Jay Lagemann’s Bio

Jay has always enjoyed making things. He fell in love with art when he spent the summer after high school traveling around Europe. At Princeton University  he took all the art and art history courses available before he graduated Phi Beta Kappa in mathematics.

Disillusioned by the Vietnam War, he returned to traveling after getting his Ph.D. in Mathematical Logic from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He sailed across the North and South Atlantic oceans, did the Cape to Rio Race and captained a yacht for the trip from Rio to Spain.    After writing an unpublished book Jay started making sculpture the day he met his step daughters and  Marianne, the love of his life.  In their  SOHO loft the six year old twins had built a city block of buildings made with a lot of duct tape and large cardboard boxes.   Joining in the play was so much fun.   Their first date was to a Calder Show at the Whitney featuring Calder’s Circus.    Back at the loft they tried to recreate the trapeze artists doing their tricks.   After many failures they were able to achieve some success.

After moving with his new family to Martha’s Vineyard Jay made some sculptures but after ran out of money so he got a one day job putting together Hobie Cats for Jaws 2.  He made himself essential and even worked his way on to the special effects crew where he learned the skills and attitude required to make just about anything.  After six months Jay and Marianne had saved up enough to start Marianne’s Screen Printing.That came in handy because, one day, sitting in the Sculpture Park at the Hirschorn Museum, he had a vision of creating the Wild Island Sculpture Garden on his land in Chilmark.   

Though Jay Lagemann is recognized for animated, playful sculptures he is perhaps best known for the iconic eighteen-foot tall Swordfish Harpooner that stands amidst the dunes in Menemsha. It was commissioned for Chilmark's tricentennial in 1994.    Responding to requests for a personal-sized version of the Swordfish Harpooner, Jay attended a workshop at the Johnson Atelier and Foundry in New Jersey. There he learned how to work in the bronze medium and completed the casting of a prototype that was used to produce an edition of bronze 'Harpooner' sculptures.

        The original Swinging Jenny is a full sized painted steel sculpture.
Jay saw it as quite a challenge to translate Swinging Jenny from large steel to a small bronze. “It is not easy to get a feeling of weightlessness and motion with a medium as solid and heavy as bronze. I ended up making four different models. By working on them from different angles and in different lights I was able to make one that works well and  I am proud to have created.”

Jay creates his original works because they are things he wants to have in his life.  He uses a variety of materials to achieve the effects he wants.  When he is satisfied with the result he has it professionally cast in bronze and/or stainless steel.  That way he gets to both share his work as well a keep a copy for himself and his sculpture garden.  Another benefit is that bronze and stainless steel are strong and will last for thousands of years.

After developing prostate cancer in 2007 Jay decided to devote to time to making large works for his Wild Island Sculpture Garden and for public display.  In 2014 he had both an indoor (small works) and outdoor (large works) show at the the Academy Art Museum in Easton, Maryland   That helped lead to the commission for an 18’ tall cast bronze Swinging Jenny for the VIA57 Complex in Manhattan.

For the summer of 2021 ten of Jay’s large sculptures graced Main Street in Gloucester, Virginia.   The “Blue Fisherman” has remained to become part of the permanent collection of the town.

In the spring of 2022 “The Bond” and “Crawling Baby” both in bronze we installed along with a larger than life mirror polish stainless steel “Swinging Jenny” were installed outside the Main Street Gallery in Falmouth, Massachusetts.

In the fall of 2022 The Reading Dog will be installed both at the Public Library in Chestertown, Maryland and on the campus of the Fieldston School in New York where Jay went to high school.