(Above detail of ) May 18 commencing 3:34AM 2006 Gissa Bu, 2006 Pigment Print on Cotton Rag, 144” x 44” included in, Godt Tegn at PS1/MOMA. Directed by Alanna Heiss.

(Re)collecting An American’s dream: Gissa Bu

“The American Dream is that dream of a land in which life should be better, richer, and fuller for everyone.”

James Truslow Adams, The Epic of America 1931

(above right)1930 photo by Mattie Edwards Hewitt of Gissa Bu, courtesy Nassau County Museum;
(above left) Untitled Observations April 2006 Self-portrait with Shinnecock at Gissa-Bu Pigment Print on Cotton Rag. Installation, 2007 (Re)collecting an Americanʼs Dream, at the Southampton History Museum originally “The Rogers Mansion” formerly home (1888-1932) to Samuel L. Parrish.

Thursday, October 12, 2006

(Re)collecting An American’s Dream (READ) explores conflicting issues of preservation and development in the mediums of stills, video, mixed media, and social practice (2006 - 2008). The subject is the historic 13-acre estate Gissa-Bu (circa 1930) where Sandrow followed the cockerel, Shinnecock (March 30, 2006) across the road days after the land’s trees were clear-cut. Two exhibits, “Godt Tegn” PS1/MOMA, and, (Re)Collecting an American’s Dream at The Southampton History Museum (originally The Rogers Mansion and formerly Samuel L. Parrish’s home at the time he owned the 13 acres that would later be the home of Gissa Bu) were mounted to engage the community in the ultimately successful preservation effort, illustrating Duchamp’s theory of the role of chance. Or, are they destined happenings?

New York Times, March 4, 2007

Preserving Eccentricity

By Valerie Cotsalas

In the last year, Ms. Sandrow has been a fervent voice for preserving the house. She has created two exhibits of early photographs of Gissa Bu, now on display at the Southampton Historical Museum and at P.S. 1 in Long Island City, Queens, and lobbied state and local groups to push the town to buy the house.

PS1/MoMA

Press

Preservation League of New York State

Above: Shinnecock April 18, 2006 at 6:00am. Pigment Print on Cotton Rag size variable.

Exhibited in the group exhibition, Call to Action at Artsites, Riverhead

This lot (thirteen-acre estate, Gissa Bu) and the forest and field vegetation it contains is a snapshot in time depicting Shinnecock Hills as it used to be. The plant communities on the subject parcel represent a natural resource of the Town of Southampton that is fast disappearing. Once it is gone, it is unlikely that it will be seen again. As such, all efforts must be made to preserve as much of the existing vegetation as possible. One of the most striking features of this parcel is the tall, majestic pine trees found on the northern and western areas of the property. These tall pine trees are not only visibly pleasing but also are an active roosting area of the Blue Heron, one of the larger and more visibly locally significant bird species. The subject parcel was inspected on October 10, 2001, at approximately 11:00 AM. During this brief visit, numerous individuals were observed on the western portion of the parcel in the southern portions of proposed lot 1 and the northern portions of proposed lot 2. This habitat is arguably the most critical roosting area for Blue Herons around Shinnecock Bay, and perhaps the Town. Loss of habitat is the number one cause of species disappearance. Because of this species’ recreational and aesthetic importance, it is imperative that these roosting areas be preserved.

Harry Ludlow, Chairman Town Conservation Board, excerpt March 2004 letter to Southampton Town Planning Board

A permit for the demolition of Gissa Bu was in the developer’s hand to make way for the construction of “The Manors of Southampton.“ In response, a collaboration began with Sandrow and the neighboring Shinnecock Indian Nation, one of the oldest continuously self-governing Native American tribes in the country. Together, they advocated for the acquisition of the estate by the Town of Southampton Community Preservation Fund to ensure that the historic home and lands, believed to be the site of ancestral burial grounds on the hills along the shores of Shinnecock Bay, remain undisturbed. Sandrow’s photographs, research, and documentation are being used to gain the recognition of “Seven to Save” by the Preservation League of New York State (2007).

These thirteen acres, as well as the surrounding Shinnecock Hills, remained in their natural state for centuries as part of The Shinnecock Nation Territories until they were forced to relinquish their claim to the land by the Town of Southampton who offered it for development after 1859 to a group of developers eventually led by Samuel L. Parrish. In many ways, Southampton's development history, and many towns across America, is encapsulated in the story of this land, which Parrish acquired (personally in 1892) and sold to World War I fighter pilot, Aviation pioneer, and icon, Lamotte T. Cohu (1929).

“Because his wife, the former Didi H. Muus, is Norwegian, Mr. Cohu built for her at Southampton a summer home like a Norwegian mountain house. A Norwegian architect (Thjorbjorn Bassoe) designed it, Norwegian craftsmen were imported (from Norway on a ship with the building materials) to make the wood carvings. Mrs. Cohu named the house Gissa Bu (mystery house).

Time Magazine, excerpted from article “Cohu for Coburn” March 28, 1932

“It was a time when the building of the great industrialists’ estates was idealized as a sort of “frontier-ism”, a reaffirmation of America’s forging new territories and taming the wilderness.”

Leslie Rose Close

“Portrait of an Era in LandscapeArchitecture, The Photographs of Mattie Edwards Hewitt”, Wave Hill 1983

The Cohu Lodge, an architectural masterpiece of Nordic origins, remains in remarkably good condition as seen in those by Mattie Edwards Hewitt (1930) that Sandrow uncovered in her research.

observational findings

happening live