This is tad, tad was my best friends grandfather, both me n arick created memories here ever since we basically could throw a rock n end up ricocheting it of a tree n hitting us back in the head, place was my home from 04 to 15, will never forget the times I had here, I love n miss you tad, pat, and Suzie, the the had passed an sadly arick had sold the property to a family fortune enough to proceed to keep this statue of minerals alive, - chris Woolsey.
I just have to say that Opus 40 is one of the gem's of the Catskills. Founded by Harvey Fite, 1930-1976, who was one of the founder's of Bard College on the "other" side of the Hudson River, this sculpture garden is purely a tribute to stone, We have been to Opus 40 several times and love the rock walls, and the great picnic grounds. Rustic, but not too far off the main road (just follow the signs), Route 212 from Saugerties, NY, and this is a splendid stop for an amazing design and for great views of the Catskill mountains. Climb the rocks with vigor, and you will have a workout worth any gym in the country! I cannot list the website here, but just search for Opus 40 near Saugerties. You will not be disappointed in this pristine, holistic venue that would make Buddha proud. -David Allen
Support for Opus 40 There are a handful of places and objects on the planet that photography under serves. Opus 40, in Saugerties, New York, is one of them. Built in an abandoned bluestone quarry in upstate New York by one man, Harvey Fite, Opus 40 is a contemporary American version of Stonehenge or the collection of Easter Island moai. It is one of my favorite places. An aerial view. Photo by Tom Bookhout Fite was a sculptor and fine arts professor at nearby Bard College when he purchased the bluestone quarry. If you have ever walked on a sidewalk in Manhattan, you have walked on bluestone from this or a nearby location. Using the rubble that had not become NYC sidewalks, Fite filled one six-and-one-half-acre section with hand-laid circles of bluestone paths and ramps, leading nowhere and everywhere, from fifteen feet below the ground level up to the magnificent centerpiece, the obelisk, a nine-ton, three-story-tall single stone, which from different perspectives seems to point at the nearby Catskill Mountains, join with the range, or appear to be the reason the Catskills are there. And Fite did it all alone, using ancient techniques. At first intended to be a showcase for his sculpture, over the next 37 years the site itself became Fite’s life work. He died in 1976. Hurricane Irene in 2011 and Hurricane Sandy the following year delivered a one-two punch to the sculpture park; Irene saturated the ground beneath the ramps and walls and Sandy’s damage included a collapse of a very tall support wall. Fite’s stepson and his family have engaged the efforts of master stonewallers and stonemasons, who are using those stones that fell and can still be fitted together and finding others from local quarries to repair the damage and rebuild the broken sections. Where possible, they will employ Fite’s own tools and techniques to complete the repairs. An estimated $30,000 is needed to fund the first stage of the work, and here, non-ancient techniques are being employed: an Indiegogo campaign is currently underway to raise the funds. Almost two months remain in the campaign, and over $6000 of the $30,000 has been raised as of today. The website has details of the perks sponsors will receive in return for their financial help. If I had not been a student at Marist College, where Harvey Fite’s stepson was teaching, I quite possibly would still not know of Opus 40′s existence, even though I live in the same county. My teacher-friend grew up at Opus 40 and still resides there. In the early ’90s, I attended a friend’s wedding at Opus and in the summer of 1998, I volunteered there, helping direct parking for that year’s music acts. The quarry is a natural amphitheater and the obelisk is an eye-grabbing stage set; the concerts that summer included a blues festival, Orleans, and Pat Metheny. Here is a brief video of Orleans performing at Opus 40 from around that time period: The video below, made for the fundraising campaign, documents some of the landmark’s artistic significance and its cultural importance-with clips of Sonny Rollins performing there and Steve Earle, Chevy Chase, and Bela Fleck speaking about Opus 40-and details the amazing work the stonemasons have already contributed to the restoration project.
In the early 1970s, after he had retired as a professor at Bard College, Fite took time out from Opus 40 to build a museum to house his diverse collection of quarryman’s tools and artifacts. During the 19th century, quarrying was a major industry in the area. Bluestone was used for curbing and paving, crosswalks, doorsills and windowsills, most of it going to New York City. The Museum is a fascinating tour through the history of the area and the skills of its workingmen. Quarrying equipment is represented, and so are tools, most of them hand-forged, that the quarryman used every day for farming, blacksmithing, carpentry and the like, Furnishings from a quarryman’s household are also on display - a stove, cupboard, even a handmade game of dominos. To create Opus 40, Fite worked with traditional quarryman’s tools: hammers and chisels, drills, crowbars, and a huge boom equipped with a hand-powered winch and a flat wooden tray for moving rocks. He worked alone, using hand tools, for most of 40 years, and his museum honors the indigenous tools of our area, and the men and women in honor of whose lives and work he created Opus 40.
Tad Richards is the stepson of Harvey Fite, the creator of Opus 40. His mother, Barbara, married Fite in 1943, "when I was three and Opus 40 was five," so he grew up with the creation of Fite's masterwork as his constant companion. When Fite died in an accident in 1976, Richards helped his mother create the organization which has kept Fite's work alive. Since Barbara Fite's death in 1986, Richards and his wife Pat have taken responsibility for preserving Fite's legacy.
OPUS 40 is mounting a major fund drive for an immediate restoration project, and a long term preservation project. We are reaching out to all our friends-past members, present members, people who have visited Opus 40 and loved it, people who have read about us or seen our website and understand what a treasure Harvey Fite’s masterwork is. Please make a donation to us…any amount will help! If you donate at a membership level, your donation will also grant you specific membership benefits and extras. If you’re already a member, please consider an additional donation (which will raise your membership level). You may use the button below for PayPal or credit card donations (sorry, no American Express), or you can donate with a credit card by calling (845)246-3400. To donate by check, mail to Donations, Opus 40, 50 Fite Road, Saugerties NY 12477 Or stop by so we can thank you in person! Your donation is also tax deductible.
SAUGERTIES, N.Y. -- Easter celebrations started early for some people in Ulster County Sunday. Dozens came to the Opus 40 Park in Saugerties for the sunrise service. This annual service has been going on for more than 30 years, and serves as the unofficial season opener for the sculpture park and museum. People there say this is a special setting to observe the holiest day on the Christian calendar. "Something about the sunlight, I think overlook mountain, in front, the sun behind us, the mountain and its radiance the message about the rising of life. The rising of the lord, feels like this is where we need to be somehow on Easter morning," said Joshua Bode of Woodstock Reformed Church. Part of Opus 40 was damaged by storms in recent years, and those who oversee the park are working to raise money for repairs, part of which was done last summer. If you're interested in donating, you can find a link to the Opus 40 website HERE. - See more at: hudsonvalley.twcnews.com/content/news/725335/opus-40-park-hosts-annual-sunrise-easter-service/#sthash.B5560IdO.dpuf
Brendan Gill, in March, 1989 edition of Architectural Digest, called Opus 40 “one of the largest and most beguiling works of art on the entire continent,” and he has also called it “the greatest earthwork sculpture I have ever seen.” Though Fite was not associated with the Land Art or Earthworks sculptural movement of the 1970s, he came to be known as a pioneer of that movement, and was recognized in 1977 by the Hirshhorn Museum of the Smithsonian Institution, in a show entitled “Probing the Earth: Contemporary Land Projects,” as a forefather of the earthworks movement.
Opus 40 -Sculpture Garden & Quarryman's Museum Opus 40 is an environmental sculpture encompassing over 6 acres at the foot of the Catskill mountains in Saugerties, NY. Built solely by artist/sculptor Harvey Fite from the 1930's to the 1970's, Opus 40 is in need of urgent repairs. The sculpture park and museum is operated as a non-profit by Fite's relatives, who have lovingly maintained this sculpture, grounds, his home, tools and work space as a living history of stone masonry in America. Opus 40 is an American Treasure. Architectural Digest's Brendan Gill boasts, "Opus 40 is the greatest earthwork sculpture I have ever seen." During the recent East Coast hurricane, Opus 40 suffered serious damage. A major wall of the sculpture collapsed. Your contribution will fund the restoration of this unique and masterful piece. Your gift -- our gift $30,000 will fund the first stage of the restoration of Opus 40--the clearing of the space, erecting a gin pole exactly like the one Fite used for moving the large keystones that anchored the construction of Opus 40, sorting stones, bringing in new keystones from local quarries, and preparing the site for the finished work by master stonewaller Sean Adcock from Wales, and an international group of masters assembled by The Stone Foundation of Santa Fe, New Mexico. The prep work will be supervised by local stonemason Timothy Smith, of Clermont, NY. Smith has been very active locally in creating apprenticeships for at-risk kids, and we plan to incorporate this passion of his in the work. Your contributions will immediately go into action. The restoration process, we hope, will begin in late Spring of 2014. A film crew will be documenting the process for a film that is in production on the life of Harvey Fite. Other Ways You Can Help If you want to make a donation using PayPal, you can go to our website, www.opus40.org/donation/ Or if you prefer not to use electronic means, you can send a check made out to Opus 40, addressed to Opus 40, 50 Fite Road, Saugerties NY 12477. if you cannot donate funds, please spread the word. Join our Facebook page Facebook/Opus40 and share this link inviting friends to join our campaign. If you have a photo of your visit to Opus 40, we want to see you. Add your photo to our Facebook page or share on Instagram with #opus40.
Chris -- thanks for all your support. For anyone looking at Chris's video, we are now conducting a major IndieGoGo campaign -- www.indiegogo.com/projects/opus-40-restoration--3/x/2677450
:Opus 40 -Sculpture Garden & Quarryman's Museum Opus 40 is an environmental sculpture encompassing over 6 acres at the foot of the Catskill mountains in Saugerties, NY. Built solely by artist/sculptor Harvey Fite from the 1930's to the 1970's, Opus 40 is in need of urgent repairs. The sculpture park and museum is operated as a non-profit by Fite's relatives, who have lovingly maintained this sculpture, grounds, his home, tools and work space as a living history of stone masonry in America. Opus 40 is an American Treasure. Architectural Digest's Brendan Gill boasts, "Opus 40 is the greatest earthwork sculpture I have ever seen." During the recent East Coast hurricane, Opus 40 suffered serious damage. A major wall of the sculpture collapsed. Your contribution will fund the restoration of this unique and masterful piece. Your gift -- our gift $30,000 will fund the first stage of the restoration of Opus 40--the clearing of the space, erecting a gin pole exactly like the one Fite used for moving the large keystones that anchored the construction of Opus 40, sorting stones, bringing in new keystones from local quarries, and preparing the site for the finished work by master stonewaller Sean Adcock from Wales, and an international group of masters assembled by The Stone Foundation of Santa Fe, New Mexico. The prep work will be supervised by local stonemason Timothy Smith, of Clermont, NY. Smith has been very active locally in creating apprenticeships for at-risk kids, and we plan to incorporate this passion of his in the work. Your contributions will immediately go into action. The restoration process, we hope, will begin in late Spring of 2014. A film crew will be documenting the process for a film that is in production on the life of Harvey Fite. Other Ways You Can Help If you want to make a donation using PayPal, you can go to our website, www.opus40.org/donation/ Or if you prefer not to use electronic means, you can send a check made out to Opus 40, addressed to Opus 40, 50 Fite Road, Saugerties NY 12477. if you cannot donate funds, please spread the word. Join our Facebook page Facebook/Opus40 and share this link inviting friends to join our campaign. If you have a photo of your visit to Opus 40, we want to see you. Add your photo to our Facebook page or share on Instagram with #opus40.
Sat, Jun 21 2014 4:00 pm - 8:00 pm PERFORMANCE Advance tickets only $15! The Paul Luke Band, Saugerties’ premier country-rock jam band, and the Amrod Band are lending their talents to a benefit concert for Opus 40 and the Saugerties Historical Society on Midsummer Eve, Saturday, June 21, 2014 Good music, good food, good times! Order here - tickets will be held at the door. Or buy at one of our outlets - Opus 40 * Saugerties Historical Society * Town and Country Liquors in Saugerties * Candlestock in Woodstock * Mother Earth stores in Saugerties, Kingston and Poughkeepsie.
Opus 40 Not sure how many of you are aware of this fantastic environmental sculpture, but it's an impressive feat. Done by one man . I'll be out there this year to help with the repairs. The Stone Foundation did a smaller repair last summer. If you're within a few hours of Eastern NY state it's worth a day trip to check it out. www.indiegogo.com/projects/op...restoration--3
LONELY PLANET REVIEW In between the two upstate towns of Woodstock and Saugerties lies a hidden art installation that takes a bit of work to find, but is well worth the effort. Opus 40 is the sculpture put together by artist Harvey Fite, who bought an old slate quarry in the 1930s and made it his permanent studio. Over decades, he coaxed deep canyons and shapes out of the abandoned quarry, moving and shifting tons and tons of flinty blue stones and creating a living, flowing outdoor art installation. It sometimes opens on a Monday from late May to early October. Read more: www.lonelyplanet.com/usa/new-york-state/woodstock-around/sights/museums-galleries/opus-40#ixzz2xJDIyTRO
SAUGERTIES >> Opus 40 must repair one of its bluestone walls and the Saugerties Historical Society needs money to finish its Dutch barn, so the two organizations are jointly hosting a fund-raising concert this summer. Opus 40 co-owner Tad Richards said the two organizations have tentatively scheduled the concert for June 21 and are seeking musicians to perform and volunteers to help with the event. The concert will be held at Opus 40 on Fite Road, off Glasco Turnpike, with the money raised to be split between the two organizations, according to information from Saugerties Historical Society Board of Directors President Marjorie Block. She said the historical society needs money funds to finish its Dutch barn and for its own operations. The barn dates to 1760 and is located on the grounds of the Kiersted House in the village of Saugerties. The structure was donated to the historical society by Northeast Solite, on whose property it originally was located. The historical society had to reconstruct the barn once it was moved to the Kiersted House. Richards said the money raised for Opus 40 will be used to repair one of the first walls that Harvey Fite built as part of his bluestone sculpture park. The wall blew out in September 2012 following storms that had hit the area. “We have been working on trying to get that wall repaired,” Richards said on Friday. He said an international group of “stonewallers” visited Opus 40 last summer and rebuilt the central ramp to the site. It was work that needed to be done and was practice to repair the wall, Richards said. Richards said the wall repair will cost about $70,000 with the workers donating part of their time. In addition to the repair, there also is some maintenance work to be done, he said. Harvey Fite began building Opus 40, best known for the stone monolith at its center, in 1939 after buying an abandoned bluestone quarry in a wooded area. He continued to work on it until his accidental death in 1976. The site has since been designated a national historic landmark. Fite built Opus 40 using a “dry key” mortarless stone masonry technique adapted from the ancient Mayans. In 2009, Opus 40 went on the real estate market with a reported asking price of about $3 million, but it has not been sold. Richards said the long-term plan is still to have someone or some organization take over Opus 40 and “run it as it should be.” He previously said he and his wife, Patricia, wanted the site to remain open to the public. Anyone interested in performing or volunteering at the fundraising concert should contact Richards at tad@opus40.org or Block at harry39a@aol.com. ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Tad Richards Chris -- thanks for all your support. For anyone looking at Chris's video, we are now conducting a major IndieGoGo campaign -- www.indiegogo.com/projects/opus-40-restoration--3/x/2677450
ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT | LOCAL HISTORY Local filmmakers plan Opus 40 documentary by QUINN O'CALLAGHAN on Dec 18, 2012 • Opus 40, with its vast terraces and unexpected pools and hypnotic sense of design and layering, is an American masterpiece. Architectural Digest’s Brendan Gill called it “the greatest earthwork sculpture I have ever seen.” Now, two Saugerties natives, Ed Gerrard and Peter Himberger, are working on a documentary about the work. “You’re not going to...
Opus 40 renovation crew blends art and craft by DAVID GORDON on Jul 23, 2013 • 6:30 am As wallers work at Opus 40, a cameraman records their work (photo by David Gordon) At Opus 40, the six-plus acre sculpture created by Harvey Fite over 38 years, that has become obvious. Following recent storms and the ravages of time, two large sections need repair. One section, near the front of the massive platforms, ramps and stairways that make up the sculpture, was bulging and threatening to blow out. A team of stone masons has disassembled the section and is rebuilding it. The rebuilding process in some ways illustrates the difference between art and craft, said Tim Smith of Hudson, who is overseeing the work. “The artist looks into himself and creates something, whereas a tradesman sees something, gets inspired by it, and copies other people’s work.” However, the tradesman, or craftsman, may often have more training in the technique of building, and this has contributed to some structural problems at Opus 40, said Tomas Lipps of New Mexico, a founder of Stone Foundation, an international organization of stone masons. “We’re duplicating Harvey Fite’s work, but I hesitate to say it would be better. I’d say more technically correct.” Fite was an artist who, among other achievements, established an art program at Bard College. In addition to creating a large body of sculpture, he conceived the idea of a sculptured structure, which would be constructed from the bluestone so prevalent in the Hudson Valley. However, as the project took shape, it became a sculpture in its own right, and Fite continued to work on it until his death in 1976. The masons working on the restoration are members of Stone Foundation, and they have come from considerable distances to work on the project. Sean Adcock, one of the craftsmen on the construction, noted that “while we’re doing this wrong [from a technical point of view], we’re compensating.” One of the weaknesses in Harvey Fite’s work was the fact that he built his walls level vertically. Professional wallers introduce a slight inward tilt, which strengthens the wall as the front and back layers brace each other, and weight is directed downward, Lipps explained. Another difference is that walls are strengthened if long strips of stone are set across the width of the wall, tying the front and rear layers of the wall together, Smith said. However, the Stone Foundation undertook the task because of the impressive and artistic work that Fite constructed, Lipps said. “When I came up here in April to check it out, I heard that some people were saying it should be left to go to ruin. When I got here and saw it, I decided it should be saved. But it will need constant maintenance.” The wall was starting to bulge, and it was evident that it would soon collapse without major work, and the Foundation is doing that work to help preserve it. The job of going through piles of stone to find the piece that fit resembled a giant jigsaw puzzle, and indeed, Lipps said, puzzles were his early training. His family did not have television, and he and his mother would do jigsaw puzzles as a primary form of entertainment. “We would take two puzzles and mix the pieces together, then we would compete to see who could put their puzzle together faster,” he said. It took more than a dedicated group of stone masons to rebuild the section of the sculpture, Lipps said. “We’re able to do this because they [Opus 40] had some success in funding. People have come forward and provided the funds to do this section of the project.” The next big push will be to raise money to rebuild a section that collapsed last September following heavy rains. That is expected to be a more expensive job. Harvey Fite’s stepson, Tad Richards, said the fundraising will begin as soon as he has a chance to relax after the immediate work is done. Another restoration job was Richards’s home, also built by Fite, which suffered severe damage. Along with the wall builders, a television production company was on the site. Ed Gerrard and Peter Himberger are producing a documentary about Opus 40. Local cameraman and filmmaker Alex Rappoport was also on the scene, recording the work and interviewing the stone craftsmen. All three are Saugerties residents. Richards credited Chevy Chase, who spearheaded a benefit for the wall repair in June, and Chase’s brother, John Cederquist, with raising much of the money for the repair work. Richards said the organization quotes his brother as saying “with proper care and maintenance, Opus 40 can still be standing 1,000 years from now. That’s true, but the key is proper care and maintenance.” As work progresses, Tim Smith will be a key player, as he lives close to the sculpture of the Stone Foundation group, and he hopes to become a part of the ongoing renovation. One of his aims is to use this work to train apprentices, as many of the skilled stone masons are growing older and will soon be retiring. Two of the workers on the wall project were teenagers Andrew Brooks and Eddie Jones, who were hired through the Ulster County Summer Youth Employment Project, which pays youths age 14 to 20 years old to gain training and work experience. Their job was to move the heavy 1×3-foot or larger tie stones from the quarry to the work site, including getting them down a flight of stone stairs. Smith showed them how to slide them safely and with minimum effort. Meanwhile, Opus 40 will remain open to the public. A fundraising concert Sunday, July 14 to benefit Hungry For Music - an organization that provides instruments for young music students who can’t afford them - featured The Nutropians and Aztec Two Step. On Saturday, July 20 and Sunday, July 21, Kevin VanHentenryck will offer a workshop on stone carving, and concerts are planned for the Labor Day weekend, with the Felice Brothers and their group on Aug. 30 and banjo greats Bela Fleck and Abigail Washburn on Sept. 1. The ongoing work will also require ongoing funding. Anyone wishing to donate to the upkeep and maintenance at Opus 40 may visit their website at www.opus40.org and click on the “donate” button. In other news Opus 40 Feedback Rebuilding the primordial wall Full schedule at Opus 40, but still no buyer Historic designation proposed for Opus 40 studio, museum Local filmmakers plan Opus 40 documentary
Sat, May 04 PERFORMANCE A fundraiser for Hungry for Music (HFM), a grassroots, not-for-profit organization that provides free musical instruments to underserved children, will take place on Saturday, May 4, at Opus 40 in Saugerties, from TBA pm. The event, “Musical Visions: Live Music Art Auction,” will feature an exhibition and auction of old musical instruments that have been turned into paintings, sculptures, and assemblages by more than 30 area artists; live music by TBA; and food provided by several local restaurants, bakeries, and chefs. According to Jeff Campbell, director of Hungry for Music, the volunteer-driven organization’s mission is “to get instruments into the hands of kids who are eager to learn but can’t afford to buy their own.” To that end, the organization-which is based in the District of Columbia-collects donated instruments and has bestowed them upon thousands of underprivileged children all over the United States. The group’s programs are supported through memberships, benefit concerts and events, raffles, and the sale of Hungry for Music-produced CDs. Although most of the donated instruments quickly find homes, some of them “have exhausted their usefulness,” Campbell says, and these are the instruments that have been given to artists to transform into remarkably striking works of art. Admission to the Opus 30 event is by donation. Attendees are also welcome to bring old, but still functional musical instruments to donate. The artwork will be sold in a silent auction that will take place during the event.
Huffington Post Lauds Opus 40! With phrases like: "a visionary sculpture park" and "a mind-blowing work of environmental art," the Huffington Post's recent article paints an engaging picture of Opus 40. And Opus 40 is about to get even better. We're expanding the transformative experience by launching an educational initiative integrating Harvey Fite's cross-cultural focus with ethical humanism. On September 20th we'll host a Graffiti Arts Event led by John Cederquist and his NYC Graffiti Art friends. An accomplished artist, John was an acclaimed New York subway artist in his youth. He's an engaging speaker with great stories to tell! Then in October, we'll pilotThe Opus Night Out - a monthly evening of live entertainment with a humanistic focus that stretches beyond entertainment-as-usual. We're also developing audio tours of Opus 40 and the Quarryman's Museum. Come by this summer to say hello and try them out. Opus 40 is growing to become Your Destination for Creative Inspiration. Thanks so much for being a part of Opus 40 - hope to see you Saturday! Laurie DellaVilla-Miller, Executive Director
Opus 40 Getaway By: Mike O’Brian Updated 06/19/2014 05:00 AM ShareThis Facebook Tweet Email Rochester: Opus 40 Getaway Play now Time Warner Cable video customers: Sign in with your TWC ID to access our video clips. Sign in Get my TWC ID Get TWC service Read the FAQ This Getaway may be the most unusual things you'll ever see in the Hudson Valley! One man's life work is responsible for Opus 40. It's an enormous sculpture park found out in the countryside just a few miles west of the Village of Saugerties, New York. There are more than six acres of bluestone creations that make this a good place for picnics and picture taking. It's open Thursdays through Sundays until mid-October. Admission is $10. Opus 40 50 Fite Rd. Saugerties, N.Y. 12477 (845) 246-3400 Opus 40 - See more at: rochester.twcnews.com/content/lifestyles/745911/opus-40-getaway/#sthash.TquBmcgS.dpuf
by Mark Bolger June 26, 2014 11:26 AM Share Article on Facebook Share Article on Twitter Aa I don’t know if you have visited Opus 40 in Saugerties. It is one of the valley’s most inspiring places. Built by one man, Harvey Fite over a period of 37 years, it’s considered one of the world’s most renowned bluestone sculptures. Brendan Gill, in the March, 1989 edition of Architectural Digest, called Opus 40 “one of the largest and most beguiling works of art on the entire continent.” Opus 40 is made from millions of pieces of Ulster County Bluestone that were all layed by hand! Time and weather have taken a bit of a toll on the structure, but most of it remains intact. Fundraising efforts are ongoing to keep Opus 40 around for generations. Please donate what you can. Over the years Opus 40 has hosted concerts with some of music’s biggest and most talented. Concert or not, it ranks way up on this area’s “must see” bucket list. Read More: Visit the Amazing Opus 40 in Saugerties - Help Save This Valley Treasure | mix97fm.com/visit-the-amazing-opus-40-in-saugerties-help-save-this-valley-treasure/?trackback=tsmclip
By DAVID WALLIS Published: June 2, 2006 TWITTER LINKEDIN SIGN IN TO E-MAIL PRINT SINGLE-PAGE REPRINTS SHARE "I AM astounded one man did this work," marveled Ana Fernandez-Sesma, a Manhattanite resting on a stone bench at Opus 40, a magnificent maze of platforms, pools, ramps, terraces and bridges carved within the walls of an abandoned bluestone quarry near Woodstock, N.Y. "If he had a team like a pharaoh, I could believe it." In a culture of disposability that celebrates slackers, Opus 40 not only constitutes what Brendan Gill described in Architectural Digest in March 1989 as one of "the most beguiling works of art on the entire continent," but stands as a monument to discipline and hard work. Harvey Fite, a self-taught sculptor who was born in 1903 and died in 1976, labored more than half his life to build it. Opus 40 is a 6.5-acre environmental sculpture that looks like a giant three-dimensional jigsaw puzzle made of thousands upon thousands of bluestone pieces. Wedding-cake tiers of a central pedestal support a 9-ton, 15-foot monolith that towers over the site. Although narrow moatlike passages can feel claustrophobic, other spaces, like a 90-foot-square amphitheater, are expansive. Landscaped grounds surround the sculpture, and Overlook Mountain provides a stunning backdrop. Meredith and Tom Mercer, who live near Albany and were touring Opus 40 on the same day as Ms. Fernandez-Sesma, were as amazed as she was. "I can't believe someone would do this, stone by stone," said Ms. Mercer. "It reminds me of Chichén Itzá." "And it has a Stonehenge feeling to it," Mr. Mercer added. Fite's stepson, Tad Richards, who lives in a house in front of Opus 40, is used to seeing stunned visitors wandering in his backyard. "They say, 'My God, it's inconceivable that one man could have built this.' But I saw it being built." There are no guided tours, but visitors can buy a slim book, "Harvey Fite's Opus 40," and watch a seven-minute video at a former truck garage that functions as a visitor center and a gallery of Fite's figurative works. (A moving Depression-era bronze of a beggar's hands propped up by a crutch particularly merits a look.) Harvey Fite grew up in Texas and studied for the ministry at St. Stephen's College in Annandale-on-Hudson, N.Y. He dropped out, joined a traveling theater troupe and later moved to Woodstock, where he performed at a local theater. Fite was backstage during a performance, according to his stepson, when a wooden spool discarded by a seamstress rolled under his chair. "A Texas boy, he always had a jackknife on him, and he started whittling and he had an epiphany that this was what he wanted to do with his life," said Mr. Richards, who speaks in a patrician baritone and resembles a stockier, long-haired George Plimpton. In 1933, St. Stephen's, about to change its name to Bard College and its focus from religion to liberal arts, recruited Fite, who agreed to build Bard's theater and run its drama department provided he could also teach sculpture. He bought his quarry in 1938; it had stopped operating as concrete replaced bluestone as the chosen material for sidewalks. "It was abandoned, worthless land - he bought it for 250 bucks," Mr. Richards said. "It was this pile of rubble in the woods." But after he traveled to Honduras to help restore Mayan ruins, Fite began to see his pile of rubble as an artist's gold mine. The Mayans used dry keystone masonry, a technique in which large slabs are placed strategically among smaller stones and no mortar is needed. "He got really intrigued with the way the Mayans worked in stone," Mr. Richards said. "When he came back to his quarry he thought, 'Wow, I wonder if I can apply that to native bluestone?' So that was how Opus 40 started." Over the years Fite held down his job at Bard, served on the board of the Woodstock Artists Association, held parties at Opus 40 and wooed his wife at local square dances. But mainly, he worked - heaving stones, piling stones, trimming stones. A powerfully built man with Popeyelike biceps, Fite relied on the traditional tools of quarriers: chisel, sledgehammer and hand-powered winch. "Harvey used to say the most advanced piece of modern technology that went into the building was a carpenter's level," Mr. Richards recalled. A dizzying array of his tools - elongated iron pliers, something that looks like a mammoth corkscrew, myriad saw blades - hang on and rest against the walls of the Quarryman's Museum on the second floor of the visitor center. Fite somehow found time to build the museum in the early 70's but chose not to label the tools. Even Mr. Richards can't figure out the function of some, though producing a catalog is on his lengthy to-do list. Fite initially planned to turn his quarry into an alfresco gallery for his figurative sculptures. But according to a master's thesis on Opus 40 written last year by Kim Barker at the Art Institute of Chicago, Fite realized by the mid-1950's that the grand scale of Opus 40 overpowered his intended half-ton centerpiece, "Flame." He wanted a larger sculpture for the center and coveted a nine-ton rock he had seen in a nearby stream. It took him 12 years to secure permission to take the massive stone. In 1964, with the help of friends, colleagues and a flatbed truck, he managed to erect it, a monolith that looks a bit like a huge exclamation point, at Opus 40. "When he put it up, that was when he realized that what had started out as a setting for sculpture had become the sculpture," Mr. Richards said. FITE had intended to carve the monolith, but he decided to leave it as it was and moved "Flame" and other figurative sculptures to the adjacent grounds. "Removing the figurative sculptures, a reductive process, was part of Fite's evolution as an artist," Ms. Barker wrote. Opus 40 rarely feels crowded. Guests on one Saturday walked around quietly as if at a temple, and you could hear the wind play against the quarry walls and bullfrogs croaking in a pool in front of the sculpture. The mood changed a bit when an attendant beseeched a parent to hold her child's hand - a wise idea, since some stones on the walkways are loose. With footing somewhat precarious, you may spend more time than usual looking down. Bluestone is not necessarily blue. It comes in shades of gray with rust splotches. Fossils are embedded in the rock, and delicate ripples decorate the floor of the ampitheater, the result of countless lashings by ocean waves; the area was underwater eons ago. In Fite's day, trees sprouted out of Opus 40, offering shade, but most have been lost. On summer afternoons, when the sun roasts the rocks, visitors can seek shelter under nearby birches, hemlocks, cedars and pines. Getting away from the sculpture is also a reminder of its imposing scale. Though Fite long resisted naming his work, he relented around 1972, Mr. Richards said, after reading a magazine article entitled "Fite's Acropolis in the Catskills." The site "was getting names like that, flattering but a little embarrassing," Mr. Richards recalled. Fite, who joked that composers had it easier than artists because they could number their works, selected the name Opus 40 because he believed the project would take 40 years. He was three years short of that figure when, in May 1976, at the age of 72, he died in an accident at "Opus 40." Mr. Richards described his stepfather's death: "He was mowing the lawn and brought his lawn tractor to the lip of the quarry and apparently tried to put it in reverse and it jammed in a forward speed, shot over the edge and he landed under it." Mr. Richards paused. "He died while working. He died in the middle of what he loved most." IF YOU GO OPUS 40 (50 Fite Road, Saugerties, N.Y.; 845-246-3400) is about 100 miles north of New York City. Take the New York State Thruway to Exit 20. Turn right on Route 212 west, toward Woodstock. Drive 1.6 miles and turn left onto Fishcreek Road. After driving 2.4 miles, turn right at a stop sign onto Highwoods Road. The turn to Fite Road is another half mile on the right. It is open noon to 5 p.m. Friday to Sunday from late May until early October. Consult www.opus40.org before setting out because the site closes occasionally for special events like weddings. Concerts are also held there. Admission is $10 for adults and $3 for children. Baby strollers are not permitted on the bluestone, and no pets are allowed. The book "Harvey Fite's Opus 40," by Jonathan Richards, is available in the gift shop for $6.95. Opus 40 allows picnics, but another option is to drive to the New World Home Cooking Company (1411 Route 212, Saugerties; 845-246-0900) for what the menu calls "assertive cuisine of the American melting pot." Lunch offerings include watermelon gazpacho ($5.95), blue corn-crusted seitan steak with a tomatillo salsa ($10.95) and ropa vieja with grass-fed beef ($9.95). A version of this article appeared in print on June 2, 2006, on page F9 of the New York edition with the headline: A Monumental Vision Of Half a Lifetime. SIGN IN TO E-MAIL PRINT SINGLE-PAGE REPRINTS Get Free E-mail Alerts on These Topics Travel and Vacations Catskills (NYS Area) Art Sculpture
Check out this video on UA-cam:ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT | LOCAL HISTORY Local filmmakers plan Opus 40 documentary by QUINN O'CALLAGHAN on Dec 18, 2012 • Opus 40, with its vast terraces and unexpected pools and hypnotic sense of design and layering, is an American masterpiece. Architectural Digest’s Brendan Gill called it “the greatest earthwork sculpture I have ever seen.” Now, two Saugerties natives, Ed Gerrard and Peter Himberger, are working on a documentary about the work. “You’re not going to...
SAUGERTIES NEWS COMMUNITY ALMANAC OPINION CLASSIFIEDS ABOUT US ULSTER PUBLISHING ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT Rebuilding the primordial wall by SHARYN FLANAGAN on Apr 1, 2013 • 6:30 am ‘There’s no other thing like it anywhere else in the world, but it takes maintenance’ Last September, a stone wall collapsed on the southwest side of the quarry at Opus 40. It was the first such incident in the over-70-year history of the site. At the time, the collapse was believed to be the result of water pressure from heavy rainfall that occurred earlier that evening. As it turns out, it seems that all that water was just the final straw in an inevitable process wrought by time and Mother Nature. Opus 40 was built with mortarless dry key stonemasonry techniques intended to allow water to run through the structures, says grounds consultant Lee Walker. But according to a recent engineer’s report, those “internal voids” that allow water and small rock and soil particles to pass through, “over time, can fill and restrict the flow of water through the wall, causing the water to be trapped.” “In other words,” says Walker, “they’re saying [Opus 40] is destined to fail, no matter how long it stands. Not because of the way Harvey built it, but because of what it is.” And based on that engineer’s report, Walker says, an insurance claim to pay for restoration of the collapsed wall was denied. So where does it go from here? Fixing the collapsed wall will be a big expense, he says. And several other places on the site in need of shoring up have been identified, too. “It’s not just fixing this wall; it’s what to do to make sure it doesn’t happen again. And that all takes money.” Paying the piper Opus 40 board member Brigid Walsh says that as unfortunate as it is that the insurance claim was denied, it does serve as a lesson about Opus 40 and landscape art in general. “It’s constantly subject to the elements, and will always need a lot of care.” They’re hoping that the community will help preserve the future of Opus 40 by donating to a fundraising campaign to bring in expert stonemasons to repair the collapsed wall and prevent future damage to the site. The first phase, says Walsh, is to raise $50,000. “We need this funding urgently just to start the work,” she says. The goal is to raise the funds by the end of April so work can be completed by the traditional Memorial Day opening. Otherwise the opening will be delayed. Donations can be made at www.opus40.org and through the soon-to-be-launched campaign on crowdfunding site IndieGogo.com. Donations at certain levels will be rewarded there with extras like hats or t-shirts, Walsh says, and private stonemasonry workshops. Expert help The work at Opus 40 will be done in partnership with The Stone Foundation of New Mexico, stonework preservationists dedicated to perpetuating the craft. Founding member Tomas Lipps and local mason Timothy Smith will oversee the rotation of stonemasons who will come into Saugerties for a week at a time to restore Opus 40. The masons will volunteer their time, says Walsh, but the funds raised will go to pay for their travel expenses and putting them up while they’re here. In addition, the fundraising campaign will cover the cost of materials and any equipment necessary to supplement Harvey Fite’s original tools, which will be used to as great an extent as possible in the restoration work. “The people at The Stone Foundation are passionate about making sure this gets done in the same way that Harvey did it in the first place,” says Walsh. “They’re excited about the opportunity to educate people as well, so we want to coordinate with some educational institutions to bring students in to watch them while they do the work.” The documentary team Impact Productions, who’ve purchased the rights to Harvey Fite’s life story, will capture the restoration process on film, to be available for people to view when they visit Opus 40 in the future, says Walsh. “We’re going to walk away from this with so much more understanding of what Harvey did. You’ll be able to go there and learn about it on a level that up until this point hasn’t been possible.” Maintenance Phase Two of the fundraising process will be to raise another $50,000 to maintain Opus 40 after the initial repairs have been made. “We don’t want to be in a position any more where we’re fixing damage,” says Walsh. “We want to be in a position where we can raise funds so we can do preventative work. Hopefully our community will rally around this, to understand how important this is not only to Saugerties and tourism but to Ulster County and the state of New York. “Up to now, there have been no better caretakers for Opus 40 than Pat and Tad [Richards, co-directors], because they’re family and they get it; they understand the legacy and have been able to tell the stories about how everything came about. But as far as the technical aspects of what it takes to maintain something like this, we need help. There’s no other thing like it anywhere else in the world, but it takes maintenance.”
Support for Opus 40 There are a handful of places and objects on the planet that photography under serves. Opus 40, in Saugerties, New York, is one of them. Built in an abandoned bluestone quarry in upstate New York by one man, Harvey Fite, Opus 40 is a contemporary American version of Stonehenge or the collection of Easter Island moai. It is one of my favorite places. An aerial view. Photo by Tom Bookhout Fite was a sculptor and fine arts professor at nearby Bard College when he purchased the bluestone quarry. If you have ever walked on a sidewalk in Manhattan, you have walked on bluestone from this or a nearby location. Using the rubble that had not become NYC sidewalks, Fite filled one six-and-one-half-acre section with hand-laid circles of bluestone paths and ramps, leading nowhere and everywhere, from fifteen feet below the ground level up to the magnificent centerpiece, the obelisk, a nine-ton, three-story-tall single stone, which from different perspectives seems to point at the nearby Catskill Mountains, join with the range, or appear to be the reason the Catskills are there. And Fite did it all alone, using ancient techniques. At first intended to be a showcase for his sculpture, over the next 37 years the site itself became Fite’s life work. He died in 1976. Hurricane Irene in 2011 and Hurricane Sandy the following year delivered a one-two punch to the sculpture park; Irene saturated the ground beneath the ramps and walls and Sandy’s damage included a collapse of a very tall support wall. Fite’s stepson and his family have engaged the efforts of master stonewallers and stonemasons, who are using those stones that fell and can still be fitted together and finding others from local quarries to repair the damage and rebuild the broken sections. Where possible, they will employ Fite’s own tools and techniques to complete the repairs. An estimated $30,000 is needed to fund the first stage of the work, and here, non-ancient techniques are being employed: an Indiegogo campaign is currently underway to raise the funds. Almost two months remain in the campaign, and over $6000 of the $30,000 has been raised as of today. The website has details of the perks sponsors will receive in return for their financial help. If I had not been a student at Marist College, where Harvey Fite’s stepson was teaching, I quite possibly would still not know of Opus 40′s existence, even though I live in the same county. My teacher-friend grew up at Opus 40 and still resides there. In the early ’90s, I attended a friend’s wedding at Opus and in the summer of 1998, I volunteered there, helping direct parking for that year’s music acts. The quarry is a natural amphitheater and the obelisk is an eye-grabbing stage set; the concerts that summer included a blues festival, Orleans, and Pat Metheny. Here is a brief video of Orleans performing at Opus 40 from around that time period: The video below, made for the fundraising campaign, documents some of the landmark’s artistic significance and its cultural importance-with clips of Sonny Rollins performing there and Steve Earle, Chevy Chase, and Bela Fleck speaking about Opus 40-and details the amazing work the stonemasons have already contributed to the restoration project.
I just have to say that Opus 40 is one of the gem's of the Catskills. Founded by Harvey Fite, 1930-1976, who was one of the founder's of Bard College on the "other" side of the Hudson River, this sculpture garden is purely a tribute to stone, We have been to Opus 40 several times and love the rock walls, and the great picnic grounds. Rustic, but not too far off the main road (just follow the signs), Route 212 from Saugerties, NY, and this is a splendid stop for an amazing design and for great views of the Catskill mountains. Climb the rocks with vigor, and you will have a workout worth any gym in the country! I cannot list the website here, but just search for Opus 40 near Saugerties. You will not be disappointed in this pristine, holistic venue that would make Buddha proud. -David Allen
Tad Richards is the stepson of Harvey Fite, the creator of Opus 40. His mother, Barbara, married Fite in 1943, "when I was three and Opus 40 was five," so he grew up with the creation of Fite's masterwork as his constant companion. When Fite died in an accident in 1976, Richards helped his mother create the organization which has kept Fite's work alive. Since Barbara Fite's death in 1986, Richards and his wife Pat have taken responsibility for preserving Fite's legacy.
OPUS 40 is mounting a major fund drive for an immediate restoration project, and a long term preservation project. We are reaching out to all our friends-past members, present members, people who have visited Opus 40 and loved it, people who have read about us or seen our website and understand what a treasure Harvey Fite’s masterwork is. Please make a donation to us…any amount will help! If you donate at a membership level, your donation will also grant you specific membership benefits and extras. If you’re already a member, please consider an additional donation (which will raise your membership level). You may use the button below for PayPal or credit card donations (sorry, no American Express), or you can donate with a credit card by calling (845)246-3400. To donate by check, mail to Donations, Opus 40, 50 Fite Road, Saugerties NY 12477 Or stop by so we can thank you in person! Your donation is also tax deductible.
In the early 1970s, after he had retired as a professor at Bard College, Fite took time out from Opus 40 to build a museum to house his diverse collection of quarryman’s tools and artifacts. During the 19th century, quarrying was a major industry in the area. Bluestone was used for curbing and paving, crosswalks, doorsills and windowsills, most of it going to New York City. The Museum is a fascinating tour through the history of the area and the skills of its workingmen. Quarrying equipment is represented, and so are tools, most of them hand-forged, that the quarryman used every day for farming, blacksmithing, carpentry and the like, Furnishings from a quarryman’s household are also on display - a stove, cupboard, even a handmade game of dominos. To create Opus 40, Fite worked with traditional quarryman’s tools: hammers and chisels, drills, crowbars, and a huge boom equipped with a hand-powered winch and a flat wooden tray for moving rocks. He worked alone, using hand tools, for most of 40 years, and his museum honors the indigenous tools of our area, and the men and women in honor of whose lives and work he created Opus 40.
Opus 40 -Sculpture Garden & Quarryman's Museum Opus 40 is an environmental sculpture encompassing over 6 acres at the foot of the Catskill mountains in Saugerties, NY. Built solely by artist/sculptor Harvey Fite from the 1930's to the 1970's, Opus 40 is in need of urgent repairs. The sculpture park and museum is operated as a non-profit by Fite's relatives, who have lovingly maintained this sculpture, grounds, his home, tools and work space as a living history of stone masonry in America. Opus 40 is an American Treasure. Architectural Digest's Brendan Gill boasts, "Opus 40 is the greatest earthwork sculpture I have ever seen." During the recent East Coast hurricane, Opus 40 suffered serious damage. A major wall of the sculpture collapsed. Your contribution will fund the restoration of this unique and masterful piece. Your gift -- our gift $30,000 will fund the first stage of the restoration of Opus 40--the clearing of the space, erecting a gin pole exactly like the one Fite used for moving the large keystones that anchored the construction of Opus 40, sorting stones, bringing in new keystones from local quarries, and preparing the site for the finished work by master stonewaller Sean Adcock from Wales, and an international group of masters assembled by The Stone Foundation of Santa Fe, New Mexico. The prep work will be supervised by local stonemason Timothy Smith, of Clermont, NY. Smith has been very active locally in creating apprenticeships for at-risk kids, and we plan to incorporate this passion of his in the work. Your contributions will immediately go into action. The restoration process, we hope, will begin in late Spring of 2014. A film crew will be documenting the process for a film that is in production on the life of Harvey Fite. Other Ways You Can Help If you want to make a donation using PayPal, you can go to our website, www.opus40.org/donation/ Or if you prefer not to use electronic means, you can send a check made out to Opus 40, addressed to Opus 40, 50 Fite Road, Saugerties NY 12477. if you cannot donate funds, please spread the word. Join our Facebook page Facebook/Opus40 and share this link inviting friends to join our campaign. If you have a photo of your visit to Opus 40, we want to see you. Add your photo to our Facebook page or share on Instagram with #opus40.
SAUGERTIES, N.Y. -- Easter celebrations started early for some people in Ulster County Sunday. Dozens came to the Opus 40 Park in Saugerties for the sunrise service. This annual service has been going on for more than 30 years, and serves as the unofficial season opener for the sculpture park and museum. People there say this is a special setting to observe the holiest day on the Christian calendar. "Something about the sunlight, I think overlook mountain, in front, the sun behind us, the mountain and its radiance the message about the rising of life. The rising of the lord, feels like this is where we need to be somehow on Easter morning," said Joshua Bode of Woodstock Reformed Church. Part of Opus 40 was damaged by storms in recent years, and those who oversee the park are working to raise money for repairs, part of which was done last summer. If you're interested in donating, you can find a link to the Opus 40 website HERE. - See more at: hudsonvalley.twcnews.com/content/news/725335/opus-40-park-hosts-annual-sunrise-easter-service/#sthash.B5560IdO.dpuf
SAUGERTIES >> Opus 40 must repair one of its bluestone walls and the Saugerties Historical Society needs money to finish its Dutch barn, so the two organizations are jointly hosting a fund-raising concert this summer. Opus 40 co-owner Tad Richards said the two organizations have tentatively scheduled the concert for June 21 and are seeking musicians to perform and volunteers to help with the event. The concert will be held at Opus 40 on Fite Road, off Glasco Turnpike, with the money raised to be split between the two organizations, according to information from Saugerties Historical Society Board of Directors President Marjorie Block. She said the historical society needs money funds to finish its Dutch barn and for its own operations. The barn dates to 1760 and is located on the grounds of the Kiersted House in the village of Saugerties. The structure was donated to the historical society by Northeast Solite, on whose property it originally was located. The historical society had to reconstruct the barn once it was moved to the Kiersted House. Richards said the money raised for Opus 40 will be used to repair one of the first walls that Harvey Fite built as part of his bluestone sculpture park. The wall blew out in September 2012 following storms that had hit the area. “We have been working on trying to get that wall repaired,” Richards said on Friday. He said an international group of “stonewallers” visited Opus 40 last summer and rebuilt the central ramp to the site. It was work that needed to be done and was practice to repair the wall, Richards said. Richards said the wall repair will cost about $70,000 with the workers donating part of their time. In addition to the repair, there also is some maintenance work to be done, he said. Harvey Fite began building Opus 40, best known for the stone monolith at its center, in 1939 after buying an abandoned bluestone quarry in a wooded area. He continued to work on it until his accidental death in 1976. The site has since been designated a national historic landmark. Fite built Opus 40 using a “dry key” mortarless stone masonry technique adapted from the ancient Mayans. In 2009, Opus 40 went on the real estate market with a reported asking price of about $3 million, but it has not been sold. Richards said the long-term plan is still to have someone or some organization take over Opus 40 and “run it as it should be.” He previously said he and his wife, Patricia, wanted the site to remain open to the public. Anyone interested in performing or volunteering at the fundraising concert should contact Richards at tad@opus40.org or Block at harry39a@aol.com. ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Opus 40 Not sure how many of you are aware of this fantastic environmental sculpture, but it's an impressive feat. Done by one man . I'll be out there this year to help with the repairs. The Stone Foundation did a smaller repair last summer. If you're within a few hours of Eastern NY state it's worth a day trip to check it out. www.indiegogo.com/projects/op...restoration--3
Sat, May 04 PERFORMANCE A fundraiser for Hungry for Music (HFM), a grassroots, not-for-profit organization that provides free musical instruments to underserved children, will take place on Saturday, May 4, at Opus 40 in Saugerties, from TBA pm. The event, “Musical Visions: Live Music Art Auction,” will feature an exhibition and auction of old musical instruments that have been turned into paintings, sculptures, and assemblages by more than 30 area artists; live music by TBA; and food provided by several local restaurants, bakeries, and chefs. According to Jeff Campbell, director of Hungry for Music, the volunteer-driven organization’s mission is “to get instruments into the hands of kids who are eager to learn but can’t afford to buy their own.” To that end, the organization-which is based in the District of Columbia-collects donated instruments and has bestowed them upon thousands of underprivileged children all over the United States. The group’s programs are supported through memberships, benefit concerts and events, raffles, and the sale of Hungry for Music-produced CDs. Although most of the donated instruments quickly find homes, some of them “have exhausted their usefulness,” Campbell says, and these are the instruments that have been given to artists to transform into remarkably striking works of art. Admission to the Opus 30 event is by donation. Attendees are also welcome to bring old, but still functional musical instruments to donate. The artwork will be sold in a silent auction that will take place during the event.
Opus 40 Getaway By: Mike O’Brian Updated 06/19/2014 05:00 AM ShareThis Facebook Tweet Email Rochester: Opus 40 Getaway Play now Time Warner Cable video customers: Sign in with your TWC ID to access our video clips. Sign in Get my TWC ID Get TWC service Read the FAQ This Getaway may be the most unusual things you'll ever see in the Hudson Valley! One man's life work is responsible for Opus 40. It's an enormous sculpture park found out in the countryside just a few miles west of the Village of Saugerties, New York. There are more than six acres of bluestone creations that make this a good place for picnics and picture taking. It's open Thursdays through Sundays until mid-October. Admission is $10. Opus 40 50 Fite Rd. Saugerties, N.Y. 12477 (845) 246-3400 Opus 40 - See more at: rochester.twcnews.com/content/lifestyles/745911/opus-40-getaway/#sthash.TquBmcgS.dpuf
Opus 40 renovation crew blends art and craft by DAVID GORDON on Jul 23, 2013 • 6:30 am As wallers work at Opus 40, a cameraman records their work (photo by David Gordon) At Opus 40, the six-plus acre sculpture created by Harvey Fite over 38 years, that has become obvious. Following recent storms and the ravages of time, two large sections need repair. One section, near the front of the massive platforms, ramps and stairways that make up the sculpture, was bulging and threatening to blow out. A team of stone masons has disassembled the section and is rebuilding it. The rebuilding process in some ways illustrates the difference between art and craft, said Tim Smith of Hudson, who is overseeing the work. “The artist looks into himself and creates something, whereas a tradesman sees something, gets inspired by it, and copies other people’s work.” However, the tradesman, or craftsman, may often have more training in the technique of building, and this has contributed to some structural problems at Opus 40, said Tomas Lipps of New Mexico, a founder of Stone Foundation, an international organization of stone masons. “We’re duplicating Harvey Fite’s work, but I hesitate to say it would be better. I’d say more technically correct.” Fite was an artist who, among other achievements, established an art program at Bard College. In addition to creating a large body of sculpture, he conceived the idea of a sculptured structure, which would be constructed from the bluestone so prevalent in the Hudson Valley. However, as the project took shape, it became a sculpture in its own right, and Fite continued to work on it until his death in 1976. The masons working on the restoration are members of Stone Foundation, and they have come from considerable distances to work on the project. Sean Adcock, one of the craftsmen on the construction, noted that “while we’re doing this wrong [from a technical point of view], we’re compensating.” One of the weaknesses in Harvey Fite’s work was the fact that he built his walls level vertically. Professional wallers introduce a slight inward tilt, which strengthens the wall as the front and back layers brace each other, and weight is directed downward, Lipps explained. Another difference is that walls are strengthened if long strips of stone are set across the width of the wall, tying the front and rear layers of the wall together, Smith said. However, the Stone Foundation undertook the task because of the impressive and artistic work that Fite constructed, Lipps said. “When I came up here in April to check it out, I heard that some people were saying it should be left to go to ruin. When I got here and saw it, I decided it should be saved. But it will need constant maintenance.” The wall was starting to bulge, and it was evident that it would soon collapse without major work, and the Foundation is doing that work to help preserve it. The job of going through piles of stone to find the piece that fit resembled a giant jigsaw puzzle, and indeed, Lipps said, puzzles were his early training. His family did not have television, and he and his mother would do jigsaw puzzles as a primary form of entertainment. “We would take two puzzles and mix the pieces together, then we would compete to see who could put their puzzle together faster,” he said. It took more than a dedicated group of stone masons to rebuild the section of the sculpture, Lipps said. “We’re able to do this because they [Opus 40] had some success in funding. People have come forward and provided the funds to do this section of the project.” The next big push will be to raise money to rebuild a section that collapsed last September following heavy rains. That is expected to be a more expensive job. Harvey Fite’s stepson, Tad Richards, said the fundraising will begin as soon as he has a chance to relax after the immediate work is done. Another restoration job was Richards’s home, also built by Fite, which suffered severe damage. Along with the wall builders, a television production company was on the site. Ed Gerrard and Peter Himberger are producing a documentary about Opus 40. Local cameraman and filmmaker Alex Rappoport was also on the scene, recording the work and interviewing the stone craftsmen. All three are Saugerties residents. Richards credited Chevy Chase, who spearheaded a benefit for the wall repair in June, and Chase’s brother, John Cederquist, with raising much of the money for the repair work. Richards said the organization quotes his brother as saying “with proper care and maintenance, Opus 40 can still be standing 1,000 years from now. That’s true, but the key is proper care and maintenance.” As work progresses, Tim Smith will be a key player, as he lives close to the sculpture of the Stone Foundation group, and he hopes to become a part of the ongoing renovation. One of his aims is to use this work to train apprentices, as many of the skilled stone masons are growing older and will soon be retiring. Two of the workers on the wall project were teenagers Andrew Brooks and Eddie Jones, who were hired through the Ulster County Summer Youth Employment Project, which pays youths age 14 to 20 years old to gain training and work experience. Their job was to move the heavy 1×3-foot or larger tie stones from the quarry to the work site, including getting them down a flight of stone stairs. Smith showed them how to slide them safely and with minimum effort. Meanwhile, Opus 40 will remain open to the public. A fundraising concert Sunday, July 14 to benefit Hungry For Music - an organization that provides instruments for young music students who can’t afford them - featured The Nutropians and Aztec Two Step. On Saturday, July 20 and Sunday, July 21, Kevin VanHentenryck will offer a workshop on stone carving, and concerts are planned for the Labor Day weekend, with the Felice Brothers and their group on Aug. 30 and banjo greats Bela Fleck and Abigail Washburn on Sept. 1. The ongoing work will also require ongoing funding. Anyone wishing to donate to the upkeep and maintenance at Opus 40 may visit their website at www.opus40.org and click on the “donate” button. In other news Opus 40 Feedback Rebuilding the primordial wall Full schedule at Opus 40, but still no buyer Historic designation proposed for Opus 40 studio, museum Local filmmakers plan Opus 40 documentary
SAUGERTIES NEWS COMMUNITY ALMANAC OPINION CLASSIFIEDS ABOUT US ULSTER PUBLISHING ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT Rebuilding the primordial wall by SHARYN FLANAGAN on Apr 1, 2013 • 6:30 am ‘There’s no other thing like it anywhere else in the world, but it takes maintenance’ Last September, a stone wall collapsed on the southwest side of the quarry at Opus 40. It was the first such incident in the over-70-year history of the site. At the time, the collapse was believed to be the result of water pressure from heavy rainfall that occurred earlier that evening. As it turns out, it seems that all that water was just the final straw in an inevitable process wrought by time and Mother Nature. Opus 40 was built with mortarless dry key stonemasonry techniques intended to allow water to run through the structures, says grounds consultant Lee Walker. But according to a recent engineer’s report, those “internal voids” that allow water and small rock and soil particles to pass through, “over time, can fill and restrict the flow of water through the wall, causing the water to be trapped.” “In other words,” says Walker, “they’re saying [Opus 40] is destined to fail, no matter how long it stands. Not because of the way Harvey built it, but because of what it is.” And based on that engineer’s report, Walker says, an insurance claim to pay for restoration of the collapsed wall was denied. So where does it go from here? Fixing the collapsed wall will be a big expense, he says. And several other places on the site in need of shoring up have been identified, too. “It’s not just fixing this wall; it’s what to do to make sure it doesn’t happen again. And that all takes money.” Paying the piper Opus 40 board member Brigid Walsh says that as unfortunate as it is that the insurance claim was denied, it does serve as a lesson about Opus 40 and landscape art in general. “It’s constantly subject to the elements, and will always need a lot of care.” They’re hoping that the community will help preserve the future of Opus 40 by donating to a fundraising campaign to bring in expert stonemasons to repair the collapsed wall and prevent future damage to the site. The first phase, says Walsh, is to raise $50,000. “We need this funding urgently just to start the work,” she says. The goal is to raise the funds by the end of April so work can be completed by the traditional Memorial Day opening. Otherwise the opening will be delayed. Donations can be made at www.opus40.org and through the soon-to-be-launched campaign on crowdfunding site IndieGogo.com. Donations at certain levels will be rewarded there with extras like hats or t-shirts, Walsh says, and private stonemasonry workshops. Expert help The work at Opus 40 will be done in partnership with The Stone Foundation of New Mexico, stonework preservationists dedicated to perpetuating the craft. Founding member Tomas Lipps and local mason Timothy Smith will oversee the rotation of stonemasons who will come into Saugerties for a week at a time to restore Opus 40. The masons will volunteer their time, says Walsh, but the funds raised will go to pay for their travel expenses and putting them up while they’re here. In addition, the fundraising campaign will cover the cost of materials and any equipment necessary to supplement Harvey Fite’s original tools, which will be used to as great an extent as possible in the restoration work. “The people at The Stone Foundation are passionate about making sure this gets done in the same way that Harvey did it in the first place,” says Walsh. “They’re excited about the opportunity to educate people as well, so we want to coordinate with some educational institutions to bring students in to watch them while they do the work.” The documentary team Impact Productions, who’ve purchased the rights to Harvey Fite’s life story, will capture the restoration process on film, to be available for people to view when they visit Opus 40 in the future, says Walsh. “We’re going to walk away from this with so much more understanding of what Harvey did. You’ll be able to go there and learn about it on a level that up until this point hasn’t been possible.” Maintenance Phase Two of the fundraising process will be to raise another $50,000 to maintain Opus 40 after the initial repairs have been made. “We don’t want to be in a position any more where we’re fixing damage,” says Walsh. “We want to be in a position where we can raise funds so we can do preventative work. Hopefully our community will rally around this, to understand how important this is not only to Saugerties and tourism but to Ulster County and the state of New York. “Up to now, there have been no better caretakers for Opus 40 than Pat and Tad [Richards, co-directors], because they’re family and they get it; they understand the legacy and have been able to tell the stories about how everything came about. But as far as the technical aspects of what it takes to maintain something like this, we need help. There’s no other thing like it anywhere else in the world, but it takes maintenance.”
Opus 40 -Sculpture Garden & Quarryman's Museum Opus 40 is an environmental sculpture encompassing over 6 acres at the foot of the Catskill mountains in Saugerties, NY. Built solely by artist/sculptor Harvey Fite from the 1930's to the 1970's, Opus 40 is in need of urgent repairs. The sculpture park and museum is operated as a non-profit by Fite's relatives, who have lovingly maintained this sculpture, grounds, his home, tools and work space as a living history of stone masonry in America. Opus 40 is an American Treasure. Architectural Digest's Brendan Gill boasts, "Opus 40 is the greatest earthwork sculpture I have ever seen." During the recent East Coast hurricane, Opus 40 suffered serious damage. A major wall of the sculpture collapsed. Your contribution will fund the restoration of this unique and masterful piece. Your gift -- our gift $30,000 will fund the first stage of the restoration of Opus 40--the clearing of the space, erecting a gin pole exactly like the one Fite used for moving the large keystones that anchored the construction of Opus 40, sorting stones, bringing in new keystones from local quarries, and preparing the site for the finished work by master stonewaller Sean Adcock from Wales, and an international group of masters assembled by The Stone Foundation of Santa Fe, New Mexico. The prep work will be supervised by local stonemason Timothy Smith, of Clermont, NY. Smith has been very active locally in creating apprenticeships for at-risk kids, and we plan to incorporate this passion of his in the work. Your contributions will immediately go into action. The restoration process, we hope, will begin in late Spring of 2014. A film crew will be documenting the process for a film that is in production on the life of Harvey Fite. Other Ways You Can Help If you want to make a donation using PayPal, you can go to our website, www.opus40.org/donation/ Or if you prefer not to use electronic means, you can send a check made out to Opus 40, addressed to Opus 40, 50 Fite Road, Saugerties NY 12477. if you cannot donate funds, please spread the word. Join our Facebook page Facebook/Opus40 and share this link inviting friends to join our campaign. If you have a photo of your visit to Opus 40, we want to see you. Add your photo to our Facebook page or share on Instagram with #opus40.
Opus 40 -Sculpture Garden & Quarryman's Museum Opus 40 is an environmental sculpture encompassing over 6 acres at the foot of the Catskill mountains in Saugerties, NY. Built solely by artist/sculptor Harvey Fite from the 1930's to the 1970's, Opus 40 is in need of urgent repairs. The sculpture park and museum is operated as a non-profit by Fite's relatives, who have lovingly maintained this sculpture, grounds, his home, tools and work space as a living history of stone masonry in America. Opus 40 is an American Treasure. Architectural Digest's Brendan Gill boasts, "Opus 40 is the greatest earthwork sculpture I have ever seen." During the recent East Coast hurricane, Opus 40 suffered serious damage. A major wall of the sculpture collapsed. Your contribution will fund the restoration of this unique and masterful piece. Your gift -- our gift $30,000 will fund the first stage of the restoration of Opus 40--the clearing of the space, erecting a gin pole exactly like the one Fite used for moving the large keystones that anchored the construction of Opus 40, sorting stones, bringing in new keystones from local quarries, and preparing the site for the finished work by master stonewaller Sean Adcock from Wales, and an international group of masters assembled by The Stone Foundation of Santa Fe, New Mexico. The prep work will be supervised by local stonemason Timothy Smith, of Clermont, NY. Smith has been very active locally in creating apprenticeships for at-risk kids, and we plan to incorporate this passion of his in the work. Your contributions will immediately go into action. The restoration process, we hope, will begin in late Spring of 2014. A film crew will be documenting the process for a film that is in production on the life of Harvey Fite. Other Ways You Can Help If you want to make a donation using PayPal, you can go to our website, www.opus40.org/donation/ Or if you prefer not to use electronic means, you can send a check made out to Opus 40, addressed to Opus 40, 50 Fite Road, Saugerties NY 12477. if you cannot donate funds, please spread the word. Join our Facebook page Facebook/Opus40 and share this link inviting friends to join our campaign. If you have a photo of your visit to Opus 40, we want to see you. Add your photo to our Facebook page or share on Instagram with #opus40.
Opus 40 -Sculpture Garden & Quarryman's Museum Opus 40 is an environmental sculpture encompassing over 6 acres at the foot of the Catskill mountains in Saugerties, NY. Built solely by artist/sculptor Harvey Fite from the 1930's to the 1970's, Opus 40 is in need of urgent repairs. The sculpture park and museum is operated as a non-profit by Fite's relatives, who have lovingly maintained this sculpture, grounds, his home, tools and work space as a living history of stone masonry in America. Opus 40 is an American Treasure. Architectural Digest's Brendan Gill boasts, "Opus 40 is the greatest earthwork sculpture I have ever seen." During the recent East Coast hurricane, Opus 40 suffered serious damage. A major wall of the sculpture collapsed. Your contribution will fund the restoration of this unique and masterful piece. Your gift -- our gift $30,000 will fund the first stage of the restoration of Opus 40--the clearing of the space, erecting a gin pole exactly like the one Fite used for moving the large keystones that anchored the construction of Opus 40, sorting stones, bringing in new keystones from local quarries, and preparing the site for the finished work by master stonewaller Sean Adcock from Wales, and an international group of masters assembled by The Stone Foundation of Santa Fe, New Mexico. The prep work will be supervised by local stonemason Timothy Smith, of Clermont, NY. Smith has been very active locally in creating apprenticeships for at-risk kids, and we plan to incorporate this passion of his in the work. Your contributions will immediately go into action. The restoration process, we hope, will begin in late Spring of 2014. A film crew will be documenting the process for a film that is in production on the life of Harvey Fite. Other Ways You Can Help If you want to make a donation using PayPal, you can go to our website, www.opus40.org/donation/ Or if you prefer not to use electronic means, you can send a check made out to Opus 40, addressed to Opus 40, 50 Fite Road, Saugerties NY 12477. if you cannot donate funds, please spread the word. Join our Facebook page Facebook/Opus40 and share this link inviting friends to join our campaign. If you have a photo of your visit to Opus 40, we want to see you. Add your photo to our Facebook page or share on Instagram with #opus40. Use the Indiegogo share tools!
Opus 40 -Sculpture Garden & Quarryman's Museum Opus 40 is an environmental sculpture encompassing over 6 acres at the foot of the Catskill mountains in Saugerties, NY. Built solely by artist/sculptor Harvey Fite from the 1930's to the 1970's, Opus 40 is in need of urgent repairs. The sculpture park and museum is operated as a non-profit by Fite's relatives, who have lovingly maintained this sculpture, grounds, his home, tools and work space as a living history of stone masonry in America. Opus 40 is an American Treasure. Architectural Digest's Brendan Gill boasts, "Opus 40 is the greatest earthwork sculpture I have ever seen." During the recent East Coast hurricane, Opus 40 suffered serious damage. A major wall of the sculpture collapsed. Your contribution will fund the restoration of this unique and masterful piece. Your gift -- our gift $30,000 will fund the first stage of the restoration of Opus 40--the clearing of the space, erecting a gin pole exactly like the one Fite used for moving the large keystones that anchored the construction of Opus 40, sorting stones, bringing in new keystones from local quarries, and preparing the site for the finished work by master stonewaller Sean Adcock from Wales, and an international group of masters assembled by The Stone Foundation of Santa Fe, New Mexico. The prep work will be supervised by local stonemason Timothy Smith, of Clermont, NY. Smith has been very active locally in creating apprenticeships for at-risk kids, and we plan to incorporate this passion of his in the work. Your contributions will immediately go into action. The restoration process, we hope, will begin in late Spring of 2014. A film crew will be documenting the process for a film that is in production on the life of Harvey Fite. Other Ways You Can Help If you want to make a donation using PayPal, you can go to our website, www.opus40.org/donation/ Or if you prefer not to use electronic means, you can send a check made out to Opus 40, addressed to Opus 40, 50 Fite Road, Saugerties NY 12477. if you cannot donate funds, please spread the word. Join our Facebook page Facebook/Opus40 and share this link inviting friends to join our campaign. If you have a photo of your visit to Opus 40, we want to see you. Add your photo to our Facebook page or share on Instagram with #opus40. Use the Indiegogo share tools!
SAUGERTIES >> Opus 40 must repair one of its bluestone walls and the Saugerties Historical Society needs money to finish its Dutch barn, so the two organizations are jointly hosting a fund-raising concert this summer. Opus 40 co-owner Tad Richards said the two organizations have tentatively scheduled the concert for June 21 and are seeking musicians to perform and volunteers to help with the event. The concert will be held at Opus 40 on Fite Road, off Glasco Turnpike, with the money raised to be split between the two organizations, according to information from Saugerties Historical Society Board of Directors President Marjorie Block. She said the historical society needs money funds to finish its Dutch barn and for its own operations. The barn dates to 1760 and is located on the grounds of the Kiersted House in the village of Saugerties. The structure was donated to the historical society by Northeast Solite, on whose property it originally was located. The historical society had to reconstruct the barn once it was moved to the Kiersted House. Richards said the money raised for Opus 40 will be used to repair one of the first walls that Harvey Fite built as part of his bluestone sculpture park. The wall blew out in September 2012 following storms that had hit the area. “We have been working on trying to get that wall repaired,” Richards said on Friday. He said an international group of “stonewallers” visited Opus 40 last summer and rebuilt the central ramp to the site. It was work that needed to be done and was practice to repair the wall, Richards said. Richards said the wall repair will cost about $70,000 with the workers donating part of their time. In addition to the repair, there also is some maintenance work to be done, he said. Harvey Fite began building Opus 40, best known for the stone monolith at its center, in 1939 after buying an abandoned bluestone quarry in a wooded area. He continued to work on it until his accidental death in 1976. The site has since been designated a national historic landmark. Fite built Opus 40 using a “dry key” mortarless stone masonry technique adapted from the ancient Mayans. In 2009, Opus 40 went on the real estate market with a reported asking price of about $3 million, but it has not been sold. Richards said the long-term plan is still to have someone or some organization take over Opus 40 and “run it as it should be.” He previously said he and his wife, Patricia, wanted the site to remain open to the public. Anyone interested in performing or volunteering at the fundraising concert should contact Richards at tad@opus40.org or Block at harry39a@aol.com. ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Opus 40 Getaway By: Mike O’Brian Updated 06/19/2014 05:00 AM ShareThis Facebook Tweet Email Albany/HV: Opus 40 Getaway Play now Time Warner Cable video customers: Sign in with your TWC ID to access our video clips. Sign in Get my TWC ID Get TWC service Read the FAQ This Getaway may be the most unusual things you'll ever see in the Hudson Valley! One man's life work is responsible for Opus 40. It's an enormous sculpture park found out in the countryside just a few miles west of the Village of Saugerties, New York. There are more than six acres of bluestone creations that make this a good place for picnics and picture taking. It's open Thursdays through Sundays until mid-October. Admission is $10. Opus 40 50 Fite Rd. Saugerties, N.Y. 12477 (845) 246-3400 - See more at: albany.twcnews.com/content/lifestyles/the_getaway_guy/745911/opus-40-getaway/#sthash.tgmBvGhJ.dpuf
This is tad, tad was my best friends grandfather, both me n arick created memories here ever since we basically could throw a rock n end up ricocheting it of a tree n hitting us back in the head, place was my home from 04 to 15, will never forget the times I had here, I love n miss you tad, pat, and Suzie, the the had passed an sadly arick had sold the property to a family fortune enough to proceed to keep this statue of minerals alive, - chris Woolsey.
Spring is here and worth the trip
Spring is here...time to visit Opus 40
Amazing I would Love to visit Opus 40 someday So beautiful
I just have to say that Opus 40 is one of the gem's of the Catskills. Founded by Harvey Fite, 1930-1976, who was one of the founder's of Bard College on the "other" side of the Hudson River, this sculpture garden is purely a tribute to stone, We have been to Opus 40 several times and love the rock walls, and the great picnic grounds.
Rustic, but not too far off the main road (just follow the signs), Route 212 from Saugerties, NY, and this is a splendid stop for an amazing design and for great views of the Catskill mountains.
Climb the rocks with vigor, and you will have a workout worth any gym in the country!
I cannot list the website here, but just search for Opus 40 near Saugerties. You will not be disappointed in this pristine, holistic venue that would make Buddha proud.
-David Allen
Opus 40 needs our support. Saugerties New York
Please tell your friends and family that www.opus40.org needs your support
Support for Opus 40
There are a handful of places and objects on the planet that photography under serves. Opus 40, in Saugerties, New York, is one of them. Built in an abandoned bluestone quarry in upstate New York by one man, Harvey Fite, Opus 40 is a contemporary American version of Stonehenge or the collection of Easter Island moai. It is one of my favorite places.
An aerial view. Photo by Tom Bookhout
Fite was a sculptor and fine arts professor at nearby Bard College when he purchased the bluestone quarry. If you have ever walked on a sidewalk in Manhattan, you have walked on bluestone from this or a nearby location. Using the rubble that had not become NYC sidewalks, Fite filled one six-and-one-half-acre section with hand-laid circles of bluestone paths and ramps, leading nowhere and everywhere, from fifteen feet below the ground level up to the magnificent centerpiece, the obelisk, a nine-ton, three-story-tall single stone, which from different perspectives seems to point at the nearby Catskill Mountains, join with the range, or appear to be the reason the Catskills are there. And Fite did it all alone, using ancient techniques. At first intended to be a showcase for his sculpture, over the next 37 years the site itself became Fite’s life work. He died in 1976.
Hurricane Irene in 2011 and Hurricane Sandy the following year delivered a one-two punch to the sculpture park; Irene saturated the ground beneath the ramps and walls and Sandy’s damage included a collapse of a very tall support wall. Fite’s stepson and his family have engaged the efforts of master stonewallers and stonemasons, who are using those stones that fell and can still be fitted together and finding others from local quarries to repair the damage and rebuild the broken sections. Where possible, they will employ Fite’s own tools and techniques to complete the repairs.
An estimated $30,000 is needed to fund the first stage of the work, and here, non-ancient techniques are being employed: an Indiegogo campaign is currently underway to raise the funds. Almost two months remain in the campaign, and over $6000 of the $30,000 has been raised as of today. The website has details of the perks sponsors will receive in return for their financial help.
If I had not been a student at Marist College, where Harvey Fite’s stepson was teaching, I quite possibly would still not know of Opus 40′s existence, even though I live in the same county. My teacher-friend grew up at Opus 40 and still resides there. In the early ’90s, I attended a friend’s wedding at Opus and in the summer of 1998, I volunteered there, helping direct parking for that year’s music acts. The quarry is a natural amphitheater and the obelisk is an eye-grabbing stage set; the concerts that summer included a blues festival, Orleans, and Pat Metheny.
Here is a brief video of Orleans performing at Opus 40 from around that time period:
The video below, made for the fundraising campaign, documents some of the landmark’s artistic significance and its cultural importance-with clips of Sonny Rollins performing there and Steve Earle, Chevy Chase, and Bela Fleck speaking about Opus 40-and details the amazing work the stonemasons have already contributed to the restoration project.
In the early 1970s, after he had retired as a professor at Bard College, Fite took time out from Opus 40 to build a museum to house his diverse collection of quarryman’s tools and artifacts. During the 19th century, quarrying was a major industry in the area. Bluestone was used for curbing and paving, crosswalks, doorsills and windowsills, most of it going to New York City. The Museum is a fascinating tour through the history of the area and the skills of its workingmen.
Quarrying equipment is represented, and so are tools, most of them hand-forged, that the quarryman used every day for farming, blacksmithing, carpentry and the like, Furnishings from a quarryman’s household are also on display - a stove, cupboard, even a handmade game of dominos.
To create Opus 40, Fite worked with traditional quarryman’s tools: hammers and chisels, drills, crowbars, and a huge boom equipped with a hand-powered winch and a flat wooden tray for moving rocks. He worked alone, using hand tools, for most of 40 years, and his museum honors the indigenous tools of our area, and the men and women in honor of whose lives and work he created Opus 40.
Looking forward to seeing it next week. Fascinating!
Please share this with your friends. The people who care for Opus 40 need your help and $1.00 can add up . Thanks
Come and visit Opus 40 in Saugerties New York in the Hudson River Valley.
:"Opus 40 is the greatest
earthwork sculpture
I have ever seen."
Brendan Gill, Architectural Digest
Tad Richards is the stepson of Harvey Fite, the creator of Opus 40. His mother, Barbara, married Fite in 1943, "when I was three and Opus 40 was five," so he grew up with the creation of Fite's masterwork as his constant companion. When Fite died in an accident in 1976, Richards helped his mother create the organization which has kept Fite's work alive. Since Barbara Fite's death in 1986, Richards and his wife Pat have taken responsibility for preserving Fite's legacy.
OPUS 40 is mounting a major fund drive for an immediate restoration project, and a long term preservation project. We are reaching out to all our friends-past members, present members, people who have visited Opus 40 and loved it, people who have read about us or seen our website and understand what a treasure Harvey Fite’s masterwork is.
Please make a donation to us…any amount will help! If you donate at a membership level, your donation will also grant you specific membership benefits and extras. If you’re already a member, please consider an additional donation (which will raise your membership level).
You may use the button below for PayPal or credit card donations (sorry, no American Express), or you can donate with a credit card by calling (845)246-3400.
To donate by check, mail to Donations, Opus 40, 50 Fite Road, Saugerties NY 12477
Or stop by so we can thank you in person!
Your donation is also tax deductible.
SAUGERTIES, N.Y. -- Easter celebrations started early for some people in Ulster County Sunday.
Dozens came to the Opus 40 Park in Saugerties for the sunrise service.
This annual service has been going on for more than 30 years, and serves as the unofficial season opener for the sculpture park and museum.
People there say this is a special setting to observe the holiest day on the Christian calendar.
"Something about the sunlight, I think overlook mountain, in front, the sun behind us, the mountain and its radiance the message about the rising of life. The rising of the lord, feels like this is where we need to be somehow on Easter morning," said Joshua Bode of Woodstock Reformed Church.
Part of Opus 40 was damaged by storms in recent years, and those who oversee the park are working to raise money for repairs, part of which was done last summer.
If you're interested in donating, you can find a link to the Opus 40 website HERE.
- See more at: hudsonvalley.twcnews.com/content/news/725335/opus-40-park-hosts-annual-sunrise-easter-service/#sthash.B5560IdO.dpuf
I hope the trustees of Bard step in and help out to preserve Opus 40
Brendan Gill, in March, 1989 edition of Architectural Digest, called Opus 40 “one of the largest and most beguiling works of art on the entire continent,” and he has also called it “the greatest earthwork sculpture I have ever seen.” Though Fite was not associated with the Land Art or Earthworks sculptural movement of the 1970s, he came to be known as a pioneer of that movement, and was recognized in 1977 by the Hirshhorn Museum of the Smithsonian Institution, in a show entitled “Probing the Earth: Contemporary Land Projects,” as a forefather of the earthworks movement.
A highlight of our visit was Opus 40. It is a place to visit in any season.”
Car & Travel Magazine - AAA New York, July
Happy New Year
Opus 40 -Sculpture Garden & Quarryman's Museum
Opus 40 is an environmental sculpture encompassing over 6 acres at the foot of the Catskill mountains in Saugerties, NY. Built solely by artist/sculptor Harvey Fite from the 1930's to the 1970's, Opus 40 is in need of urgent repairs.
The sculpture park and museum is operated as a non-profit by Fite's relatives, who have lovingly maintained this sculpture, grounds, his home, tools and work space as a living history of stone masonry in America.
Opus 40 is an American Treasure. Architectural Digest's Brendan Gill boasts, "Opus 40 is the greatest earthwork sculpture I have ever seen."
During the recent East Coast hurricane, Opus 40 suffered serious damage. A major wall of the sculpture collapsed. Your contribution will fund the restoration of this unique and masterful piece.
Your gift -- our gift
$30,000 will fund the first stage of the restoration of Opus 40--the clearing of the space, erecting a gin pole exactly like the one Fite used for moving the large keystones that anchored the construction of Opus 40, sorting stones, bringing in new keystones from local quarries, and preparing the site for the finished work by master stonewaller Sean Adcock from Wales, and an international group of masters assembled by The Stone Foundation of Santa Fe, New Mexico. The prep work will be supervised by local stonemason Timothy Smith, of Clermont, NY. Smith has been very active locally in creating apprenticeships for at-risk kids, and we plan to incorporate this passion of his in the work.
Your contributions will immediately go into action. The restoration process, we hope, will begin in late Spring of 2014. A film crew will be documenting the process for a film that is in production on the life of Harvey Fite.
Other Ways You Can Help
If you want to make a donation using PayPal, you can go to our website, www.opus40.org/donation/
Or if you prefer not to use electronic means, you can send a check made out to Opus 40, addressed to Opus 40, 50 Fite Road, Saugerties NY 12477.
if you cannot donate funds, please spread the word. Join our Facebook page Facebook/Opus40 and share this link inviting friends to join our campaign.
If you have a photo of your visit to Opus 40, we want to see you. Add your photo to our Facebook page or share on Instagram with #opus40.
OPUS 40 refers to the 40 years Fite expects to put into the construction of the massive sculpture. But as he began moving those first stones back in 1939, he had no such dream. A quarry in the middle of the woods that has been standing idle for 30 years is nothing to inspire visions. It is a pile of rubble, grown over with brush. When Harvey Fife first stood there on its edge, he was not thinking of it as the raw material for one great monumental sculpture, but as an endless source of stone for works of a more conventional size.
Opus 40 began to emerge as a setting to display those works. Fite cleared away the brush and surface rubble, and at the high points of the quarry began to construct pedestals for his larger pieces. Then he built ramps to lead up to and between the pedestals. As he worked, it became apparent to him that what he was building was not a simple series of pedestals for sculpture, but a sculptured environment to set off a collection of work, a total expression in which the carved pieces would serve as individual statements.
With this concept in mind, he began to shape the sweeping rhythmic terraces, with the accents of steps and pools, that compose Opus 40. The technique he used is an ancient method called ''dry keying", which relies on the careful fitting of stone upon stone, and the pressure of the mass, for its stability. The ''keys" are large stones placed at intervals throughout the wall, which support and are held in place by the smaller surrounding stones.
There is no mortar or cement anywhere in the construction; as a result, it is not susceptible to the ravages of erosion. In the normal course of events, Opus 40 could easily be standing ten thousand years from now.
From the foot of the main ramp, the development of Fite's skill in fitting stone is dramatically evident. The southeast section, to the left, was the first of the lower areas that Fite sculptured, and the roughness of the technique stands in clear contrast to the remarkable fineness of the walls across the ramp.
As the major work grew, the smaller pieces seemed to shrink into it. The statues on the left and right - the two ton Tomorrow and the four ton Quarry Family were holding their own, but the central figure, a half ton carving called Flame, was totally lost in the massive scale.
In a creek bed a few miles away was a huge stone, Fite had first spotted it in 1952, and knew it was the stone he needed to establish the central focus of Opus 40. But there was a problem of disputed ownership of the stone, and it was twelve years before Fite could get clear title to it and bring it to his quarry.
Raising the nine ton monolith into position was the single most challenging problem in the construction of Opus 40. The method Fite chose derives from principles used by the ancient Egyptians. He removed Flame and its base, and dug a hole four feet deep in the spot where the monolith was to stand. Then he brought the stone in to rest horizontally with the tapered end over the hole. The stone was then tipped into the hole, raising the larger end, and a crib of heavy wooden blocks was inserted beneath it. Jacking up the heavy end a few inches at a time, Fite built up the crib until the stone was resting at approximately a 45 degree angle. It was then pulled into an upright position by guy wires attached to a winch in a pick-up truck, and held in place by countering wires.
A huge A-frame was then constructed out of 30 foot timbers, and raised over the monolith in the same fashion. A chain hoist with a half ton capacity was fitted to the top of the A-frame in order to haul up the ten ton capacity chain hoist that was needed to lift the stone. The monolith was then raised, and the base was built up beneath it, topped by a three-quarter ton capstone. The monolith, its bottom trimmed perpendicular to the center of gravity for maximum purchase, was finally lowered into place, held there entirely by its own weight and balance.
Fite had a rough plan for carving it, but once the monolith was in its place on the central pedestal, he realized that it was perfect as it was. Opus 40 had become a work of art that had nothing To do with carved sculpture. He removed the other statues to the surrounding woods, and allowed the main work to express itself in its own terms.
From an old flyer on Opus 40
Opus 40 is located on Fite Road, off Fishcreek Road near the intersection with Glasco Turnpike, in Saugerties, NY. Going West from Saugerties on Rt 212 (towards Woodstock) there are signs where you turn.
The story of the quarry itself begins with the history of the stone. The quarry lies in a rock formation called the Hamilton Bench, which runs for approximately 50 miles along the eastern foot of the Catskill Mountains, with an average width of about 5 miles, and a depth of nearly half a mile. The quarry walls and bedrock floor contain the markings of millions of years of history, from the geological age known as the Upper Devonian period.
The clearest reading of these markings is found in the area in and around the large sunken section to the north of the monolith, which Fite plans as an amphitheater. The flat white rock which lies on the surface where the soil has been cleared away is glacial rock. The grooves that run along it in perfect straight lines were etched by Ice Age glaciers as they moved slowly across the land many thousands of years ago. Moving down a few feet and a few hundred thousand years to the ledge on the northern corner of the amphitheater, there is rock that is heavily swirled. This was turbulent sea bottom, carved into waves of rock by the restless churning of prehistoric ocean waves. And on the amphitheater floor, some twelve feet lower and millions of years earlier, rock with the gentle ripples of a sandy beach can be found. In the floors and running up through the ages along the quarry walls, in fingerprint-sized pock- marks, are the fossils of bracheopods, one of the earliest invertebrate forms of life.
It was a much later form of life, man, that began digging back down again through these layers of stone. The hardness of the bluestone made it ideal for city sidewalks and curbstones, and during the nineteenth century this area was the site of an active quarrying industry to supply the paving needs of New York City.
The marketable stone normally begins from six to ten feet below the surface, where the pressure has forced the needed degree of hardness. The stone was quarried in flat slabs, the thinner layers being used for paving stones and the thicker ones for curbstones. The quarrymen used drills and wedges to remove the stone and the drill marks and layers are still visible in many of the quarry walls of Opus 40.
As they moved ahead into the rock walls, the quarrymen would throw the broken and unusable pieces behind them, leaving huge mounds of bluestone rubble. When the turn of the century brought the advent of the pneumatic tire and the introduction of reinforced concrete for paving, the quarry industry died, and these rubble-piled quarries were left as they were at the disposal of the local flora and fauna.
OPUS 40
Open each Fri-Sun Memorial day-Labor day (weekends thru Nov 1st) noon-5pm
Admission is charged
Call: 914-246-3400
In addition to the outdoor sculpture, a small museum of quarrying tools collected by Harvey Fite is open to the public.
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"Opus 40 is the greatest
earthwork sculpture
I have ever seen."
Brendan Gill, Architectural Digest
Please help the people of www.opus40.org to preserve the work of Harvey Fite.
Chris -- thanks for all your support. For anyone looking at Chris's video, we are now conducting a major IndieGoGo campaign -- www.indiegogo.com/projects/opus-40-restoration--3/x/2677450
:Opus 40 -Sculpture Garden & Quarryman's Museum
Opus 40 is an environmental sculpture encompassing over 6 acres at the foot of the Catskill mountains in Saugerties, NY. Built solely by artist/sculptor Harvey Fite from the 1930's to the 1970's, Opus 40 is in need of urgent repairs.
The sculpture park and museum is operated as a non-profit by Fite's relatives, who have lovingly maintained this sculpture, grounds, his home, tools and work space as a living history of stone masonry in America.
Opus 40 is an American Treasure. Architectural Digest's Brendan Gill boasts, "Opus 40 is the greatest earthwork sculpture I have ever seen."
During the recent East Coast hurricane, Opus 40 suffered serious damage. A major wall of the sculpture collapsed. Your contribution will fund the restoration of this unique and masterful piece.
Your gift -- our gift
$30,000 will fund the first stage of the restoration of Opus 40--the clearing of the space, erecting a gin pole exactly like the one Fite used for moving the large keystones that anchored the construction of Opus 40, sorting stones, bringing in new keystones from local quarries, and preparing the site for the finished work by master stonewaller Sean Adcock from Wales, and an international group of masters assembled by The Stone Foundation of Santa Fe, New Mexico. The prep work will be supervised by local stonemason Timothy Smith, of Clermont, NY. Smith has been very active locally in creating apprenticeships for at-risk kids, and we plan to incorporate this passion of his in the work.
Your contributions will immediately go into action. The restoration process, we hope, will begin in late Spring of 2014. A film crew will be documenting the process for a film that is in production on the life of Harvey Fite.
Other Ways You Can Help
If you want to make a donation using PayPal, you can go to our website, www.opus40.org/donation/
Or if you prefer not to use electronic means, you can send a check made out to Opus 40, addressed to Opus 40, 50 Fite Road, Saugerties NY 12477.
if you cannot donate funds, please spread the word. Join our Facebook page Facebook/Opus40 and share this link inviting friends to join our campaign.
If you have a photo of your visit to Opus 40, we want to see you. Add your photo to our Facebook page or share on Instagram with #opus40.
Opus 40 located in Saugerties, New York in the Hu…: ua-cam.com/video/zQ0z5PxptVY/v-deo.html
Sat, Jun 21 2014 4:00 pm - 8:00 pm
PERFORMANCE
Advance tickets only $15!
The Paul Luke Band, Saugerties’ premier country-rock jam band, and the Amrod Band are lending their talents to a benefit concert for Opus 40 and the Saugerties Historical Society on Midsummer Eve, Saturday, June 21, 2014 Good music, good food, good times!
Order here - tickets will be held at the door. Or buy at one of our outlets - Opus 40 * Saugerties Historical Society * Town and Country Liquors in Saugerties * Candlestock in Woodstock * Mother Earth stores in Saugerties, Kingston and Poughkeepsie.
Please help Opus 40 by year end if can...
Opus 40
Not sure how many of you are aware of this fantastic environmental sculpture, but it's an impressive feat. Done by one man . I'll be out there this year to help with the repairs. The Stone Foundation did a smaller repair last summer. If you're within a few hours of Eastern NY state it's worth a day trip to check it out.
www.indiegogo.com/projects/op...restoration--3
LONELY PLANET REVIEW
In between the two upstate towns of Woodstock and Saugerties lies a hidden art installation that takes a bit of work to find, but is well worth the effort. Opus 40 is the sculpture put together by artist Harvey Fite, who bought an old slate quarry in the 1930s and made it his permanent studio. Over decades, he coaxed deep canyons and shapes out of the abandoned quarry, moving and shifting tons and tons of flinty blue stones and creating a living, flowing outdoor art installation. It sometimes opens on a Monday from late May to early October.
Read more: www.lonelyplanet.com/usa/new-york-state/woodstock-around/sights/museums-galleries/opus-40#ixzz2xJDIyTRO
Please help the hardworking people who are preserving "Opus 40 ". www.opus40.org
Please help to preserve Opus 40
SAUGERTIES >> Opus 40 must repair one of its bluestone walls and the Saugerties Historical Society needs money to finish its Dutch barn, so the two organizations are jointly hosting a fund-raising concert this summer.
Opus 40 co-owner Tad Richards said the two organizations have tentatively scheduled the concert for June 21 and are seeking musicians to perform and volunteers to help with the event.
The concert will be held at Opus 40 on Fite Road, off Glasco Turnpike, with the money raised to be split between the two organizations, according to information from Saugerties Historical Society Board of Directors President Marjorie Block. She said the historical society needs money funds to finish its Dutch barn and for its own operations.
The barn dates to 1760 and is located on the grounds of the Kiersted House in the village of Saugerties. The structure was donated to the historical society by Northeast Solite, on whose property it originally was located. The historical society had to reconstruct the barn once it was moved to the Kiersted House.
Richards said the money raised for Opus 40 will be used to repair one of the first walls that Harvey Fite built as part of his bluestone sculpture park.
The wall blew out in September 2012 following storms that had hit the area.
“We have been working on trying to get that wall repaired,” Richards said on Friday. He said an international group of “stonewallers” visited Opus 40 last summer and rebuilt the central ramp to the site. It was work that needed to be done and was practice to repair the wall, Richards said.
Richards said the wall repair will cost about $70,000 with the workers donating part of their time. In addition to the repair, there also is some maintenance work to be done, he said.
Harvey Fite began building Opus 40, best known for the stone monolith at its center, in 1939 after buying an abandoned bluestone quarry in a wooded area. He continued to work on it until his accidental death in 1976. The site has since been designated a national historic landmark.
Fite built Opus 40 using a “dry key” mortarless stone masonry technique adapted from the ancient Mayans.
In 2009, Opus 40 went on the real estate market with a reported asking price of about $3 million, but it has not been sold.
Richards said the long-term plan is still to have someone or some organization take over Opus 40 and “run it as it should be.” He previously said he and his wife, Patricia, wanted the site to remain open to the public.
Anyone interested in performing or volunteering at the fundraising concert should contact Richards at tad@opus40.org or Block at harry39a@aol.com.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Hudson River attractions
Tad Richards
Chris -- thanks for all your support. For anyone looking at Chris's video, we are now conducting a major IndieGoGo campaign -- www.indiegogo.com/projects/opus-40-restoration--3/x/2677450
ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT | LOCAL HISTORY
Local filmmakers plan Opus 40 documentary
by QUINN O'CALLAGHAN on Dec 18, 2012 •
Opus 40, with its vast terraces and unexpected pools and hypnotic sense of design and layering, is an American masterpiece. Architectural Digest’s Brendan Gill called it “the greatest earthwork sculpture I have ever seen.” Now, two Saugerties natives, Ed Gerrard and Peter Himberger, are working on a documentary about the work. “You’re not going to...
Opus 40 renovation crew blends art and craft
by DAVID GORDON on Jul 23, 2013 • 6:30 am
As wallers work at Opus 40, a cameraman records their work (photo by David Gordon)
At Opus 40, the six-plus acre sculpture created by Harvey Fite over 38 years, that has become obvious. Following recent storms and the ravages of time, two large sections need repair. One section, near the front of the massive platforms, ramps and stairways that make up the sculpture, was bulging and threatening to blow out. A team of stone masons has disassembled the section and is rebuilding it.
The rebuilding process in some ways illustrates the difference between art and craft, said Tim Smith of Hudson, who is overseeing the work. “The artist looks into himself and creates something, whereas a tradesman sees something, gets inspired by it, and copies other people’s work.” However, the tradesman, or craftsman, may often have more training in the technique of building, and this has contributed to some structural problems at Opus 40, said Tomas Lipps of New Mexico, a founder of Stone Foundation, an international organization of stone masons.
“We’re duplicating Harvey Fite’s work, but I hesitate to say it would be better. I’d say more technically correct.”
Fite was an artist who, among other achievements, established an art program at Bard College. In addition to creating a large body of sculpture, he conceived the idea of a sculptured structure, which would be constructed from the bluestone so prevalent in the Hudson Valley. However, as the project took shape, it became a sculpture in its own right, and Fite continued to work on it until his death in 1976.
The masons working on the restoration are members of Stone Foundation, and they have come from considerable distances to work on the project. Sean Adcock, one of the craftsmen on the construction, noted that “while we’re doing this wrong [from a technical point of view], we’re compensating.”
One of the weaknesses in Harvey Fite’s work was the fact that he built his walls level vertically. Professional wallers introduce a slight inward tilt, which strengthens the wall as the front and back layers brace each other, and weight is directed downward, Lipps explained. Another difference is that walls are strengthened if long strips of stone are set across the width of the wall, tying the front and rear layers of the wall together, Smith said.
However, the Stone Foundation undertook the task because of the impressive and artistic work that Fite constructed, Lipps said. “When I came up here in April to check it out, I heard that some people were saying it should be left to go to ruin. When I got here and saw it, I decided it should be saved. But it will need constant maintenance.” The wall was starting to bulge, and it was evident that it would soon collapse without major work, and the Foundation is doing that work to help preserve it.
The job of going through piles of stone to find the piece that fit resembled a giant jigsaw puzzle, and indeed, Lipps said, puzzles were his early training. His family did not have television, and he and his mother would do jigsaw puzzles as a primary form of entertainment. “We would take two puzzles and mix the pieces together, then we would compete to see who could put their puzzle together faster,” he said.
It took more than a dedicated group of stone masons to rebuild the section of the sculpture, Lipps said. “We’re able to do this because they [Opus 40] had some success in funding. People have come forward and provided the funds to do this section of the project.”
The next big push will be to raise money to rebuild a section that collapsed last September following heavy rains. That is expected to be a more expensive job. Harvey Fite’s stepson, Tad Richards, said the fundraising will begin as soon as he has a chance to relax after the immediate work is done. Another restoration job was Richards’s home, also built by Fite, which suffered severe damage.
Along with the wall builders, a television production company was on the site. Ed Gerrard and Peter Himberger are producing a documentary about Opus 40. Local cameraman and filmmaker Alex Rappoport was also on the scene, recording the work and interviewing the stone craftsmen. All three are Saugerties residents.
Richards credited Chevy Chase, who spearheaded a benefit for the wall repair in June, and Chase’s brother, John Cederquist, with raising much of the money for the repair work.
Richards said the organization quotes his brother as saying “with proper care and maintenance, Opus 40 can still be standing 1,000 years from now. That’s true, but the key is proper care and maintenance.”
As work progresses, Tim Smith will be a key player, as he lives close to the sculpture of the Stone Foundation group, and he hopes to become a part of the ongoing renovation. One of his aims is to use this work to train apprentices, as many of the skilled stone masons are growing older and will soon be retiring.
Two of the workers on the wall project were teenagers Andrew Brooks and Eddie Jones, who were hired through the Ulster County Summer Youth Employment Project, which pays youths age 14 to 20 years old to gain training and work experience. Their job was to move the heavy 1×3-foot or larger tie stones from the quarry to the work site, including getting them down a flight of stone stairs. Smith showed them how to slide them safely and with minimum effort.
Meanwhile, Opus 40 will remain open to the public. A fundraising concert Sunday, July 14 to benefit Hungry For Music - an organization that provides instruments for young music students who can’t afford them - featured The Nutropians and Aztec Two Step.
On Saturday, July 20 and Sunday, July 21, Kevin VanHentenryck will offer a workshop on stone carving, and concerts are planned for the Labor Day weekend, with the Felice Brothers and their group on Aug. 30 and banjo greats Bela Fleck and Abigail Washburn on Sept. 1.
The ongoing work will also require ongoing funding. Anyone wishing to donate to the upkeep and maintenance at Opus 40 may visit their website at www.opus40.org and click on the “donate” button.
In other news
Opus 40 Feedback
Rebuilding the primordial wall
Full schedule at Opus 40, but still no buyer
Historic designation proposed for Opus 40 studio, museum
Local filmmakers plan Opus 40 documentary
Sat, May 04
PERFORMANCE
A fundraiser for Hungry for Music (HFM), a grassroots, not-for-profit organization that provides free musical instruments to underserved children, will take place on Saturday, May 4, at Opus 40 in Saugerties, from TBA pm. The event, “Musical Visions: Live Music Art Auction,” will feature an exhibition and auction of old musical instruments that have been turned into paintings, sculptures, and assemblages by more than 30 area artists; live music by TBA; and food provided by several local restaurants, bakeries, and chefs.
According to Jeff Campbell, director of Hungry for Music, the volunteer-driven organization’s mission is “to get instruments into the hands of kids who are eager to learn but can’t afford to buy their own.” To that end, the organization-which is based in the District of Columbia-collects donated instruments and has bestowed them upon thousands of underprivileged children all over the United States. The group’s programs are supported through memberships, benefit concerts and events, raffles, and the sale of Hungry for Music-produced CDs.
Although most of the donated instruments quickly find homes, some of them “have exhausted their usefulness,” Campbell says, and these are the instruments that have been given to artists to transform into remarkably striking works of art.
Admission to the Opus 30 event is by donation. Attendees are also welcome to bring old, but still functional musical instruments to donate. The artwork will be sold in a silent auction that will take place during the event.
Huffington Post Lauds Opus 40!
With phrases like: "a visionary sculpture park" and "a mind-blowing work of environmental art," the Huffington Post's recent article paints an engaging picture of Opus 40.
And Opus 40 is about to get even better.
We're expanding the transformative experience by launching an educational initiative integrating Harvey Fite's cross-cultural focus with ethical humanism.
On September 20th we'll host a Graffiti Arts Event led by John Cederquist and his NYC Graffiti Art friends. An accomplished artist, John was an acclaimed New York subway artist in his youth. He's an engaging speaker with great stories to tell!
Then in October, we'll pilotThe Opus Night Out - a monthly evening of live entertainment with a humanistic focus that stretches beyond entertainment-as-usual.
We're also developing audio tours of Opus 40 and the Quarryman's Museum. Come by this summer to say hello and try them out.
Opus 40 is growing to become Your Destination for Creative Inspiration. Thanks so much for being a part of Opus 40 - hope to see you Saturday!
Laurie DellaVilla-Miller, Executive Director
Explore the Hudson River Valley New York
Opus 40 Getaway
By: Mike O’Brian Updated 06/19/2014 05:00 AM ShareThis Facebook Tweet Email
Rochester: Opus 40 Getaway
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This Getaway may be the most unusual things you'll ever see in the Hudson Valley!
One man's life work is responsible for Opus 40. It's an enormous sculpture park found out in the countryside just a few miles west of the Village of Saugerties, New York.
There are more than six acres of bluestone creations that make this a good place for picnics and picture taking. It's open Thursdays through Sundays until mid-October. Admission is $10.
Opus 40
50 Fite Rd.
Saugerties, N.Y. 12477
(845) 246-3400
Opus 40
- See more at: rochester.twcnews.com/content/lifestyles/745911/opus-40-getaway/#sthash.TquBmcgS.dpuf
by Mark Bolger June 26, 2014 11:26 AM
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I don’t know if you have visited Opus 40 in Saugerties. It is one of the valley’s most inspiring places. Built by one man, Harvey Fite over a period of 37 years, it’s considered one of the world’s most renowned bluestone sculptures. Brendan Gill, in the March, 1989 edition of Architectural Digest, called Opus 40 “one of the largest and most beguiling works of art on the entire continent.”
Opus 40 is made from millions of pieces of Ulster County Bluestone that were all layed by hand! Time and weather have taken a bit of a toll on the structure, but most of it remains intact. Fundraising efforts are ongoing to keep Opus 40 around for generations. Please donate what you can.
Over the years Opus 40 has hosted concerts with some of music’s biggest and most talented. Concert or not, it ranks way up on this area’s “must see” bucket list.
Read More: Visit the Amazing Opus 40 in Saugerties - Help Save This Valley Treasure | mix97fm.com/visit-the-amazing-opus-40-in-saugerties-help-save-this-valley-treasure/?trackback=tsmclip
Check out this video on UA-cam:
Opus 40 Saugerties New York
can use your help.
Thank you
By DAVID WALLIS
Published: June 2, 2006
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"I AM astounded one man did this work," marveled Ana Fernandez-Sesma, a Manhattanite resting on a stone bench at Opus 40, a magnificent maze of platforms, pools, ramps, terraces and bridges carved within the walls of an abandoned bluestone quarry near Woodstock, N.Y. "If he had a team like a pharaoh, I could believe it."
In a culture of disposability that celebrates slackers, Opus 40 not only constitutes what Brendan Gill described in Architectural Digest in March 1989 as one of "the most beguiling works of art on the entire continent," but stands as a monument to discipline and hard work. Harvey Fite, a self-taught sculptor who was born in 1903 and died in 1976, labored more than half his life to build it.
Opus 40 is a 6.5-acre environmental sculpture that looks like a giant three-dimensional jigsaw puzzle made of thousands upon thousands of bluestone pieces. Wedding-cake tiers of a central pedestal support a 9-ton, 15-foot monolith that towers over the site. Although narrow moatlike passages can feel claustrophobic, other spaces, like a 90-foot-square amphitheater, are expansive. Landscaped grounds surround the sculpture, and Overlook Mountain provides a stunning backdrop.
Meredith and Tom Mercer, who live near Albany and were touring Opus 40 on the same day as Ms. Fernandez-Sesma, were as amazed as she was. "I can't believe someone would do this, stone by stone," said Ms. Mercer. "It reminds me of Chichén Itzá."
"And it has a Stonehenge feeling to it," Mr. Mercer added.
Fite's stepson, Tad Richards, who lives in a house in front of Opus 40, is used to seeing stunned visitors wandering in his backyard. "They say, 'My God, it's inconceivable that one man could have built this.' But I saw it being built."
There are no guided tours, but visitors can buy a slim book, "Harvey Fite's Opus 40," and watch a seven-minute video at a former truck garage that functions as a visitor center and a gallery of Fite's figurative works. (A moving Depression-era bronze of a beggar's hands propped up by a crutch particularly merits a look.)
Harvey Fite grew up in Texas and studied for the ministry at St. Stephen's College in Annandale-on-Hudson, N.Y. He dropped out, joined a traveling theater troupe and later moved to Woodstock, where he performed at a local theater. Fite was backstage during a performance, according to his stepson, when a wooden spool discarded by a seamstress rolled under his chair. "A Texas boy, he always had a jackknife on him, and he started whittling and he had an epiphany that this was what he wanted to do with his life," said Mr. Richards, who speaks in a patrician baritone and resembles a stockier, long-haired George Plimpton.
In 1933, St. Stephen's, about to change its name to Bard College and its focus from religion to liberal arts, recruited Fite, who agreed to build Bard's theater and run its drama department provided he could also teach sculpture.
He bought his quarry in 1938; it had stopped operating as concrete replaced bluestone as the chosen material for sidewalks. "It was abandoned, worthless land - he bought it for 250 bucks," Mr. Richards said. "It was this pile of rubble in the woods."
But after he traveled to Honduras to help restore Mayan ruins, Fite began to see his pile of rubble as an artist's gold mine. The Mayans used dry keystone masonry, a technique in which large slabs are placed strategically among smaller stones and no mortar is needed.
"He got really intrigued with the way the Mayans worked in stone," Mr. Richards said. "When he came back to his quarry he thought, 'Wow, I wonder if I can apply that to native bluestone?' So that was how Opus 40 started."
Over the years Fite held down his job at Bard, served on the board of the Woodstock Artists Association, held parties at Opus 40 and wooed his wife at local square dances. But mainly, he worked - heaving stones, piling stones, trimming stones.
A powerfully built man with Popeyelike biceps, Fite relied on the traditional tools of quarriers: chisel, sledgehammer and hand-powered winch. "Harvey used to say the most advanced piece of modern technology that went into the building was a carpenter's level," Mr. Richards recalled. A dizzying array of his tools - elongated iron pliers, something that looks like a mammoth corkscrew, myriad saw blades - hang on and rest against the walls of the Quarryman's Museum on the second floor of the visitor center.
Fite somehow found time to build the museum in the early 70's but chose not to label the tools. Even Mr. Richards can't figure out the function of some, though producing a catalog is on his lengthy to-do list.
Fite initially planned to turn his quarry into an alfresco gallery for his figurative sculptures. But according to a master's thesis on Opus 40 written last year by Kim Barker at the Art Institute of Chicago, Fite realized by the mid-1950's that the grand scale of Opus 40 overpowered his intended half-ton centerpiece, "Flame."
He wanted a larger sculpture for the center and coveted a nine-ton rock he had seen in a nearby stream. It took him 12 years to secure permission to take the massive stone. In 1964, with the help of friends, colleagues and a flatbed truck, he managed to erect it, a monolith that looks a bit like a huge exclamation point, at Opus 40.
"When he put it up, that was when he realized that what had started out as a setting for sculpture had become the sculpture," Mr. Richards said.
FITE had intended to carve the monolith, but he decided to leave it as it was and moved "Flame" and other figurative sculptures to the adjacent grounds. "Removing the figurative sculptures, a reductive process, was part of Fite's evolution as an artist," Ms. Barker wrote.
Opus 40 rarely feels crowded. Guests on one Saturday walked around quietly as if at a temple, and you could hear the wind play against the quarry walls and bullfrogs croaking in a pool in front of the sculpture. The mood changed a bit when an attendant beseeched a parent to hold her child's hand - a wise idea, since some stones on the walkways are loose. With footing somewhat precarious, you may spend more time than usual looking down. Bluestone is not necessarily blue. It comes in shades of gray with rust splotches. Fossils are embedded in the rock, and delicate ripples decorate the floor of the ampitheater, the result of countless lashings by ocean waves; the area was underwater eons ago.
In Fite's day, trees sprouted out of Opus 40, offering shade, but most have been lost. On summer afternoons, when the sun roasts the rocks, visitors can seek shelter under nearby birches, hemlocks, cedars and pines. Getting away from the sculpture is also a reminder of its imposing scale.
Though Fite long resisted naming his work, he relented around 1972, Mr. Richards said, after reading a magazine article entitled "Fite's Acropolis in the Catskills."
The site "was getting names like that, flattering but a little embarrassing," Mr. Richards recalled. Fite, who joked that composers had it easier than artists because they could number their works, selected the name Opus 40 because he believed the project would take 40 years.
He was three years short of that figure when, in May 1976, at the age of 72, he died in an accident at "Opus 40." Mr. Richards described his stepfather's death: "He was mowing the lawn and brought his lawn tractor to the lip of the quarry and apparently tried to put it in reverse and it jammed in a forward speed, shot over the edge and he landed under it."
Mr. Richards paused. "He died while working. He died in the middle of what he loved most."
IF YOU GO
OPUS 40 (50 Fite Road, Saugerties, N.Y.; 845-246-3400) is about 100 miles north of New York City. Take the New York State Thruway to Exit 20. Turn right on Route 212 west, toward Woodstock. Drive 1.6 miles and turn left onto Fishcreek Road. After driving 2.4 miles, turn right at a stop sign onto Highwoods Road. The turn to Fite Road is another half mile on the right.
It is open noon to 5 p.m. Friday to Sunday from late May until early October. Consult www.opus40.org before setting out because the site closes occasionally for special events like weddings. Concerts are also held there.
Admission is $10 for adults and $3 for children. Baby strollers are not permitted on the bluestone, and no pets are allowed. The book "Harvey Fite's Opus 40," by Jonathan Richards, is available in the gift shop for $6.95.
Opus 40 allows picnics, but another option is to drive to the New World Home Cooking Company (1411 Route 212, Saugerties; 845-246-0900) for what the menu calls "assertive cuisine of the American melting pot." Lunch offerings include watermelon gazpacho ($5.95), blue corn-crusted seitan steak with a tomatillo salsa ($10.95) and ropa vieja with grass-fed beef ($9.95).
A version of this article appeared in print on June 2, 2006, on page F9 of the New York edition with the headline: A Monumental Vision Of Half a Lifetime.
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Local filmmakers plan Opus 40 documentary
by QUINN O'CALLAGHAN on Dec 18, 2012 •
Opus 40, with its vast terraces and unexpected pools and hypnotic sense of design and layering, is an American masterpiece. Architectural Digest’s Brendan Gill called it “the greatest earthwork sculpture I have ever seen.” Now, two Saugerties natives, Ed Gerrard and Peter Himberger, are working on a documentary about the work. “You’re not going to...
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Rebuilding the primordial wall
by SHARYN FLANAGAN on Apr 1, 2013 • 6:30 am
‘There’s no other thing like it anywhere else in the world, but it takes maintenance’
Last September, a stone wall collapsed on the southwest side of the quarry at Opus 40. It was the first such incident in the over-70-year history of the site. At the time, the collapse was believed to be the result of water pressure from heavy rainfall that occurred earlier that evening. As it turns out, it seems that all that water was just the final straw in an inevitable process wrought by time and Mother Nature.
Opus 40 was built with mortarless dry key stonemasonry techniques intended to allow water to run through the structures, says grounds consultant Lee Walker. But according to a recent engineer’s report, those “internal voids” that allow water and small rock and soil particles to pass through, “over time, can fill and restrict the flow of water through the wall, causing the water to be trapped.”
“In other words,” says Walker, “they’re saying [Opus 40] is destined to fail, no matter how long it stands. Not because of the way Harvey built it, but because of what it is.”
And based on that engineer’s report, Walker says, an insurance claim to pay for restoration of the collapsed wall was denied.
So where does it go from here? Fixing the collapsed wall will be a big expense, he says. And several other places on the site in need of shoring up have been identified, too. “It’s not just fixing this wall; it’s what to do to make sure it doesn’t happen again. And that all takes money.”
Paying the piper
Opus 40 board member Brigid Walsh says that as unfortunate as it is that the insurance claim was denied, it does serve as a lesson about Opus 40 and landscape art in general. “It’s constantly subject to the elements, and will always need a lot of care.”
They’re hoping that the community will help preserve the future of Opus 40 by donating to a fundraising campaign to bring in expert stonemasons to repair the collapsed wall and prevent future damage to the site.
The first phase, says Walsh, is to raise $50,000. “We need this funding urgently just to start the work,” she says. The goal is to raise the funds by the end of April so work can be completed by the traditional Memorial Day opening. Otherwise the opening will be delayed.
Donations can be made at www.opus40.org and through the soon-to-be-launched campaign on crowdfunding site IndieGogo.com. Donations at certain levels will be rewarded there with extras like hats or t-shirts, Walsh says, and private stonemasonry workshops.
Expert help
The work at Opus 40 will be done in partnership with The Stone Foundation of New Mexico, stonework preservationists dedicated to perpetuating the craft. Founding member Tomas Lipps and local mason Timothy Smith will oversee the rotation of stonemasons who will come into Saugerties for a week at a time to restore Opus 40. The masons will volunteer their time, says Walsh, but the funds raised will go to pay for their travel expenses and putting them up while they’re here. In addition, the fundraising campaign will cover the cost of materials and any equipment necessary to supplement Harvey Fite’s original tools, which will be used to as great an extent as possible in the restoration work.
“The people at The Stone Foundation are passionate about making sure this gets done in the same way that Harvey did it in the first place,” says Walsh. “They’re excited about the opportunity to educate people as well, so we want to coordinate with some educational institutions to bring students in to watch them while they do the work.”
The documentary team Impact Productions, who’ve purchased the rights to Harvey Fite’s life story, will capture the restoration process on film, to be available for people to view when they visit Opus 40 in the future, says Walsh. “We’re going to walk away from this with so much more understanding of what Harvey did. You’ll be able to go there and learn about it on a level that up until this point hasn’t been possible.”
Maintenance
Phase Two of the fundraising process will be to raise another $50,000 to maintain Opus 40 after the initial repairs have been made. “We don’t want to be in a position any more where we’re fixing damage,” says Walsh. “We want to be in a position where we can raise funds so we can do preventative work. Hopefully our community will rally around this, to understand how important this is not only to Saugerties and tourism but to Ulster County and the state of New York.
“Up to now, there have been no better caretakers for Opus 40 than Pat and Tad [Richards, co-directors], because they’re family and they get it; they understand the legacy and have been able to tell the stories about how everything came about. But as far as the technical aspects of what it takes to maintain something like this, we need help. There’s no other thing like it anywhere else in the world, but it takes maintenance.”
Please help save www.opus40.org
A bunch of stones built by nut. 😂
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Support for Opus 40
There are a handful of places and objects on the planet that photography under serves. Opus 40, in Saugerties, New York, is one of them. Built in an abandoned bluestone quarry in upstate New York by one man, Harvey Fite, Opus 40 is a contemporary American version of Stonehenge or the collection of Easter Island moai. It is one of my favorite places.
An aerial view. Photo by Tom Bookhout
Fite was a sculptor and fine arts professor at nearby Bard College when he purchased the bluestone quarry. If you have ever walked on a sidewalk in Manhattan, you have walked on bluestone from this or a nearby location. Using the rubble that had not become NYC sidewalks, Fite filled one six-and-one-half-acre section with hand-laid circles of bluestone paths and ramps, leading nowhere and everywhere, from fifteen feet below the ground level up to the magnificent centerpiece, the obelisk, a nine-ton, three-story-tall single stone, which from different perspectives seems to point at the nearby Catskill Mountains, join with the range, or appear to be the reason the Catskills are there. And Fite did it all alone, using ancient techniques. At first intended to be a showcase for his sculpture, over the next 37 years the site itself became Fite’s life work. He died in 1976.
Hurricane Irene in 2011 and Hurricane Sandy the following year delivered a one-two punch to the sculpture park; Irene saturated the ground beneath the ramps and walls and Sandy’s damage included a collapse of a very tall support wall. Fite’s stepson and his family have engaged the efforts of master stonewallers and stonemasons, who are using those stones that fell and can still be fitted together and finding others from local quarries to repair the damage and rebuild the broken sections. Where possible, they will employ Fite’s own tools and techniques to complete the repairs.
An estimated $30,000 is needed to fund the first stage of the work, and here, non-ancient techniques are being employed: an Indiegogo campaign is currently underway to raise the funds. Almost two months remain in the campaign, and over $6000 of the $30,000 has been raised as of today. The website has details of the perks sponsors will receive in return for their financial help.
If I had not been a student at Marist College, where Harvey Fite’s stepson was teaching, I quite possibly would still not know of Opus 40′s existence, even though I live in the same county. My teacher-friend grew up at Opus 40 and still resides there. In the early ’90s, I attended a friend’s wedding at Opus and in the summer of 1998, I volunteered there, helping direct parking for that year’s music acts. The quarry is a natural amphitheater and the obelisk is an eye-grabbing stage set; the concerts that summer included a blues festival, Orleans, and Pat Metheny.
Here is a brief video of Orleans performing at Opus 40 from around that time period:
The video below, made for the fundraising campaign, documents some of the landmark’s artistic significance and its cultural importance-with clips of Sonny Rollins performing there and Steve Earle, Chevy Chase, and Bela Fleck speaking about Opus 40-and details the amazing work the stonemasons have already contributed to the restoration project.
I just have to say that Opus 40 is one of the gem's of the Catskills. Founded by Harvey Fite, 1930-1976, who was one of the founder's of Bard College on the "other" side of the Hudson River, this sculpture garden is purely a tribute to stone, We have been to Opus 40 several times and love the rock walls, and the great picnic grounds.
Rustic, but not too far off the main road (just follow the signs), Route 212 from Saugerties, NY, and this is a splendid stop for an amazing design and for great views of the Catskill mountains.
Climb the rocks with vigor, and you will have a workout worth any gym in the country!
I cannot list the website here, but just search for Opus 40 near Saugerties. You will not be disappointed in this pristine, holistic venue that would make Buddha proud.
-David Allen
Tad Richards is the stepson of Harvey Fite, the creator of Opus 40. His mother, Barbara, married Fite in 1943, "when I was three and Opus 40 was five," so he grew up with the creation of Fite's masterwork as his constant companion. When Fite died in an accident in 1976, Richards helped his mother create the organization which has kept Fite's work alive. Since Barbara Fite's death in 1986, Richards and his wife Pat have taken responsibility for preserving Fite's legacy.
OPUS 40 is mounting a major fund drive for an immediate restoration project, and a long term preservation project. We are reaching out to all our friends-past members, present members, people who have visited Opus 40 and loved it, people who have read about us or seen our website and understand what a treasure Harvey Fite’s masterwork is.
Please make a donation to us…any amount will help! If you donate at a membership level, your donation will also grant you specific membership benefits and extras. If you’re already a member, please consider an additional donation (which will raise your membership level).
You may use the button below for PayPal or credit card donations (sorry, no American Express), or you can donate with a credit card by calling (845)246-3400.
To donate by check, mail to Donations, Opus 40, 50 Fite Road, Saugerties NY 12477
Or stop by so we can thank you in person!
Your donation is also tax deductible.
In the early 1970s, after he had retired as a professor at Bard College, Fite took time out from Opus 40 to build a museum to house his diverse collection of quarryman’s tools and artifacts. During the 19th century, quarrying was a major industry in the area. Bluestone was used for curbing and paving, crosswalks, doorsills and windowsills, most of it going to New York City. The Museum is a fascinating tour through the history of the area and the skills of its workingmen.
Quarrying equipment is represented, and so are tools, most of them hand-forged, that the quarryman used every day for farming, blacksmithing, carpentry and the like, Furnishings from a quarryman’s household are also on display - a stove, cupboard, even a handmade game of dominos.
To create Opus 40, Fite worked with traditional quarryman’s tools: hammers and chisels, drills, crowbars, and a huge boom equipped with a hand-powered winch and a flat wooden tray for moving rocks. He worked alone, using hand tools, for most of 40 years, and his museum honors the indigenous tools of our area, and the men and women in honor of whose lives and work he created Opus 40.
A highlight of our visit was Opus 40. It is a place to visit in any season.”
Car & Travel Magazine - AAA New York, July
Opus 40 -Sculpture Garden & Quarryman's Museum
Opus 40 is an environmental sculpture encompassing over 6 acres at the foot of the Catskill mountains in Saugerties, NY. Built solely by artist/sculptor Harvey Fite from the 1930's to the 1970's, Opus 40 is in need of urgent repairs.
The sculpture park and museum is operated as a non-profit by Fite's relatives, who have lovingly maintained this sculpture, grounds, his home, tools and work space as a living history of stone masonry in America.
Opus 40 is an American Treasure. Architectural Digest's Brendan Gill boasts, "Opus 40 is the greatest earthwork sculpture I have ever seen."
During the recent East Coast hurricane, Opus 40 suffered serious damage. A major wall of the sculpture collapsed. Your contribution will fund the restoration of this unique and masterful piece.
Your gift -- our gift
$30,000 will fund the first stage of the restoration of Opus 40--the clearing of the space, erecting a gin pole exactly like the one Fite used for moving the large keystones that anchored the construction of Opus 40, sorting stones, bringing in new keystones from local quarries, and preparing the site for the finished work by master stonewaller Sean Adcock from Wales, and an international group of masters assembled by The Stone Foundation of Santa Fe, New Mexico. The prep work will be supervised by local stonemason Timothy Smith, of Clermont, NY. Smith has been very active locally in creating apprenticeships for at-risk kids, and we plan to incorporate this passion of his in the work.
Your contributions will immediately go into action. The restoration process, we hope, will begin in late Spring of 2014. A film crew will be documenting the process for a film that is in production on the life of Harvey Fite.
Other Ways You Can Help
If you want to make a donation using PayPal, you can go to our website, www.opus40.org/donation/
Or if you prefer not to use electronic means, you can send a check made out to Opus 40, addressed to Opus 40, 50 Fite Road, Saugerties NY 12477.
if you cannot donate funds, please spread the word. Join our Facebook page Facebook/Opus40 and share this link inviting friends to join our campaign.
If you have a photo of your visit to Opus 40, we want to see you. Add your photo to our Facebook page or share on Instagram with #opus40.
SAUGERTIES, N.Y. -- Easter celebrations started early for some people in Ulster County Sunday.
Dozens came to the Opus 40 Park in Saugerties for the sunrise service.
This annual service has been going on for more than 30 years, and serves as the unofficial season opener for the sculpture park and museum.
People there say this is a special setting to observe the holiest day on the Christian calendar.
"Something about the sunlight, I think overlook mountain, in front, the sun behind us, the mountain and its radiance the message about the rising of life. The rising of the lord, feels like this is where we need to be somehow on Easter morning," said Joshua Bode of Woodstock Reformed Church.
Part of Opus 40 was damaged by storms in recent years, and those who oversee the park are working to raise money for repairs, part of which was done last summer.
If you're interested in donating, you can find a link to the Opus 40 website HERE.
- See more at: hudsonvalley.twcnews.com/content/news/725335/opus-40-park-hosts-annual-sunrise-easter-service/#sthash.B5560IdO.dpuf
OPUS 40 refers to the 40 years Fite expects to put into the construction of the massive sculpture. But as he began moving those first stones back in 1939, he had no such dream. A quarry in the middle of the woods that has been standing idle for 30 years is nothing to inspire visions. It is a pile of rubble, grown over with brush. When Harvey Fife first stood there on its edge, he was not thinking of it as the raw material for one great monumental sculpture, but as an endless source of stone for works of a more conventional size.
Opus 40 began to emerge as a setting to display those works. Fite cleared away the brush and surface rubble, and at the high points of the quarry began to construct pedestals for his larger pieces. Then he built ramps to lead up to and between the pedestals. As he worked, it became apparent to him that what he was building was not a simple series of pedestals for sculpture, but a sculptured environment to set off a collection of work, a total expression in which the carved pieces would serve as individual statements.
With this concept in mind, he began to shape the sweeping rhythmic terraces, with the accents of steps and pools, that compose Opus 40. The technique he used is an ancient method called ''dry keying", which relies on the careful fitting of stone upon stone, and the pressure of the mass, for its stability. The ''keys" are large stones placed at intervals throughout the wall, which support and are held in place by the smaller surrounding stones.
There is no mortar or cement anywhere in the construction; as a result, it is not susceptible to the ravages of erosion. In the normal course of events, Opus 40 could easily be standing ten thousand years from now.
From the foot of the main ramp, the development of Fite's skill in fitting stone is dramatically evident. The southeast section, to the left, was the first of the lower areas that Fite sculptured, and the roughness of the technique stands in clear contrast to the remarkable fineness of the walls across the ramp.
As the major work grew, the smaller pieces seemed to shrink into it. The statues on the left and right - the two ton Tomorrow and the four ton Quarry Family were holding their own, but the central figure, a half ton carving called Flame, was totally lost in the massive scale.
In a creek bed a few miles away was a huge stone, Fite had first spotted it in 1952, and knew it was the stone he needed to establish the central focus of Opus 40. But there was a problem of disputed ownership of the stone, and it was twelve years before Fite could get clear title to it and bring it to his quarry.
Raising the nine ton monolith into position was the single most challenging problem in the construction of Opus 40. The method Fite chose derives from principles used by the ancient Egyptians. He removed Flame and its base, and dug a hole four feet deep in the spot where the monolith was to stand. Then he brought the stone in to rest horizontally with the tapered end over the hole. The stone was then tipped into the hole, raising the larger end, and a crib of heavy wooden blocks was inserted beneath it. Jacking up the heavy end a few inches at a time, Fite built up the crib until the stone was resting at approximately a 45 degree angle. It was then pulled into an upright position by guy wires attached to a winch in a pick-up truck, and held in place by countering wires.
A huge A-frame was then constructed out of 30 foot timbers, and raised over the monolith in the same fashion. A chain hoist with a half ton capacity was fitted to the top of the A-frame in order to haul up the ten ton capacity chain hoist that was needed to lift the stone. The monolith was then raised, and the base was built up beneath it, topped by a three-quarter ton capstone. The monolith, its bottom trimmed perpendicular to the center of gravity for maximum purchase, was finally lowered into place, held there entirely by its own weight and balance.
Fite had a rough plan for carving it, but once the monolith was in its place on the central pedestal, he realized that it was perfect as it was. Opus 40 had become a work of art that had nothing To do with carved sculpture. He removed the other statues to the surrounding woods, and allowed the main work to express itself in its own terms.
From an old flyer on Opus 40
Opus 40 is located on Fite Road, off Fishcreek Road near the intersection with Glasco Turnpike, in Saugerties, NY. Going West from Saugerties on Rt 212 (towards Woodstock) there are signs where you turn.
The story of the quarry itself begins with the history of the stone. The quarry lies in a rock formation called the Hamilton Bench, which runs for approximately 50 miles along the eastern foot of the Catskill Mountains, with an average width of about 5 miles, and a depth of nearly half a mile. The quarry walls and bedrock floor contain the markings of millions of years of history, from the geological age known as the Upper Devonian period.
The clearest reading of these markings is found in the area in and around the large sunken section to the north of the monolith, which Fite plans as an amphitheater. The flat white rock which lies on the surface where the soil has been cleared away is glacial rock. The grooves that run along it in perfect straight lines were etched by Ice Age glaciers as they moved slowly across the land many thousands of years ago. Moving down a few feet and a few hundred thousand years to the ledge on the northern corner of the amphitheater, there is rock that is heavily swirled. This was turbulent sea bottom, carved into waves of rock by the restless churning of prehistoric ocean waves. And on the amphitheater floor, some twelve feet lower and millions of years earlier, rock with the gentle ripples of a sandy beach can be found. In the floors and running up through the ages along the quarry walls, in fingerprint-sized pock- marks, are the fossils of bracheopods, one of the earliest invertebrate forms of life.
It was a much later form of life, man, that began digging back down again through these layers of stone. The hardness of the bluestone made it ideal for city sidewalks and curbstones, and during the nineteenth century this area was the site of an active quarrying industry to supply the paving needs of New York City.
The marketable stone normally begins from six to ten feet below the surface, where the pressure has forced the needed degree of hardness. The stone was quarried in flat slabs, the thinner layers being used for paving stones and the thicker ones for curbstones. The quarrymen used drills and wedges to remove the stone and the drill marks and layers are still visible in many of the quarry walls of Opus 40.
As they moved ahead into the rock walls, the quarrymen would throw the broken and unusable pieces behind them, leaving huge mounds of bluestone rubble. When the turn of the century brought the advent of the pneumatic tire and the introduction of reinforced concrete for paving, the quarry industry died, and these rubble-piled quarries were left as they were at the disposal of the local flora and fauna.
OPUS 40
Open each Fri-Sun Memorial day-Labor day (weekends thru Nov 1st) noon-5pm
Admission is charged
Call: 914-246-3400
In addition to the outdoor sculpture, a small museum of quarrying tools collected by Harvey Fite is open to the public.
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SAUGERTIES >> Opus 40 must repair one of its bluestone walls and the Saugerties Historical Society needs money to finish its Dutch barn, so the two organizations are jointly hosting a fund-raising concert this summer.
Opus 40 co-owner Tad Richards said the two organizations have tentatively scheduled the concert for June 21 and are seeking musicians to perform and volunteers to help with the event.
The concert will be held at Opus 40 on Fite Road, off Glasco Turnpike, with the money raised to be split between the two organizations, according to information from Saugerties Historical Society Board of Directors President Marjorie Block. She said the historical society needs money funds to finish its Dutch barn and for its own operations.
The barn dates to 1760 and is located on the grounds of the Kiersted House in the village of Saugerties. The structure was donated to the historical society by Northeast Solite, on whose property it originally was located. The historical society had to reconstruct the barn once it was moved to the Kiersted House.
Richards said the money raised for Opus 40 will be used to repair one of the first walls that Harvey Fite built as part of his bluestone sculpture park.
The wall blew out in September 2012 following storms that had hit the area.
“We have been working on trying to get that wall repaired,” Richards said on Friday. He said an international group of “stonewallers” visited Opus 40 last summer and rebuilt the central ramp to the site. It was work that needed to be done and was practice to repair the wall, Richards said.
Richards said the wall repair will cost about $70,000 with the workers donating part of their time. In addition to the repair, there also is some maintenance work to be done, he said.
Harvey Fite began building Opus 40, best known for the stone monolith at its center, in 1939 after buying an abandoned bluestone quarry in a wooded area. He continued to work on it until his accidental death in 1976. The site has since been designated a national historic landmark.
Fite built Opus 40 using a “dry key” mortarless stone masonry technique adapted from the ancient Mayans.
In 2009, Opus 40 went on the real estate market with a reported asking price of about $3 million, but it has not been sold.
Richards said the long-term plan is still to have someone or some organization take over Opus 40 and “run it as it should be.” He previously said he and his wife, Patricia, wanted the site to remain open to the public.
Anyone interested in performing or volunteering at the fundraising concert should contact Richards at tad@opus40.org or Block at harry39a@aol.com.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Opus 40
Not sure how many of you are aware of this fantastic environmental sculpture, but it's an impressive feat. Done by one man . I'll be out there this year to help with the repairs. The Stone Foundation did a smaller repair last summer. If you're within a few hours of Eastern NY state it's worth a day trip to check it out.
www.indiegogo.com/projects/op...restoration--3
Sat, May 04
PERFORMANCE
A fundraiser for Hungry for Music (HFM), a grassroots, not-for-profit organization that provides free musical instruments to underserved children, will take place on Saturday, May 4, at Opus 40 in Saugerties, from TBA pm. The event, “Musical Visions: Live Music Art Auction,” will feature an exhibition and auction of old musical instruments that have been turned into paintings, sculptures, and assemblages by more than 30 area artists; live music by TBA; and food provided by several local restaurants, bakeries, and chefs.
According to Jeff Campbell, director of Hungry for Music, the volunteer-driven organization’s mission is “to get instruments into the hands of kids who are eager to learn but can’t afford to buy their own.” To that end, the organization-which is based in the District of Columbia-collects donated instruments and has bestowed them upon thousands of underprivileged children all over the United States. The group’s programs are supported through memberships, benefit concerts and events, raffles, and the sale of Hungry for Music-produced CDs.
Although most of the donated instruments quickly find homes, some of them “have exhausted their usefulness,” Campbell says, and these are the instruments that have been given to artists to transform into remarkably striking works of art.
Admission to the Opus 30 event is by donation. Attendees are also welcome to bring old, but still functional musical instruments to donate. The artwork will be sold in a silent auction that will take place during the event.
Opus 40 Getaway
By: Mike O’Brian Updated 06/19/2014 05:00 AM ShareThis Facebook Tweet Email
Rochester: Opus 40 Getaway
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This Getaway may be the most unusual things you'll ever see in the Hudson Valley!
One man's life work is responsible for Opus 40. It's an enormous sculpture park found out in the countryside just a few miles west of the Village of Saugerties, New York.
There are more than six acres of bluestone creations that make this a good place for picnics and picture taking. It's open Thursdays through Sundays until mid-October. Admission is $10.
Opus 40
50 Fite Rd.
Saugerties, N.Y. 12477
(845) 246-3400
Opus 40
- See more at: rochester.twcnews.com/content/lifestyles/745911/opus-40-getaway/#sthash.TquBmcgS.dpuf
Opus 40 renovation crew blends art and craft
by DAVID GORDON on Jul 23, 2013 • 6:30 am
As wallers work at Opus 40, a cameraman records their work (photo by David Gordon)
At Opus 40, the six-plus acre sculpture created by Harvey Fite over 38 years, that has become obvious. Following recent storms and the ravages of time, two large sections need repair. One section, near the front of the massive platforms, ramps and stairways that make up the sculpture, was bulging and threatening to blow out. A team of stone masons has disassembled the section and is rebuilding it.
The rebuilding process in some ways illustrates the difference between art and craft, said Tim Smith of Hudson, who is overseeing the work. “The artist looks into himself and creates something, whereas a tradesman sees something, gets inspired by it, and copies other people’s work.” However, the tradesman, or craftsman, may often have more training in the technique of building, and this has contributed to some structural problems at Opus 40, said Tomas Lipps of New Mexico, a founder of Stone Foundation, an international organization of stone masons.
“We’re duplicating Harvey Fite’s work, but I hesitate to say it would be better. I’d say more technically correct.”
Fite was an artist who, among other achievements, established an art program at Bard College. In addition to creating a large body of sculpture, he conceived the idea of a sculptured structure, which would be constructed from the bluestone so prevalent in the Hudson Valley. However, as the project took shape, it became a sculpture in its own right, and Fite continued to work on it until his death in 1976.
The masons working on the restoration are members of Stone Foundation, and they have come from considerable distances to work on the project. Sean Adcock, one of the craftsmen on the construction, noted that “while we’re doing this wrong [from a technical point of view], we’re compensating.”
One of the weaknesses in Harvey Fite’s work was the fact that he built his walls level vertically. Professional wallers introduce a slight inward tilt, which strengthens the wall as the front and back layers brace each other, and weight is directed downward, Lipps explained. Another difference is that walls are strengthened if long strips of stone are set across the width of the wall, tying the front and rear layers of the wall together, Smith said.
However, the Stone Foundation undertook the task because of the impressive and artistic work that Fite constructed, Lipps said. “When I came up here in April to check it out, I heard that some people were saying it should be left to go to ruin. When I got here and saw it, I decided it should be saved. But it will need constant maintenance.” The wall was starting to bulge, and it was evident that it would soon collapse without major work, and the Foundation is doing that work to help preserve it.
The job of going through piles of stone to find the piece that fit resembled a giant jigsaw puzzle, and indeed, Lipps said, puzzles were his early training. His family did not have television, and he and his mother would do jigsaw puzzles as a primary form of entertainment. “We would take two puzzles and mix the pieces together, then we would compete to see who could put their puzzle together faster,” he said.
It took more than a dedicated group of stone masons to rebuild the section of the sculpture, Lipps said. “We’re able to do this because they [Opus 40] had some success in funding. People have come forward and provided the funds to do this section of the project.”
The next big push will be to raise money to rebuild a section that collapsed last September following heavy rains. That is expected to be a more expensive job. Harvey Fite’s stepson, Tad Richards, said the fundraising will begin as soon as he has a chance to relax after the immediate work is done. Another restoration job was Richards’s home, also built by Fite, which suffered severe damage.
Along with the wall builders, a television production company was on the site. Ed Gerrard and Peter Himberger are producing a documentary about Opus 40. Local cameraman and filmmaker Alex Rappoport was also on the scene, recording the work and interviewing the stone craftsmen. All three are Saugerties residents.
Richards credited Chevy Chase, who spearheaded a benefit for the wall repair in June, and Chase’s brother, John Cederquist, with raising much of the money for the repair work.
Richards said the organization quotes his brother as saying “with proper care and maintenance, Opus 40 can still be standing 1,000 years from now. That’s true, but the key is proper care and maintenance.”
As work progresses, Tim Smith will be a key player, as he lives close to the sculpture of the Stone Foundation group, and he hopes to become a part of the ongoing renovation. One of his aims is to use this work to train apprentices, as many of the skilled stone masons are growing older and will soon be retiring.
Two of the workers on the wall project were teenagers Andrew Brooks and Eddie Jones, who were hired through the Ulster County Summer Youth Employment Project, which pays youths age 14 to 20 years old to gain training and work experience. Their job was to move the heavy 1×3-foot or larger tie stones from the quarry to the work site, including getting them down a flight of stone stairs. Smith showed them how to slide them safely and with minimum effort.
Meanwhile, Opus 40 will remain open to the public. A fundraising concert Sunday, July 14 to benefit Hungry For Music - an organization that provides instruments for young music students who can’t afford them - featured The Nutropians and Aztec Two Step.
On Saturday, July 20 and Sunday, July 21, Kevin VanHentenryck will offer a workshop on stone carving, and concerts are planned for the Labor Day weekend, with the Felice Brothers and their group on Aug. 30 and banjo greats Bela Fleck and Abigail Washburn on Sept. 1.
The ongoing work will also require ongoing funding. Anyone wishing to donate to the upkeep and maintenance at Opus 40 may visit their website at www.opus40.org and click on the “donate” button.
In other news
Opus 40 Feedback
Rebuilding the primordial wall
Full schedule at Opus 40, but still no buyer
Historic designation proposed for Opus 40 studio, museum
Local filmmakers plan Opus 40 documentary
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Rebuilding the primordial wall
by SHARYN FLANAGAN on Apr 1, 2013 • 6:30 am
‘There’s no other thing like it anywhere else in the world, but it takes maintenance’
Last September, a stone wall collapsed on the southwest side of the quarry at Opus 40. It was the first such incident in the over-70-year history of the site. At the time, the collapse was believed to be the result of water pressure from heavy rainfall that occurred earlier that evening. As it turns out, it seems that all that water was just the final straw in an inevitable process wrought by time and Mother Nature.
Opus 40 was built with mortarless dry key stonemasonry techniques intended to allow water to run through the structures, says grounds consultant Lee Walker. But according to a recent engineer’s report, those “internal voids” that allow water and small rock and soil particles to pass through, “over time, can fill and restrict the flow of water through the wall, causing the water to be trapped.”
“In other words,” says Walker, “they’re saying [Opus 40] is destined to fail, no matter how long it stands. Not because of the way Harvey built it, but because of what it is.”
And based on that engineer’s report, Walker says, an insurance claim to pay for restoration of the collapsed wall was denied.
So where does it go from here? Fixing the collapsed wall will be a big expense, he says. And several other places on the site in need of shoring up have been identified, too. “It’s not just fixing this wall; it’s what to do to make sure it doesn’t happen again. And that all takes money.”
Paying the piper
Opus 40 board member Brigid Walsh says that as unfortunate as it is that the insurance claim was denied, it does serve as a lesson about Opus 40 and landscape art in general. “It’s constantly subject to the elements, and will always need a lot of care.”
They’re hoping that the community will help preserve the future of Opus 40 by donating to a fundraising campaign to bring in expert stonemasons to repair the collapsed wall and prevent future damage to the site.
The first phase, says Walsh, is to raise $50,000. “We need this funding urgently just to start the work,” she says. The goal is to raise the funds by the end of April so work can be completed by the traditional Memorial Day opening. Otherwise the opening will be delayed.
Donations can be made at www.opus40.org and through the soon-to-be-launched campaign on crowdfunding site IndieGogo.com. Donations at certain levels will be rewarded there with extras like hats or t-shirts, Walsh says, and private stonemasonry workshops.
Expert help
The work at Opus 40 will be done in partnership with The Stone Foundation of New Mexico, stonework preservationists dedicated to perpetuating the craft. Founding member Tomas Lipps and local mason Timothy Smith will oversee the rotation of stonemasons who will come into Saugerties for a week at a time to restore Opus 40. The masons will volunteer their time, says Walsh, but the funds raised will go to pay for their travel expenses and putting them up while they’re here. In addition, the fundraising campaign will cover the cost of materials and any equipment necessary to supplement Harvey Fite’s original tools, which will be used to as great an extent as possible in the restoration work.
“The people at The Stone Foundation are passionate about making sure this gets done in the same way that Harvey did it in the first place,” says Walsh. “They’re excited about the opportunity to educate people as well, so we want to coordinate with some educational institutions to bring students in to watch them while they do the work.”
The documentary team Impact Productions, who’ve purchased the rights to Harvey Fite’s life story, will capture the restoration process on film, to be available for people to view when they visit Opus 40 in the future, says Walsh. “We’re going to walk away from this with so much more understanding of what Harvey did. You’ll be able to go there and learn about it on a level that up until this point hasn’t been possible.”
Maintenance
Phase Two of the fundraising process will be to raise another $50,000 to maintain Opus 40 after the initial repairs have been made. “We don’t want to be in a position any more where we’re fixing damage,” says Walsh. “We want to be in a position where we can raise funds so we can do preventative work. Hopefully our community will rally around this, to understand how important this is not only to Saugerties and tourism but to Ulster County and the state of New York.
“Up to now, there have been no better caretakers for Opus 40 than Pat and Tad [Richards, co-directors], because they’re family and they get it; they understand the legacy and have been able to tell the stories about how everything came about. But as far as the technical aspects of what it takes to maintain something like this, we need help. There’s no other thing like it anywhere else in the world, but it takes maintenance.”
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Opus 40 -Sculpture Garden & Quarryman's Museum
Opus 40 is an environmental sculpture encompassing over 6 acres at the foot of the Catskill mountains in Saugerties, NY. Built solely by artist/sculptor Harvey Fite from the 1930's to the 1970's, Opus 40 is in need of urgent repairs.
The sculpture park and museum is operated as a non-profit by Fite's relatives, who have lovingly maintained this sculpture, grounds, his home, tools and work space as a living history of stone masonry in America.
Opus 40 is an American Treasure. Architectural Digest's Brendan Gill boasts, "Opus 40 is the greatest earthwork sculpture I have ever seen."
During the recent East Coast hurricane, Opus 40 suffered serious damage. A major wall of the sculpture collapsed. Your contribution will fund the restoration of this unique and masterful piece.
Your gift -- our gift
$30,000 will fund the first stage of the restoration of Opus 40--the clearing of the space, erecting a gin pole exactly like the one Fite used for moving the large keystones that anchored the construction of Opus 40, sorting stones, bringing in new keystones from local quarries, and preparing the site for the finished work by master stonewaller Sean Adcock from Wales, and an international group of masters assembled by The Stone Foundation of Santa Fe, New Mexico. The prep work will be supervised by local stonemason Timothy Smith, of Clermont, NY. Smith has been very active locally in creating apprenticeships for at-risk kids, and we plan to incorporate this passion of his in the work.
Your contributions will immediately go into action. The restoration process, we hope, will begin in late Spring of 2014. A film crew will be documenting the process for a film that is in production on the life of Harvey Fite.
Other Ways You Can Help
If you want to make a donation using PayPal, you can go to our website, www.opus40.org/donation/
Or if you prefer not to use electronic means, you can send a check made out to Opus 40, addressed to Opus 40, 50 Fite Road, Saugerties NY 12477.
if you cannot donate funds, please spread the word. Join our Facebook page Facebook/Opus40 and share this link inviting friends to join our campaign.
If you have a photo of your visit to Opus 40, we want to see you. Add your photo to our Facebook page or share on Instagram with #opus40.
Opus 40 -Sculpture Garden & Quarryman's Museum
Opus 40 is an environmental sculpture encompassing over 6 acres at the foot of the Catskill mountains in Saugerties, NY. Built solely by artist/sculptor Harvey Fite from the 1930's to the 1970's, Opus 40 is in need of urgent repairs.
The sculpture park and museum is operated as a non-profit by Fite's relatives, who have lovingly maintained this sculpture, grounds, his home, tools and work space as a living history of stone masonry in America.
Opus 40 is an American Treasure. Architectural Digest's Brendan Gill boasts, "Opus 40 is the greatest earthwork sculpture I have ever seen."
During the recent East Coast hurricane, Opus 40 suffered serious damage. A major wall of the sculpture collapsed. Your contribution will fund the restoration of this unique and masterful piece.
Your gift -- our gift
$30,000 will fund the first stage of the restoration of Opus 40--the clearing of the space, erecting a gin pole exactly like the one Fite used for moving the large keystones that anchored the construction of Opus 40, sorting stones, bringing in new keystones from local quarries, and preparing the site for the finished work by master stonewaller Sean Adcock from Wales, and an international group of masters assembled by The Stone Foundation of Santa Fe, New Mexico. The prep work will be supervised by local stonemason Timothy Smith, of Clermont, NY. Smith has been very active locally in creating apprenticeships for at-risk kids, and we plan to incorporate this passion of his in the work.
Your contributions will immediately go into action. The restoration process, we hope, will begin in late Spring of 2014. A film crew will be documenting the process for a film that is in production on the life of Harvey Fite.
Other Ways You Can Help
If you want to make a donation using PayPal, you can go to our website, www.opus40.org/donation/
Or if you prefer not to use electronic means, you can send a check made out to Opus 40, addressed to Opus 40, 50 Fite Road, Saugerties NY 12477.
if you cannot donate funds, please spread the word. Join our Facebook page Facebook/Opus40 and share this link inviting friends to join our campaign.
If you have a photo of your visit to Opus 40, we want to see you. Add your photo to our Facebook page or share on Instagram with #opus40.
Opus 40 -Sculpture Garden & Quarryman's Museum
Opus 40 is an environmental sculpture encompassing over 6 acres at the foot of the Catskill mountains in Saugerties, NY. Built solely by artist/sculptor Harvey Fite from the 1930's to the 1970's, Opus 40 is in need of urgent repairs.
The sculpture park and museum is operated as a non-profit by Fite's relatives, who have lovingly maintained this sculpture, grounds, his home, tools and work space as a living history of stone masonry in America.
Opus 40 is an American Treasure. Architectural Digest's Brendan Gill boasts, "Opus 40 is the greatest earthwork sculpture I have ever seen."
During the recent East Coast hurricane, Opus 40 suffered serious damage. A major wall of the sculpture collapsed. Your contribution will fund the restoration of this unique and masterful piece.
Your gift -- our gift
$30,000 will fund the first stage of the restoration of Opus 40--the clearing of the space, erecting a gin pole exactly like the one Fite used for moving the large keystones that anchored the construction of Opus 40, sorting stones, bringing in new keystones from local quarries, and preparing the site for the finished work by master stonewaller Sean Adcock from Wales, and an international group of masters assembled by The Stone Foundation of Santa Fe, New Mexico. The prep work will be supervised by local stonemason Timothy Smith, of Clermont, NY. Smith has been very active locally in creating apprenticeships for at-risk kids, and we plan to incorporate this passion of his in the work.
Your contributions will immediately go into action. The restoration process, we hope, will begin in late Spring of 2014. A film crew will be documenting the process for a film that is in production on the life of Harvey Fite.
Other Ways You Can Help
If you want to make a donation using PayPal, you can go to our website, www.opus40.org/donation/
Or if you prefer not to use electronic means, you can send a check made out to Opus 40, addressed to Opus 40, 50 Fite Road, Saugerties NY 12477.
if you cannot donate funds, please spread the word. Join our Facebook page Facebook/Opus40 and share this link inviting friends to join our campaign.
If you have a photo of your visit to Opus 40, we want to see you. Add your photo to our Facebook page or share on Instagram with #opus40.
Use the Indiegogo share tools!
Opus 40 -Sculpture Garden & Quarryman's Museum
Opus 40 is an environmental sculpture encompassing over 6 acres at the foot of the Catskill mountains in Saugerties, NY. Built solely by artist/sculptor Harvey Fite from the 1930's to the 1970's, Opus 40 is in need of urgent repairs.
The sculpture park and museum is operated as a non-profit by Fite's relatives, who have lovingly maintained this sculpture, grounds, his home, tools and work space as a living history of stone masonry in America.
Opus 40 is an American Treasure. Architectural Digest's Brendan Gill boasts, "Opus 40 is the greatest earthwork sculpture I have ever seen."
During the recent East Coast hurricane, Opus 40 suffered serious damage. A major wall of the sculpture collapsed. Your contribution will fund the restoration of this unique and masterful piece.
Your gift -- our gift
$30,000 will fund the first stage of the restoration of Opus 40--the clearing of the space, erecting a gin pole exactly like the one Fite used for moving the large keystones that anchored the construction of Opus 40, sorting stones, bringing in new keystones from local quarries, and preparing the site for the finished work by master stonewaller Sean Adcock from Wales, and an international group of masters assembled by The Stone Foundation of Santa Fe, New Mexico. The prep work will be supervised by local stonemason Timothy Smith, of Clermont, NY. Smith has been very active locally in creating apprenticeships for at-risk kids, and we plan to incorporate this passion of his in the work.
Your contributions will immediately go into action. The restoration process, we hope, will begin in late Spring of 2014. A film crew will be documenting the process for a film that is in production on the life of Harvey Fite.
Other Ways You Can Help
If you want to make a donation using PayPal, you can go to our website, www.opus40.org/donation/
Or if you prefer not to use electronic means, you can send a check made out to Opus 40, addressed to Opus 40, 50 Fite Road, Saugerties NY 12477.
if you cannot donate funds, please spread the word. Join our Facebook page Facebook/Opus40 and share this link inviting friends to join our campaign.
If you have a photo of your visit to Opus 40, we want to see you. Add your photo to our Facebook page or share on Instagram with #opus40.
Use the Indiegogo share tools!
SAUGERTIES >> Opus 40 must repair one of its bluestone walls and the Saugerties Historical Society needs money to finish its Dutch barn, so the two organizations are jointly hosting a fund-raising concert this summer.
Opus 40 co-owner Tad Richards said the two organizations have tentatively scheduled the concert for June 21 and are seeking musicians to perform and volunteers to help with the event.
The concert will be held at Opus 40 on Fite Road, off Glasco Turnpike, with the money raised to be split between the two organizations, according to information from Saugerties Historical Society Board of Directors President Marjorie Block. She said the historical society needs money funds to finish its Dutch barn and for its own operations.
The barn dates to 1760 and is located on the grounds of the Kiersted House in the village of Saugerties. The structure was donated to the historical society by Northeast Solite, on whose property it originally was located. The historical society had to reconstruct the barn once it was moved to the Kiersted House.
Richards said the money raised for Opus 40 will be used to repair one of the first walls that Harvey Fite built as part of his bluestone sculpture park.
The wall blew out in September 2012 following storms that had hit the area.
“We have been working on trying to get that wall repaired,” Richards said on Friday. He said an international group of “stonewallers” visited Opus 40 last summer and rebuilt the central ramp to the site. It was work that needed to be done and was practice to repair the wall, Richards said.
Richards said the wall repair will cost about $70,000 with the workers donating part of their time. In addition to the repair, there also is some maintenance work to be done, he said.
Harvey Fite began building Opus 40, best known for the stone monolith at its center, in 1939 after buying an abandoned bluestone quarry in a wooded area. He continued to work on it until his accidental death in 1976. The site has since been designated a national historic landmark.
Fite built Opus 40 using a “dry key” mortarless stone masonry technique adapted from the ancient Mayans.
In 2009, Opus 40 went on the real estate market with a reported asking price of about $3 million, but it has not been sold.
Richards said the long-term plan is still to have someone or some organization take over Opus 40 and “run it as it should be.” He previously said he and his wife, Patricia, wanted the site to remain open to the public.
Anyone interested in performing or volunteering at the fundraising concert should contact Richards at tad@opus40.org or Block at harry39a@aol.com.
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Opus 40 Getaway
By: Mike O’Brian Updated 06/19/2014 05:00 AM ShareThis Facebook Tweet Email
Albany/HV: Opus 40 Getaway
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This Getaway may be the most unusual things you'll ever see in the Hudson Valley!
One man's life work is responsible for Opus 40. It's an enormous sculpture park found out in the countryside just a few miles west of the Village of Saugerties, New York.
There are more than six acres of bluestone creations that make this a good place for picnics and picture taking. It's open Thursdays through Sundays until mid-October. Admission is $10.
Opus 40
50 Fite Rd.
Saugerties, N.Y. 12477
(845) 246-3400
- See more at: albany.twcnews.com/content/lifestyles/the_getaway_guy/745911/opus-40-getaway/#sthash.tgmBvGhJ.dpuf
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