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September 15 - October 22, 2006 Opening reception Friday, September 15, 2006 from 5:30 - 7:30 p.m.
To walk through the Common Burying Ground in Newport, Rhode Island, is to experience an astonishingly broad range of tributes in stone produced for citizens from every walk of life. From crude shale markers of the eighteenth century, to nineteenth-century looming marble memorials, to stout granite monuments of the twentieth century, the eye is confronted with an astounding array of stone commemorating those who have “shuffled off this mortal coil” for parts unknown. Here stands an image of a winged skull, its mandible missing and eyes bored deep into the slate; here is a chunk of granite fabricated to look like a tree, its limbs sawn off and the names of the family’s dead carved into the stubs. The sheer diversity of materials, images and sentiment is almost overwhelming. Central to this enterprise of commemoration are the stone carvers, journeymen, apprentices, artists, enslaved Africans and others who have worked within the walls of the John Stevens Shop. Established at 29 Thames Street by its namesake in 1705 and operated by his descendants for nearly two hundred years, the shop has provided grave markers and monuments for thousands of individuals. In the middle decades of the twentieth century, revived under the proprietorship of John Howard Benson (1901-1956), its activities expanded from production of funerary monuments to design and execution of lettering for some of the most important monuments in American public life, an enterprise that continues into the present day.
This exhibition is being shown in conjunction with Salve Regina University’s 10th annual Conference on Cultural and Historic Preservation,
Salve Regina University is grateful
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