At One With The Stars: Melissa McGill Installs Constellation Above New York’s Bannerman Castle

“I’ve always been inspired by pauses, fragments, and negative spaces,” Melissa McGill says. And pauses, fragments, and negative spaces are in plentiful supply at the site of her largest artwork to date. Her light installation Constellation weaves its spell each evening in the sky above the ruin of Bannerman Castle.

Built in the early 1900’s on an island in the middle of New York’s Hudson River, the castle was largely destroyed by fire. McGill layered a recent photograph of the castle over an old one, showing it intact, to determine the placement of her lights, supported by aluminum poles. She then recruited her neighbors in Beacon and Rock Tavern to help realize her vision. Niche Modern produced the handblown glass globes to house the LEDs, and the Polich Tallix foundry fabricated the poles.

In August, Princeton Architectural Press publishes Constellation, documenting McGill’s process. Constellation itself will shine every evening through 2017.

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