{{short description|American-Canadian artist}} {{Infobox artist | name = George Trakas | image = George Trakas.jpg | caption = | birth_date = {{birth year and age|1944}} | birth_place = Quebec City, Quebec, Canada | training = New York University, B.S., 1969 | field = Environmental Sculptor | spouse = {{marriage|Susan Rothenberg|1971|1979|end = divorced}} }} '''George Trakas''' is a sculptor who was born in Quebec City in 1944 and has lived in New York City since 1963. Many of his projects are site-specific installations, and he describes himself as an environmental sculptor. He often recycles local materials and incorporates them into his work.<ref name=MAS>{{cite web|title=Summit NYC 2011: George Trakas|url=http://mas.org/summitnyc/speakers/george-trakas/|publisher=Municipal Art Society|access-date=2013-11-06|archive-date=2013-11-02|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131102110411/http://mas.org/summitnyc/speakers/george-trakas/|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=George Trakas|url=http://www.nyc.gov/html/dcla/html/panyc/trakas.shtml|publisher=New York City Department of Cultural Affairs|accessdate=6 November 2013}}{{Dead link|date=August 2025 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref> Trakas taught sculpture at Yale University for 13 years and has also taught at other schools.<ref name="Emory">{{cite web |title=Art History (newsletter) |url=http://arthistory.emory.edu/home/assets/documents/newsletter/newsletter_fall11.pdf |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20131111033124/http://arthistory.emory.edu/home/assets/documents/newsletter/newsletter_fall11.pdf |archivedate=11 November 2013 |accessdate=6 November 2013 |publisher=Emory University Department of Art History}}</ref>
== Education and honours == Trakas graduated from Sir George Williams University in Montreal and then went on to earn a bachelor's degree in art history at New York University in 1969.<ref name="MAS" /> He received a Guggenheim Fellowship in 1982,<ref name="Guggenheim">{{cite web|title=George Trakas |url=http://www.gf.org/fellows/14806-george-trakas |publisher=John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation |accessdate=6 November 2013 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20131111035028/http://www.gf.org/fellows/14806-george-trakas |archivedate=11 November 2013 }}</ref> a National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship in 1989, and the American Academy of Arts and Letters Medal for Sculpture in 1996.<ref name="Vassar">{{cite web|title=Award-winning installation artist George Trakas to discuss Hudson River environmental project, Wednesday, April 18, 2007|url=http://collegerelations.vassar.edu/2007/2413/|publisher=Vassar College|accessdate=6 November 2013}}</ref> Emory University awarded him an honorary doctorate in 2011.<ref name="Emory" /> He also won the Foundation for Contemporary Arts Grants to Artists award (2017).<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.foundationforcontemporaryarts.org/recipients/george-trakas|title=George Trakas :: Foundation for Contemporary Arts|website=www.foundationforcontemporaryarts.org|access-date=2018-04-19}}</ref>
== Personal life == George Trakas married Susan Rothenberg, a painter, in 1971. Their daughter Maggie was born in 1972. They divorced in 1979 but remained close until Rothenberg's death in 2020.<ref name="RothenbergObit">{{cite news |last1=Kennedy |first1=Randy |title=Susan Rothenberg, Acclaimed Figurative Painter, Dies at 75 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2020/05/21/arts/susan-rothenberg-acclaimed-figurative-painter-dies-at-75.html |accessdate=1 June 2020 |work=New York Times |date=21 May 2020}}</ref> ==Works== Notable recent examples of Trakas's work include a waterfront nature walk at the Newtown Creek Wastewater Treatment Plant in Brooklyn, New York; another waterfront installation adjacent to the Dia:Beacon museum in Beacon, New York; and public art in the New York City Subway at the Atlantic Avenue – Barclays Center station.<ref name="Dia">{{cite web |title=George Trakas, Beacon Point |url=http://www.diaart.org/sites/page/60/1385 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20131105074649/http://www.diaart.org/sites/page/60/1385 |archivedate=5 November 2013 |accessdate=5 November 2013 |publisher=Dia Art Foundation}}</ref><ref name="Subway">{{cite web |title=Arts for Transit and Urban Design |url=http://web.mta.info/mta/aft/permanentart/permart.html?agency=nyct&line=R&artist=1&station=20 |accessdate=5 November 2013 |publisher=Metropolitan Transportaition Authority}}</ref>
The following table contains a partial list of works by George Trakas.<ref>[http://www.art-3.org/pdf/02-RC-PILAT.pdf Complete works]</ref> {| class="wikitable" ! Title !! Location !! Description !! Year !! References
|- |''Pont Épée''||Thiers, France||Set of walkways and bridges on the Durolle river next to the "Creux-de-l'enfer"|| 1985||<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.lamontagne.fr/thiers/loisirs/art-litterature/2018/12/25/que-reste-t-il-du-symposium-national-de-sculpture-monumentale-metallique-organise-en-1985-a-thiers_13087105.html|title=Diable, 30 ans ! - Que reste-t-il du Symposium national de sculpture monumentale métallique organisé en 1985 à Thiers ?|last=France|first=Centre|website=www.lamontagne.fr|access-date=2019-01-03}}</ref> |- |''Beacon Point''||Beacon, New York|| Angling deck, boardwalk, & restored bulkhead in Long Dock Park on a 25-acre peninsula adjacent to Dia:Beacon museum|| 2007 ||<ref name="Dia" /> |- |''The pathway of love''||Santomato, Pistoia|| A path made of iron and wood that crosses a romantic forest alongside a stream|| 1982|| <ref name="FattoriaDiCelle">{{cite web |url=http://www.goricoll.it/index.php?file=opere&id_cell_opera=30 |website=Fattoria di Celle |accessdate=1 June 2020|title=The path of love}}</ref> |- |''Shoreline Nature Walkway''||Brooklyn, New York|| Nature walk adjacent to the Newtown Creek Wastewater Treatment Plant|| 2007||<ref name="WatersEdge">{{cite web|url=http://urbanomnibus.net/2009/03/george-trakas-at-the-waters-edge-newtown-creek/|title=George Trakas at the Water's Edge: Newtown Creek|publisher=Urban Omnibus|accessdate=5 November 2013}}</ref> |- |''Hook (Archean Reach), Line (Sea House), and Sinker (Mined Swell)''||Brooklyn, New York|| Public sculpture inside the Atlantic Avenue–Barclays Center station of the New York City Subway|| 2004 ||<ref name="Subway" /> |- |''Reconnections''||Belmullet, Ireland|| Footbridge across a canal in County Mayo that has since been replaced|| 1993 ||<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.northmayoarttrail.com/site-m|title=Reconnections|publisher=Tír Sáile Sculpture Trail|accessdate=28 March 2024}}</ref><ref name="FrenchBio">{{cite web|url=http://www.art-3.org/pdf/02-RC-PILAT.pdf|title=Parc naturel régional du Pilat|publisher=art 3|language=French|accessdate=5 November 2013}}</ref> |- |''Self Passage''||Humlebæk, Denmark|| Site-specific sculpture leading to a waterside platform, in the Louisiana Museum of Modern Art's sculpture park.|| 1989 ||<ref name="FrenchBio" /><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.louisiana.dk/uk/Menu/The+collection/The+Sculpture+Park|title=The Sculpture Park|publisher=Louisiana Museum of Modern Art|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20131029082415/http://www.louisiana.dk/uk/Menu/The+collection/The+Sculpture+Park|archivedate=29 October 2013|url-status=dead|accessdate=5 November 2013}}</ref> |- |''Berth Haven''||Seattle, Washington|| A cedar and steel lakeside deck on the premises of an NOAA facility. Rests on foundations remaining from the site’s prior use as navy airfield.|| 1983||<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.seattle.gov/parks/magnuson/docs/NOAA_art_walk_brochure.pdf|title=NOAA Western Service Center Art Walk|publisher=City of Seattle|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20131105074504/http://www.seattle.gov/parks/magnuson/docs/NOAA_art_walk_brochure.pdf|archivedate=5 November 2013|url-status=dead|accessdate=5 November 2013}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://etothelo.blogspot.com/2011/03/soundscapes.html|title=Soundscapes|publisher=building beyond|accessdate=5 November 2013}}</ref> |- |''Source Route'' |Atlanta, Georgia |Site-specific sculpture in a wooded area of the Emory University campus |1979 |<ref>{{cite web|url=https://blogs.emory.edu/creativity/2011/04/05/environmental-artist-trakas-returns-to-emory-ravine/|title=Environmental artist Trakas returns to Emory|publisher=Emory University|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20131105075259/https://blogs.emory.edu/creativity/2011/04/05/environmental-artist-trakas-returns-to-emory-ravine/|archivedate=5 November 2013|url-status=dead|accessdate=5 November 2013}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://blogs.emory.edu/creativity/tag/source-route/|title=George Trakas "Source Route"|publisher=Emory University|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20131105075256/https://blogs.emory.edu/creativity/tag/source-route/|archivedate=5 November 2013|url-status=dead|accessdate=5 November 2013}}</ref> |- |}
==Gallery== <gallery> File:Pont épée.jpg|The "pont Epée" in Thiers. File:Newtown Creek Nature Walk - Vessel Entrance 01.jpg|Newtown Creek Nature Walk: "Vessel" entrance File:Newtown Creek Nature Walk - Digester Eggs and Whale Creek..jpg|Newtown Creek Nature Walk: Whale Creek, sewage plant in distance File:GP Newtown Promenade jeh.JPG|Newtown Creek Nature Walk: steps into the water File:Beacon Point 1.jpg|''Beacon Point'', view of entire site, looking westward toward Newburgh, NY. File:Beacon Point 2.jpg|''Beacon Point'', looking northward, showing mouth of channel that runs through the piece. File:Beacon Point 3.jpg|''Beacon Point'', looking eastward, showing other end of the channel. File:Atlantic barclays LINE.jpg|''Line'' sculpture in the former control house of the Atlantic Avenue station. </gallery>
==References== {{reflist}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Trakas, George}} Category:1944 births Category:Living people Category:20th-century American sculptors Category:Artists from Quebec City Category:Canadian contemporary artists Category:Canadian sculptors Category:Canadian male sculptors Category:New York University alumni Category:Artists from New York City Category:Sir George Williams University alumni Category:21st-century American sculptors Category:Canadian abstract artists