The Big Duck @ Glen Hansen Studio

GLEN HANSEN STUDIO, 1560 Youngs Ave., Southold, NY – Opening: Saturday, June 18th

Yes we realize, this is very possibly the exhibition, the soiree into art history, the conceptual equal to nothing else out there in our culture, and perhaps even, the show some of you have been waiting for your whole lives. That is an artistic response in any medium to the Flander’s Big Duck. Go and experience the majesty of the Big Duck and answer the call in whatever media you deem necessary to express the awe manifested in the experience and send us your ideas, images, etc. The exhibition is scheduled to open Saturday, June 18. A little history on what is very likely the North Fork’s most famous icon. The Big Duck was built in 1930-31 by farmer Martin Maurer originally on Main Street in downtown Riverhead as a shop to sell ducks and duck eggs. There is a historical marker right off the road just east of Snowflake Ice Cream and on the same side of the road. In 1937 the building was moved to Maurer’s new duck ranch, which is the location where it now resides. In the 80s when possible development threatened it’s location it was purchased by Suffolk County and moved to a location on Route 24 adjacent to Sears- Bellows Pond County Park and became a gift shop operated by the Friends for Long Island Heritage. And, that is where It resided until 2007, when it was moved back to its current location in the fields where Maurer had his duck farm. So one could say that like many birds species that migrate seasonally that the Big Duck has had quite a migration as well. Another quite interesting and probably little known fact is in 1968, architects Robert Venturi and Denise Scott Brown coined a term Duck Architecture which referred to buildings that are highly sculptural forms representing the products or services that are available within. The Big Duck is a classic example of such.