Foggy view to the bay, Greenport, NY 1999

INTRODUCTION - SELECTIONS FROM SHIPYARD ARCHEOLOGY: A THREE YEAR STUDY

This work is available for bookings or print . The 17x20 prints are film based/scanned images printed on large format digital printers on archival watercolor paper.


The accompanying text brings the viewer into the world of the shipyard, modern ruins, and my ideas about the metaphors of aging. It is perfect for any location where people work and play on the water, or any context in which people are interested in the beauty that emerges when nature and time interact with the surfaces of human made objects.

Some of these images made their debut at Whitney Art Works in Greenport NY in June of 2000. A more complete version opened at Art Space 150 in Burlington VT in June of 2002. They are the only art on permanant display (in smaller format) at the Greenporter Hotel and Spa in Greenport, NY. (Wendy Evans Joseph, Architect)

I took these photographs from June 1999 to July, 2001, in Greenport, a small town on the end of the north fork of Long Island, NY. Greenport is an old whaling port as well as the site of a shipping industry that waned after its large role in W.W.II.

Ship life is still active there. Sailboats, motor boats, ferries, fishing boats, freighters and Tall Ships cover the water as long as the weather allows.

boat with macrame bumper, in drydock. Greenport, NY 1999

The Greenport Yacht and Shipbuilding Company sits on the bay, tucked away just behind the vibrant and modestly upscale center of this tourist town. The beauty of the shipyard is complex and fascinating. The details I focus on show the effects of time and weather on the human made objects and the landscape that surrounds them. The industrial objects I was shooting were becoming more beautiful as they were exposed to the elements. As the usefulness of each thing leaked out, as the object evolved, or devolved from its state of creation, it became more of an artifact , more purely form. This process is exaggerated by the abstract vision of my pictures.


The objects tell stories. Beyond the biological story of rust, corrosion, and oxidation, is the human story. Industrial practices change. What we need and how we buy and sell has an impact on the life of a town. Prohibition is over and there are no more rum runners. We no longer need whale oil. Gasoline tankers mercifully do not stop on the peconic bay. Nor do war ships.

Many things made of wood, steel and glass that were once state of the art are now outstripped by microchips and polymers. Nevertheless, fishingpeople still haul their catches in wooden boats, the little ferries still chug across the bay, tankers haul their cargo. Welders weld, painters paint, machinists fix the cogs and wheels.

Ships that are showing the signs of age come in for a rehab and the process reverses. Old layers of paint are stripped off, corrosions are blasted and smoothed, metals are burnished. New paint goes on, new cogs and wheels are attached. Boats roll down back to the sea.

Through a window, wiew to harbor and "Miss Nancy" Greenport, NY 1999

Because the Greenport Shipyard is very much alive, these are not really part of the genre of Modern Ruins, but I feel a great affinity for that genre. Some of the impulses to climb around semi dangerous places, and to find beauty in decay are present in my work as well as those who document Modern Ruins.

17" x 22" giclée Print, Shipyard Archeology Poster, Liza Cowan
$500

"ZINC" POSTER FOR 2002 "SHIPYARD ARCHEOLOGY" EXHIBIT

This is the poster for my show, "Shipyard Archeology" held at Art Space 150 in Burlington Vermont in May of 2002. The image is called, "Zinc."

A Zinc, as I understand it, is a piece of actual zinc bolted to the hull of a ship to prevent the buildup of electrolites. The blue is the paint on the ship, with a patch (the black part) scraped off to reveal the raw underside of the hull.

giclée, 17 x 22, watercolor paper, unframed
$500

ICY HANDLE

On a cold icy day I wandered around the shipyards looking for signs of winter. This is a handle on one of the corrugated metal buildings.

gyclee on watercolor paper 17x22
$500

RUST

A closeup of the rusting side of a corrugated steel building in the blazing late afternoon sun.

giclée print on watercolor paper. 17x22 (aprox) unframed
$500

WOOD AND RUST SQUARE

Another closeup of a corrugated metal building, this time with some wood and bolts.

GICLEE PRINT ON WATERCOLOR PAPER 17X22 APROX. UNFRAMED
$500

YELLOW BOAT

This old boat was in the process of being painted. Fortunately I got this shot before the whole thing ended up an ugly brown.

giclée print on watercolor paper. 17x22 (aprox) unframed
$500

IN/OUT

Some days the machine shop would be open. The owner of the shipyard had given me carte blanche to wander around the entire shipyard as long as I promised to be careful, and when I found the old machines I was charmed. I have no idea what these things do, but the geometry as well as the textures dazzled me. This one has the text "IN, OUT" chalked on it.

giclée print on watercolor paper. 17x22 (aprox) unframed
$500

BR

This boad was being scraped down for a repaint. Except for the bit of red paint at the lower left, it could be a black and white image. Its not.

giclée print on watercolor paper. 17 x 22 (aprox) unframed
$500

L POWER

In the machine shop at the Greenport Shipyard. Again, I have no idea what this machine does. I love its rusty texture and the complimentary circles. The text fragment reads, "L. POWER"

giclée print on watercolor paper. 17 x 22 (aprox) unframed
$500

NO. 29

I was constantly surprised by the colors I found in the shipyard. This blue machine was catching the rays of the morning sun through the dusty window when I photographed it.

giclée print on watercolor paper. 17 x 22 (aprox) uframed
$500

HOLE

A scratched up door and handle, and a hole for what once might have been a doorknob. I love the textures as the sunset reflects off the beat up surface of this outbuilding.

giclée print on watercolor paper. 17x22 (aprox) unframed
$500

TIRE

Sometimes old tires are used as bumpers on the sides of ships. You can almost see the sun setting in the reflection of the tire. The hull was scraped and primed in these fabulous colors.

giclée print on watercolor paper. 17 x22 (aprox) unframed
$500

BLUE PROPELLER

Almost looking like a flower petal, this old blue propeller was waiting for a bit of a touchup.

giclée print on watercolor paper. 17 x 22 (aprox) uframed
$500

BALL AND NET

Fishing nets are ubiquitous at the shipyard. I spend three years trying to capture what I found most appealing about them. This is one of my more successful attempts.

giclée print of watercolor paper. 17x22(aprox) unframed
$500

BLUE RUDDER

I was in love with this ship, the Cher Paulo. which had sat in drydock for two years. One day I was in a boating supply store in Greenport showing the owners some of my photos. They told me that the owner of the Cher Paulo was over there at the far end of the store. I showed him this picture, asked him if he knew what it was. He had no idea what it was, much less that it was from his boat.

giclée print on watercolor paper 17x22 (aprox) unframed
$500

STRONG ARM

One day a rolling cabinet appeared outdoors, filled with these iron objects which reminded me of rusty swiss cheese. I was told that they were called strongarms, and are used to take off propellers. I never saw them again after that afternoon.)

giclee print on watercolor paper 17x22 aprox. unframed
$500

TRAVEL LIFT

A travel lift is a big rolling machine that holds boats up when they are being fixed. It is on wheels and can scoot around a shipyard. Well, maybe not scoot, but clamber. This image is of a small part of the travel lift, and yes, the text is in mirror image in real life.

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