These are photographs from November. I was on the North Fork, headed to an astronomy conference when I drove by this barn. Stopped me in my tracks! I got out of the car and started photographing when I saw a farmer in the distance, so I waved and walked over to where he was standing. I said I was stunned by this artwork in shingles. He said that there was a carpenter renting the house here and he started doing the circular shingle pattern on the bottom of the barn wall years ago. Then the carpenter moved away. The farmer and his dad decided that they wanted to have the pattern finished, and hired the carpenter back to finish the work.
It is stunning work, in unimaginable detail. I have never seen this kind of artistry in shingles. The carpenter cut various convex and concave semicircles in the ends of the shingles to come up with this amazing pattern! So get this - I asked his name so that I could send him some of the photographs, and I recognized the last name and said I knew someone with the same name! I told him I was from Sea Cliff, and, get this - he grew up in Sea Cliff! Is that crazy, or what!
Wonderful story and artistry. Glad you have a keen eye that stops you along your travels. Just beautiful!
ReplyDeleteJoan
What a MARVELOUS find! I've lived on Long Island forever and have never seen this or anything like it. I've never even heard of shingle art! This could be a museum exhibit. Wonder if has other works around Long Island. They would make a fabulous photo essay.
ReplyDeleteSpeaking of Sea Cliff, I was watching "American Pickers" 10 days ago or so and they were going through some old-timer's hardware store in town... They run so many reruns it would be hard to find, though. Don't know if it is a small-enough town that you would recognize faces or places though... -Dean
ReplyDeleteSpectacular! So glad you spotted this. This could definitely be in a museum. Now your new mission is to find more "shingle art"...bsk
ReplyDelete