Scarsdale, Bronxville and Eastchester residents can meet an internationally recognized sculptor at a free reception on Sept. 10 at 5:30 p.m. at the Jay Heritage Center in Rye, where two twisted steel sculptures forged from fencing ripped out of the ground at a decommissioned U.S. Embassy in Norway now stand in the estate's restored garden parterres.
Jorge Otero-Pailos, a Spanish-American artist and Columbia University professor, created the works in 2019 using demolition machinery to uproot and twist sections of steel fence from Eero Saarinen's 1959 U.S. Embassy in Oslo.
The embassy was decommissioned in 2017 after it could no longer meet modern security standards, and the new owner donated the fence to Otero-Pailos.
He completed 51 sculptures total. He calls them "de-fences," literally fences that have ceased to function as such, according to a Queen Sofía Spanish Institute interview about the series.
"It is deeply meaningful to share these sculptures at the Jay Heritage Center, a place rooted in the history of American diplomacy," Otero-Pailos said in the event announcement. "Here, they connect the story of our modern embassies abroad with John Jay's legacy as a statesman at home and diplomat abroad."
The placement is deliberate.
The two sculptures sit symmetrically in the parterres, framing the central garden path. Their mirrored positioning reflects themes of balance and reciprocity in diplomacy, according to the center, and honors John Jay's missions to Spain, France and England. Jay served as ambassador to Spain from 1779 to 1782 and helped negotiate the Treaty of Paris that ended the Revolutionary War.
The 23-acre Jay Estate, a National Historic Landmark overlooking Long Island Sound, is operated by the Jay Heritage Center, a nonprofit that receives no annual tax dollars. The estate's 3-acre gardens were redesigned by Nelson Byrd Woltz Landscape Architects and reopened in April 2026. The design won the 2022 New York State Historic Preservation Award and the 2023 ICAA McKim, Mead & White Award for Landscape Design.
Otero-Pailos directs the Historic Preservation program at Columbia's Graduate School of Architecture, Planning, and Preservation, where he founded the nation's first PhD program in historic preservation in 2017. His work has been shown at the Venice Art Biennale, the British Parliament, Park Avenue in New York and the National Museum of American Diplomacy in Washington, D.C.
The "Analogue Sites" exhibition opened April 15 and is viewable Thursdays from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. and Sundays from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. through November 2026. Parking and admission are free. The Jay Heritage Center is at 210 Boston Post Road in Rye, reachable from Scarsdale, Bronxville and Eastchester via the Rye or Harrison Metro-North stations, each about a mile from the estate.
A registration link for the Sept. 10 reception was not yet available as of Aug. 14. Residents can check jayheritagecenter.org for updates.
Upcoming at Jay Heritage Center
- Thursday, Sept. 10, 5:30 p.m. — Free reception with Jorge Otero-Pailos (registration link forthcoming at jayheritagecenter.org)
- Thursdays, 10 a.m.–2 p.m. and Sundays, 10 a.m.–5 p.m. through November 2026 — "Analogue Sites" exhibition and garden self-guided tours; free parking and admission
