WILLIAMSBURG — A sculpture estimated to weigh eight tons was recently hoisted over the East River and onto a new 400-foot pier that’s being constructed at Northside Piers, a mixed-use development on the Williamsburg waterfront.

A joint project of Toll Brothers, RD Management and L&M Equities, the development will ultimately feature 800 residential units, retail and a public esplanade, in addition to the pier.

A shade structure was required for the pier, under the zoning, according to Shirley Jaffe, vice president of development for RD and the project’s coordinator.

“It could have been a very utilitarian kind of shade structure, but we decided it could also be some type of unique public art,� Jaffe said.

The development team talked with several groups about commissioning the art, according to Jaffe, including the Art Commission, Percent for Public Art and the Hudson River Park Trust, and Mark Gibian was recommended.

“There aren’t that many people doing art that’s appropriate for being out in the weather,� she pointed out. “And he was a longterm resident of Williamsburg, so that was just perfect.�

A few discussions and a few designs later, it was a done deal.

Gibian, who has lived and worked in Williamsburg for 28 years, is also doing two-three sculptures for the Hudson River Park Trust and has completed and installed one for the Brooklyn Bridge train station in the Municipal Building in Downtown Manhattan.

His Williamsburg sculpture is made of stainless steel with a mesh covering. Underneath it sits a sweeping bench of the same material.

“It looks great and it provides an amazing amount of shade,� Jaffe said.

The new pier at Northside Piers will soon be presented to the City of New York and its Parks Department and permanently opened to the public in the near future.

“We built this and we are deeding it back to the city,� said Jaffe.

© Brooklyn Daily Eagle 2008 All materials posted on BrooklynEagle.com are protected by United States copyright law. Just a reminder, though -- It’s not considered polite to paste the entire story on your blog. Most blogs post a summary or the first paragraph,( 40 words) then post a link to the rest of the story. That helps increase click-throughs for everyone, and minimizes copyright issues. So please keep posting, but not the entire article. arturc at att.net