"Bonac Blind," a temporary art installation in Accabonac Harbor by Scott Bluedorn that was featured in The Star's Oct. 15 issue, was vandalized multiple times last week.
Mr. Bluedorn created the floating installation, a reimagined duck blind that both memorializes Bonac traditions of fishing, hunting, and farming and comments on the marginalization of that culture. It was presented as part of the Parrish Art Museum's biannual Parrish Road Show, and Mr. Bluedorn hosted small, socially distanced tours of the functional "tiny house" that features a large geodesic dome window starting on Oct. 18.
But on Friday, the artist posted to Facebook a letter he had sent to The Star. "I was extremely disappointed by some minor though threatening acts of vandalism," he wrote. This included the theft of a permit issued by the East Hampton Town Trustees, several of the dome's Plexiglas panels broken, dead fish, squid, and bait thrown into the blind, and, in the parking area at the end of Landing Lane in Springs, from which the installation is accessed, an apparently homemade device meant to puncture tires.
Mr. Bluedorn told The Star on Monday that the trustees' permit, which he had replaced, was removed a second time. "I'm sure that not everyone likes something being there," he said, "in terms of attracting attention to them or what they perceive as their territory. I understand that and thought it might be an issue. I'm clearly not intending to offend anyone. Maybe they were confused by what it is, or what it represents. I put up a sign explaining what it is, and that's gone, too."
The artist wrote that he is "not a Bonacker by birth or trade, and I don't claim to be, though I have lived here my entire life, and I have a deep appreciation of the culture and history and want to make others aware of it. Those are what my intentions were in creating this installation," he said, and he hopes that "shines through. It's not exclusionary, elitism, or appropriation, and I'm certainly not making any money on it."
He called in to the trustees' virtual meeting on Monday night, and was granted an extension on the installation's permits from that body and from the town into November. He will have an option to extend the installation after that as well.
"I don't want to attract even more attention and retaliation," he told The Star. "But I did write the letter to clear up any confusion. I don't know how to get that across, but I want to say what my intentions are: to honor these people and the place, and not offend anyone."
