A summertime walk down Cold Spring Harbor’s Bungtown Road will always include a few things: the dulcet tones of wildlife, a charming bucolic landscape, the smell of fresh cut grass and flowers, and, of course, the tall steel ridges rising behind the volleyball court like the exposed, fossilized bones of some forgotten prehistoric beast.
As cool as that might sound, the structure isn’t fossilized, nor a dinosaur. Created by sculptor Beatrice Perry, “Transform” is an iconic remnant of Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory’s (CSHL’s) outdoor art exhibition of 1987-88, Nothing But Steel. Following its installation, the thought-provoking edifice stood alone in the “Big Field” for 35 years. That lonely vigil ended in 2022, when the Laboratory relocated its volleyball court. Since then, the sculpture has been transformed from a rusty curiosity into the featured rusty backdrop of every CSHL Summer League match.
“Transform” makes yearly appearances in CSHL’s Summer Volleyball League championship recap.
About that rust: In the case of “Transform,” that’s a feature, not a bug. When Perry manufactured the sculpture’s rough-cut plates, she chose a special type of metal called weathering, or Corten, steel. Unlike other varieties—stainless, for example—Corten steel alloys develop a stable layer of rust that keeps out the elements and decorates the metal surface in lieu of paint.
Following its completion in 1982, the sculpture was initially installed in a space overlooking the Hudson River in New York City. When it came to CSHL five years later, “Transform” easily took center stage in the Nothing But Steel exhibition. From The New York Times: “…Beatrice Perry’s ‘Transform,’ an arrangement of roughly cut sheets…rises magically from the earth.
“This last piece is perhaps the most impressive in the exhibition, not only in physical terms, but also in the way it interacts with the environment. Set on a wide, rolling lawn near the end of the grounds, it suggests a host of associations, from a ragged mountain range to the armor plates of a dinosaur revealed by erosion. As with several other works, light and shadow play important roles in defining and enhancing the shapes.”
Perhaps recognizing the sculpture’s star power, CSHL acquired “Transform” for its collection shortly after Nothing But Steel ended in 1988.
As for Perry, the Illinois native trained at the Art Institute of Chicago before receiving a scholarship to Skidmore College, then finished her education at the University of Chicago. Later in life, she became a patron of the arts and an early champion of international artists like Yayoi Kusama, Fernando Botero, and Wojciech Fangor through galleries in Washington, D.C., and New York City.
Outside of CSHL, Perry’s work can be found in several private and public collections. These include displays at Bard College in New York, the Neiman Marcus Sculpture Garden in Las Vegas, and the Washington, D.C., offices of Time Magazine.
