It was the slow retraction of glaciers over centuries that shaped the Hudson Highlands into their gentle, undulating forms, later represented in soft grays and blues by the painters of the Hudson Valley School. By the 19th century, humans had started to hollow them out from below. The hills were extensively quarried, their stone pulverized and turned into asphalt or brought down by train to New York City to be recast as architecture.

In 1942, the noted industrial designer Russel Wright and his wife purchased 75 acres of devastated property and shifted directions, beginning a slow process of collaboration with the land. Wright redirected streams to cascade into the gaping pit of the quarry and built a home intended to seamlessly fit into the landscape. Today, the Manitoga estate’s current artist-in-residence Stephen Talasnik continues Wright’s legacy with Sanctuary, a large-scale installation of aquatic architecture floating in the Quarry Pool.

“The responsibility of the artist is to take nature and drag it through their own personal experience with the objective of creating a new nature - an organic, near seamless synthesis of nature and personal knowledge,” Talasnik contends. Drawing on the design ethos of Wright, known for his modernist designs that seek to synthesize nature and architecture, Talasnik’s installation comprises hand-woven structures that float in the bucolic pool. The artist spent time in the Far East, where he was inspired by vernacular construction practices. Sanctuary includes five floating bamboo and reed structures.

The installation will be open to the public through November 9th, during which the architectural elements will be open to the elements. “The piece is at its most vibrant when it is made, but once left to the elements, it lasts as long as it lasts,” Talasnik explains. “The piece is vulnerable to the same elements that are in a constant state of change themselves, nature. It is created, lives, and dies. There is a life span.”

Located in Garrison, New York, the Manitoga Estate/Russel Wright Design Center opened to the public in 2004. Ten years later, in 2014, they launched their artist-in-residency program, intended to commemorate Wright’s legacy and foster new activity on the historic site. Last year, the artist Melissa McGill created a sound-installation entitled Palmas.

Sanctuary will be on view until November 9, 2015, with tours available at 11 a.m. and 1:30 p.m. on Fridays, Saturdays, Sundays and Mondays. For more information, call 845-424-3812 or visit visitmanitoga.org.