L E G A C I E S

Dorothy Abbott

Orient Sculptor Dorothy I. Abbott died peacefully at her home on November 21st of Parkinson’s Disease. Dorothy was born on April 19, 1932 in Thibodaux, Louisiana to Doris and Argyle C. Abbott.

As a child, Dorothy summered with her family in Jamesport; where she gained a deep appreciation for fishing and sailing the Long Island waters. Dorothy studied at the Art Students League and later at Teacher’s College Columbia University where she received her Masters in Art Education. After teaching art in Lawrence, Long Island public schools, she moved full time to the North Fork to dedicate her life to making sculpture.

She first renovated her home in East Marion and later moved to Orient in 1983 where she built her sculpture studio. For nearly twenty years Dorothy divided her time between the North Fork and Italy where she would go to carve marble from the foothills of the Apennine Mountains and cast her bronze sculpture.

Dorothy’s work has been exhibited in galleries and museums here and abroad with exhibitions at galleries in New York City, the North and South fork, including at Guild Hall. In 2010, Dorothy donated her 600 pound marble sculpture, Aurora, to Eastern Long Island Hospital where it is permanently installed in the Lobby. Carved in Italy, the sculpture resonates with a wave-like design with shades of pink and grey.

Dorothy lived life to its fullest; a lover of dogs, an avid fisherwoman, often casting for blues and bass on the LI sound, a snorkeler and diver in the Caribbean and the Florida Keys, and a cook renowned to friends and family. She is survived by the love of her life and partner of 32 years, Lucy Steele, her brother Argyle Jr. of Gainesville, FL and nieces, Allison and Leah.

Donations can be made in Dorothy’s memory to the Parkinson’s Research Foundation