An interactive art installation encourages Block Island visitors to get outdoors

Off the coast of , a ten-square-mile speck in the Atlantic hosts an annual treasure hunt. Each year hundreds of handblown glass fishing floats—clear balls the size of oranges—are hidden across Block Island’s picturesque beaches and walking trails. Since Eben Horton started the in 2012, the art installation has gained worldwide recognition. He and his wife, Jennifer Nauck, make the orbs at their studio in the nearby coastal town of Wakefield. Then, from June to October, a top-secret group of hiders stash the spheres. “For a long time, he was hiding them on his own. But then people became familiar with him, and they would follow him around,” says New England photographer . Keith traveled to Block Island by ferry six times this summer, tagging along with avid “orbivores” as they scoured the island for the curios. Many visitors go home empty-handed after hours of searching, but that level of sustained attention to one’s surroundings isn’t wasted, he says. The hunt encourages people to appreciate . “It’s easy to get lost in the island’s sweeping views. The orbs pull your attention away from that,” Keith says. “You’re spending just as much time looking at the trunk of a tree as you are looking out over the ocean bluffs.”

(Philip Keith)

Eben Horton applies a Block Island seal to the base of a newly forged glass orb

(Philip Keith)

Orb hunting in Rodman’s Hollow

Philip Keith

Horton in his studio

(Philip Keith)

The view from the ferry just before docking at Point Judith

(Philip Keith)

(Philip Keith)

(Philip Keith)

(Philip Keith)

(Philip Keith)

The view from the northernmost point of Block Island

(Philip Keith)

Elise Bouley (left), Abigail Culpeper, and Max Maher on the cliffs along the Clayhead Trail

(Philip Keith)

(Philip Keith)

(Philip Keith)

An orb cached on the west side of the island