Surely the least preposessing sculpture park in New England, for the quality
of the work, is the front yard of what used to be Segre’s Iron Works, off
Interstate 84 in Waterbury Connecticut.
We noticed the sculptures years ago. As we were driving down I-84 towards
New Jersey, Arlene exclaimed, “Are those Calders over there?”
At 55 Mph (I won’t admit to more publicly) it was hard to tell, but on subsequent
trips we looked more closely and noted the nearest exit, and eventually
worked up our nerve to stop and ring the doorbell of a white-and-turquoise
cinder block building in an industrial area right on the frontage road of
the highway. There’s a shopping center on the lot next door now, but back then there
was a construction equipment yard with several rusty power shovels.
Front of the former Segre’s Iron Works, April 1998
Naturally nobody was there on the weekend, but as we peered through the door we saw Calder posters on the wall and became convinced that this was indeed where Calder had the heavy iron work done for many of his stabiles. We later confirmed this when we found a quote in a book (sorry I can’t find the citation now) to the effect that “It was at this time that Calder began his long and productive association with <name> Segre”.