The first in a series of rangeway markers will be installed at the Allyn Street shore access path in Belfast on Saturday, November 13th at 1 pm. Waterfall Arts invites all to attend this public art event where the natural stone marker will be split in the age-old tradition called "feather and wedge" by the artist and then moved into place by a boom truck accompanied by music and short dedication remarks.

Belfast has 17 public shore access points or paths, often referred to as rangeways. The Allyn Street marker is the first of at least two, and hopefully more, permanent art installations in a series of split-rock gateways on the public paths to the shore or river edge.  This festive public event will be the high point of a year of collaborative effort spearheaded by Waterfall Arts, with funding from the NLT Foundation, the Maine Arts Commission and the Davis Conservation Fund, in conjunction with the City, the Belfast Bay Watershed Coalition, Maine Birding Trail, the Parks and Recreation Commission, and the Pedestrian, Hiking, and Biking Committee.   Key also to the success has been the input and collaboration with the neighborhood of the rangeway, in this first case, Allyn Street.

The winning design for the public art installation was developed by Stockton Springs artist Douglas Coffin.  Coffin, one of the few traditional stone letter cutters in the country, felt that a simple approach tying all the rangeways and rights of way together was best.  Coffin states in his proposal that such a "gate" suggests "walking from the present into the past, through these ancient rangeways, through the stone that Belfast is built on, from land towards the water that Belfast first thrived on."   The large granite piece selected for this first installation, purchased through JC Stone in Washington, was quarried in York. 

"We initiated this collaborative venture last year to continue to bring art and nature together in our community,” said Waterfall Arts Program Director Martha Piscuskas. “Coffin’s design offers an elegant and site-specific icon that signifies 'a public access point starts here.'  We were hoping for a proposal that really worked with each site and the community, and we definitely got it."

In the spring, a 24 inch granite medallion will be installed flush to the ground in between the split rock, with sandblasted lettering marking the piece as a gift from Waterfall Arts, the year of installation, and the name of the rangeway.
Cathy Gleeson, Chair of Belfast Parks & Recreation Commission said, "We've supported the process of acquiring art for Belfast’s public access ways.  The Commission is looking forward to the installation of Waterfall Art's gift and was very impressed with the final design.  We encourage placement of similar split stone pieces as unique and welcoming markers to many more public ways."

Artist doug Coffin with a granite stone