Abstract : Citation : Online Sources : Other Notes
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This is a Green Open Access article. Published as Pentangelo, Joseph. 2020. A Grove of Folk Art on Staten Island: Documenting the Carvings of W. Dixon. Voices: The Journal of New York Folklore 46(1–2), 3–11. © 2020 by the Board of Trustees of New York Folklore.
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Abstract
A carving of a Necker cube and a human being carved in a beech tree. Image: © Joseph Pentangelo.
In Staten Island, New York, near a derelict building that was once part of the historic Seaview Hospital, stands a group of beech trees carved with human figures and sacred hearts, each in a consistent but highly distinctive style. Most of these trees are signed by a W. Dixon, and two are dated to the early 1930s. These carvings constitute a previously undiscussed collection of folk art in New York City. This article documents these carvings in detail, while advocating for a broader consideration of tree carvings in folklore studies.
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Citation
Pentangelo, Joseph. 2020. A Grove of Folk Art on Staten Island: Documenting the Carvings of W. Dixon. Voices: The Journal of New York Folklore 46(1–2), 3–11.
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Online Sources
Many of the sources that I refer to in this and my other works are publicly available online for free. This section provides links to all such sources. (It’s not the complete reference list for this paper.)
Boise State University. 2020. Arborglyph Database.
(Website)
Burke, Erik T. 2011. W. Dixon. Overunder (blog), 6 March 2011.
(Overunder)
Caulfield, Ernest J. 1991. The Stanclift Family (1643–1785). In James A. Slater & Theodore Chase (eds), Markers VIII, 17–38. Association for Gravestone Studies, Special Collections and University Archives, University of Massachusetts Amherst Libraries.
(UMass Amherst)
Frank, Edward. 2008. The Bible Tree, Brookville, PA. Native Tree Society (mailing list), November 2.
(Native Tree Society)
O’Callaghan, Edmund Bailey, ed. 1850. The Documentary History of the State of New-York, vol. 1. Albany: Weed, Parsons & Co.
(Archive.org)
Schuessler, Ryan. 2017. Climate Change Is Claiming Aspen Groves—and the History of Basque Immigrants in America. PRI’s The World (blog), PRI, September 13.
(PRI)
Shadley, Steve. 2016. ‘Mountain Picassos’ Exhibit Features Basque Art. KUNR (blog), May 26.
(KUNR)
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Other Notes
- See my page on dendroglyphs for a gallery and more information about these carvings.
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