintings of icebergs (careful viewers will see parts of The Icebergs, 1861 and Aurora Borealis, 1865), and a commentary on the effect of climate change.

ARTIST STATEMENT: A Measure of Comfort (Cake and Cord) is a pair of interrelated sculptures installed on the former woodshed and icehouse foundations in the Olana landscape. Historically, ice from Olana’s lake was cut and stored in the icehouse in blocks, or “cakes” for refrigeration, while wood cut from trees on the property was burned for heat. A Measure of Comfort reflects on these bygone methods of harvesting natural resources—wood and ice—for human comfort, while pointing to the challenge of maintaining control over temperature, and the peril to the environment in doing so. Today we rely on more advanced technologies to heat and cool, and yet more than half of the energy used in homes still goes into heating and cooling. As climate change intensifies extreme weather events, the pursuit of “comfort” (livable temperatures and conditions) is increasingly urgent, necessitating continued evolution in our technologies, but also a reassessment of our relationship with temperature. A Measure of Comfort explores this evolving relationship between people, nature, and climate systems.

On the site of the former woodshed, beams of Southern yellow pine—remnants recycled from a previous project—are arranged vertically to form an uneven floor, or landscape. The volume of wood equals approximately one cord (128 cubic feet), referencing traditional units of measurement for firewood. Charred into the surface is the pattern of a decorative heating grill from Olana’s Historic House. This process created biochar, referencing former agricultural uses of the land, and suggesting one of the many ways forward towards a less carbon-intensive future.

Contiguous with the history of managing the woods and planting trees at Olana is a record of ice harvesting on the lake, which in Church’s time used to freeze over regularly. The sculpture at the icehouse site reimagines a typical 19th-century ice “cake” through a series of reflective stainless steel water containers, descending in size. These containers will hold rainwater, naturally filling and evaporating over time. A mirrored stainless-steel design, inspired by both the Hudson River watershed and rivulet patterns formed by melting ice, overlays the surface—invoking nature’s cycles and scales.

Together, the components of A Measure of Comfort (Cake and Cord) are an homage to historical and ongoing extractions of natural resources to satisfy human comfort. They call attention to the environmental ramifications of heating and cooling, and—as we see how our needs impact both the landscape and our shared world—urge us to consider how we might redesign systems and reevaluate our essential needs towards a more integrated homeostasis.