From the statement for black nance, the first project in the Eastern Shore Trilogy:
As children, my brother Andrew and I played with toy wooden boats our father made for us. There was a tugboat with a stubby smoke stack, a freighter with cargo hatches, a shapely ocean liner with portholes down the sides of its hull and others. These boats referenced my father’s love of the working harbour and a knowledge of hull lines and proportions gained from that love. They were sensible models with an accuracy and plainness that led to great form.
The boats my dad made are very important to me. Two of them are displayed in my studio and the parts from a third are kept with other important items in a cabinet with small drawers. The tug boat and the freighter were cut at the waterlines so they could sit flat. Sitting on the carpet or on a table they looked like they were sitting in the ocean. They were excellent play things used in the bath where the wood was dried, cracked and bleached from the water.
I have used these boats in different projects. The image of the two boats together is a test image from a new and important camera. The image of the tug boat sitting on a windowsill is from an older body of work titled Shore Drive and the image of the tug boat floating in a glass sauerkraut jar is a production still from the film blueberry hill.
The boats from the Eastern Shore Trilogy are based partly on these boats of my father’s and partly on Star Yacht pond boats (next post).
— Chris Boyne
