See Sculpture Garden on Town Lane

A sculptor whose dream is to bring art to the people will sell his five-acre "sculpture garden" off Town Lane in Amagansett to East Hampton Town for just over $1 million, according to a proposal that will be the subject of a public hearing before the town board tonight.

Sasson Soffer, who bought the property 19 years ago and lives off Red Dirt Road in Amagansett and in Manhattan, has placed close to 30 of his steel, glass, and stone pieces on the land, which is crisscrossed by trails. The largest sculptures are up to 30 feet tall and loom above the uncleared meadows and peek out from sections of woodland.

According to the terms of the agreement, which would be paid for with money from the Community Preservation Fund, six of Mr. Soffer's large sculptures would be left in perpetuity on the site, which would be named Grandeland. Mr. Soffer's art studio is on Grand Street in Manhattan, and, he said yesterday, his Sasson Soffer Foundation is to be renamed the Grandeland Foundation. The foundation will be responsible for maintaining the sculptures.

A plaque affixed to a boulder will contain a quote from the artist: "Nothing is more important than enjoying art. My sculptures belong to the public. The goal is to have art come to the people - to be part of their lives." It will also contain the names of those involved in making Grandeland a reality.

Mr. Soffer began his art career as a painter, and studied with Mark Rothko, Ad Reinhardt, and other Abstract Expressionists. His work was exhibited in solo shows at the Betty Parsons Gallery, and in the Portland (Me.), Corpus Christi, and Indianapolis Museums of Art, and in the Whitney Museum of Art Biennial exhibits. His sculptures have been installed in public spaces throughout the United States, including, in Manhattan, at the Whitney, at Battery Park, and at Lincoln Center.

He is working on a sculpture called "Amal" ("Hope" in Arabic) that will be placed in front of the United Nations and reproduced for placement at Grandeland.

Mr. Soffer was born in 1925 in Baghdad. He said yesterday that he had "been given quite a lot throughout my life. Giving back, for me, is a great pleasure. This is a great gift, I think, to the people of East Hampton."

Ms. Foster said this week that Mr. Soffer "wants to give back to this country because of the freedom to be creative." Several of his works on paper from the 1990s include the shapes of the continental United States and of the 50 states, as an homage to his adopted country.

Ms. Foster said the land, which would become a nature preserve site for passive recreation, is "the quintessential example" of the "neighborhood park" concept - preserving land "where year-round people live."

Youngsters from the Accabonac Apartments on Accabonac Road, which abuts the back of the Soffer property, can use the trails across it to get to the Abraham's Path youth park, Ms. Foster said. She pictured a "9-year-old with a hockey stick" cutting through and learning a little art appreciation along the way.

There are several large beech trees, a large holly bush and a mature cherry tree, and numerous berry bushes and wildflowers on the property.

Because of safety concerns, the town has asked Mr. Soffer to remove all of the small sculptures. According to the agreement, he would have two years from the purchase date to choose and install the permanent pieces.

"Amen," a sculpture already on the Town Lane land, would be recast in bronze for permanent placement there. It would weigh three tons and be 18 feet high. Mr. Soffer said he would also like to fabricate a version of "Miss Pie in the Sky," a 32-foot piece in steel and bronze, and place "Eastgate-Westgate," a circular stainless steel sculpture he made in 1973, and "Hello America," a 1980 one of stainless steel pipe, on the land.

He said yesterday that he is also considering making a sculpture inscribed in Braille for Grandeland. The artist said he intends to keep the installation "as natural as possible," and "hide pieces in the bushes so that people can discover them."

Mr. Soffer had gone to the town planning board in 1988 with plans for a sculpture garden that would be open to the public, but did not pursue a formal plan when the board suggested that he install a 15-space parking lot. He said yesterday that he preferred to leave the land as undeveloped as possible.

His dream, which he had nurtured since the 1970s, he said, stayed in his mind, and he contacted the town about a possible purchase last fall. "A good concept never dies," he said. "It just waits until it germinates."

The public can weigh in on the proposed purchase at the hearing beginning at 7:30 tonight at Town Hall.