Marblehead architect Tom Saltsman’s annual Halloween art installation is complete and drawing big crowds this Halloween.
This year’s opus, titled “Memory Lane,” represents the houses Saltsman and his family have lived in over the years, using single point perspective techniques to draw the eye to a Pepper’s ghost projection nearly 45 feet from the street.
Saltsman invited the Current behind the scenes. Watch these two videos for more:
“The street is a floating street,” said Saltsman. “It starts at about 18 inches and goes up to about four feet in the back and then you see through to the neighbor’s yard.”
“Memory Lane” is more abstract and outwardly personal compared to previous years’ projects, which has been a reason Saltsman and his wife, Brooke Visal, have kept the theme so secretive.
“It is fun to have people guess at it,” Salstman told the Current on Saturday. “It’s great to see the different ideas of what people think it is. A lot of people think it’s a street in Marblehead and that’s great. I think, in some ways, it’s different for everyone.”
The construction contains depictions of seven houses including a white house representing Saltsman’s childhood home, a South End brownstone above the Claremont Cafe, a miniaturized version of his present home on Pleasant Street and a yellow house with closed shutters representing the future.
Saltsman offered the Current a behind the scenes look into the garage where much of the project’s smaller elements are placed.
“I reuse as much as I can,” said Saltsman. “There’s new wood here, I pick through construction debris from projects. There’s pieces of wood here that probably go back to the dragon. But, generally, I screw everything together so that I can unscrew it.”
As always, passers by were incredibly excited to see the newest creation at the Saltsman house.
“I think it’s the best thing he’s ever done,” said Cynthia Garder, a stylist who has worked in film and television for nearly five decades.
“The perspective he had to achieve here for the street and the skill that it took to build this is extraordinary,” she added. “It may not be as splashy as the other ones, but it’s brilliantly executed. This is Hollywood quality set design.”
A project of this magnitude, however, cannot be completed alone and Saltsman was quick to recognize the volunteers who helped bring his design to life.
“There’s a crew of people who have really been working with me for a long, long time,” Saltsman said.”Tim and Katie Sullivan, Joe Dearborn, Todd Ehrenberg. There’s just a really great core group of people and even some new ones this year. Things like this require a lot of detail, a lot of labor. It’s an important thing… I want to say, most importantly, my wife (Brooke Trivas Saltsman) and her (artistic) background in helping me do this and her support. To be able to put up with this, it’s a daunting task.”
