By Julie Shapiro
DNAinfo Reporter/Producer
GOVERNORS ISLAND — When Evan Robarts arrived at his temporary art studio on Governors Island in August, he wasn’t sure what to expect.
Robarts, 27, an East New York resident, had long been struggling to finish a series of found-object sculptures based on a set of abandoned railroad tracks that run through Brooklyn.
He hoped that the dedicated studio on Governors Island, sponsored by the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council, would finally give him the physical and mental space he needed to complete the project — and it did.
"In other places, it’s hard to get into the creative process," Robarts said earlier this month as he stood amid his finished sculpture installation, which incorporates deflated toys and a rusted car door. "Here it’s so removed and so simple, it’s just very natural."
Robarts is one of 20 artists who participated in the LMCC’s second artist residency program in Governors Island’s Building 110 this fall, trading cramped city studios for an airy workspace with sweeping views of the harbor.
Although the artists came from different backgrounds, with different specialties and different goals, nearly all found inspiration in the island’s landscape and solace in its quietude. Many of the artists incorporated their observations of Governors Island into their work, from collages of historic maps to time-lapse photos of the tides.
Aoife Hand, 31, a painter from Dublin, Ireland, began her residency by researching the island’s former inhabitants, because her work usually focuses on people. Hand soon became fascinated by the Army brats who were raised on Governors Island during the Cold War. She communicated with them through online forums, and many sent her photos.
In one project, Hand painted replicas of the black-and-white photos and then added a band of color across them, on which she inscribed quotations related to the war, juxtaposing happy family scenes with the underlying fear of the era.
In a separate project, Hand set out to find the places on the island depicted in the photographs and recaptured them, displaying the two images side by side to show how the buildings and landscape have changed.
"It was a magical kind of experience," Hand said. "It was chilling. So little has changed — so little and yet so much."
Several artists were drawn to the water that surrounds Governors Island, which they had plenty of time to contemplate on their daily ferry rides back and forth to their studios.
Michael Krondl, 50, a photographer, kept noticing the way water splashed against the island’s seawall.
"The splashes are wonderfully random and unpredictable," Krondl said. "On one level they’re happy, and on another level they’re very threatening…because you can’t help thinking about rising sea level."
Krondl decided to extensively photograph the splashes, enlarging the prints to the point where they almost look like galaxies seen through a powerful telescope.
The artists opened their studios to the public for two days this month and then prepared to leave just before Christmas. A new crop will arrive in March, but until then the studios will stay empty for the winter.
Despite the difficult commute and the windy late-fall weather, many of the artists said they were sad to leave.
"When you come out here, it’s just quiet, a whole different type of environment," said Shingo Francis, 41, a painter who lives in Chinatown. "The noise level is muffled, and an inner space is created. Life kind of gets suspended here."
The Lower Manhattan Cultural Council will solicit applications for the 2012 artist residency season in the spring or summer of 2011. For more information, visit their website.
