'Save The Stargazer' Fundraising Effort Underway For Iconic Sculpture

By Tuesday afternoon, David Morris had made a $2,000 dent into the $100,000 he needs to repair “Stargazer,” the iconic sculpture that he built with artist Linda Scott three decades ago — standing on County Road 111 in Eastport as the unofficial gateway to the Hamptons since 1991.

But today, the towering steel-and-wood abstract deer looking to the sky, with an antler in its mouth, is a shell of what it once was — battered by countless blizzards and hurricanes — that, now, requires a complete rebuild from the ground up.

Despite the Herculean task ahead of him, Mr. Morris says he is cautiously optimistic.

“These projects are more complicated than what meets the eye,” the 72-year-old said. “We’re just starting.”

So far, the GoFundMe campaign, “Save the Stargazer,” has raised $1,975 from 19 donors, ranging from $5 to $500 each. Any amount is appreciated, said Mr. Morris, who recently hung a banner to advertise the effort on the sculpture itself.

“I’m not gonna leave it looking terrible. I don’t know what I’ll do. I really don’t,” he said, if he fails to raise the money. “I can’t leave it looking like that. I could repair it, but then we’re just going to have trouble again. It really needs to be rebuilt — the whole thing redone.”

As it currently stands on the east side of County Road 111, “Stargazer” is comprised of a steel frame covered by a wood frame and plywood skin that is stuccoed and painted over. At the time, this was a leading construction practice — and, ultimately, what sunk the sculpture.

First, the synthetic stucco proved to be tremendously flawed and incompatible with the plywood. Then came the woodpeckers — and the holes they poked into the top of the sculpture, causing water to leak in and the plywood to deteriorate even faster.

The new plan, which Mr. Morris will mostly take on himself, starts with tracing the head before stripping the steel frame, checking it for stress fractures, re-welding if necessary, and reenforcing it with more steel.

The deer will be built from pressure-treated ACQ lumber, covered with a waterproof material and a drainage system before reapplying stucco. The sculpture will also be vented and reinforced with metal flashing at the top, to prevent pesky woodpeckers from wreaking any more havoc — extending its lifespan another 30 to 40 years, Mr. Morris said.

“I love it, I just love it,” he said of the sculpture. “And so many people do not understand what it is, they still don’t understand. Some people see it as a chicken still.”

He interrupted himself with a laugh. “Someone asked me on Facebook if it’s an antler in the deer’s mouth, and someone commented, ‘No it isn’t, it’s a bone,’” he continued. “And I said, ‘No, really, I would know. I built it. I helped design it with Linda Scott. She abstracted the deer so it wasn’t so literal.’”

Though the deer is the most famous of Ms. Scott’s “Stargazer” series, it was not her first. She previously made similar sculptures — one with the head of a man, and another with the head of a woman. They each mark the connection and tension between the heavens and the earth, and the deer is no different.

“She had a background with deer. Animals loved her,” Mr. Morris said. “She’d ride like the wind. She’d ride her horse down Jobs Lane bareback, down the middle of the street, way back then. It was totally different when I first came out here.”

Ever since Ms. Scott died at age 77 in July 2015 after battling cancer, Mr. Morris has made it his mission to keep not only “Stargazer” alive, but the memory and legacy of his partner.

“This was only made to last about 10 years the way we did it, and it’s been 30,” he said. “So if I do it the other way where I’m projecting 40, it could go 50 years — it could go longer.”

To donate to the GoFundMe campaign, “Save the Stargazer,” visit gofundme.com/f/save-the-stargazer.