Celebrating the Salt Life of Arthur Dove & Helen Torr

The Heckscher Museum Celebrates 100 Arthur-Dove-Indian-SummerSalt Life: Arthur Dove and Helen Torr, includes rarely exhibited watercolors by Dove on loan from the Amon Carter Museum of American Art in Fort Worth, TX, as well as Torr’s drawings from The Heckscher Museum’s collection. Curator Karli Wurzelbacher’s current essay for the Amon Carter Museum outlines the “swashbuckling” life of the two artists who lived on the waterways of Long Island for most of their lives together.

Salt Life: Arthur Dove and Helen Torr opens November 18, and coincides with the 25th anniversary of The Heckscher Museum’s acquisition of the historic Dove/Torr Cottage, Centerport – the last home and studio the two modernists. The anniversary will see renewed interest in the property including the addition of a life-size kinetic sculpture and an engaging soundwalk at the site.

Long Island Biennial artist and sculptor, Susan Buroker, and accomplished sound engineer, Evangeline Knell are working on a community project inspired by artist Helen Torr, exploring how the natural world impacted her life and art. Participating middle school students from Girls, Inc. will be learning about Torr and the local ecosystem at the Dove/Torr Cottage, located in Centerport. Students will engage in a variety of art, science, and technology activities including conducting water sample experiments, creating mini sculptures, and contributing to the soundwalk and to a life-size kinetic sculpture which will ultimately be on view at the site. Soundwalks will be created for both the Cottage site and in Heckscher Park.

In 1988, the Dove/Torr Cottage was acquired by the Heckscher Museum of Art. It is listed on the National Register of Historic Places and is part of the Historic Artists’ Homes & Studios (HAHS) program administered by the National Trust for Historic Preservation.
The Heckscher Museum of Art Soundwalk, located at the Dove/Torr cottage and in Heckscher Park, was created in 2023 with support from a Dorothy C. Radgowski Learning Through Women’s Achievement in the Arts Grant, a joint effort of Where Women Made History (WWMH), and HAHS. Special thanks to Susan Buroker, Evangeline Knell, GirlsInc. Long Island, Monica Ortiz-Menier, Helen Keller National Center, and the Heckscher Museum Accessibility Advisory Group for their work on the project. Tactile Maps and Signage were created and installed, for this project, at Heckscher Park and the Dove/Torr Cottage with generous grant support from the Town of Huntington Environmental Open Space & Park Fund Advisory Committee.