The works in Gallery 2 illustrate Puryear’s process of conceptualizing Lookout, which has taken place over the last decade. For his Storm King commission, Puryear worked through a series of models, starting with an outline of the shape in pine, then moving toward high-density polyurethane and wood, painted to show the individual bricks and cobbles of the completed work. 

The model-making continued even as construction on the full-size commission began, enabling the artist and his team of masons to consider different vaulting strategies, test the strength of bonds between brick and mortar, and even determine the shape in which the bricks atop the masonry dome would come together.

In addition to serving as study aids for the fabrication and completion of the work, the models serve as a record of the process.