“1901 E Brush Shipwreck” Light Painting Experience

All are invited to be a part of a unique public art experience led by Rocky Point resident and Light Painting artist Alina Wilczynski to be held on the beach at Hallock Landing at sunset.

Participants will help outline the submerged footprint of the 60-foot 1901 E Brush Schooner Shipwreck in light to generate a one-of-a-kind “living history” Light Painting photograph.

ABOUT THE 1901 SHIPWRECK

According to articles in the Brooklyn Daily Eagle and New York Tribune dated November 14, 1901, a schooner owned by Captain Elbert Overton, built in 1873, home ported in Port Jefferson and named the E. Brush was anchored just off shore on the Long Island Sound with a partial load of cord wood, when a Nor-easter came in overnight and “blew hard” through the following day, pushing the boat high up on the beach.

The 60-foot, 42-ton wooden vessel was unable to be moved back to the water, so it was left on the beach to be reclaimed by the tides. Pieces of the vessel are still submerged under the sand today and on very rare occasions, petrified timber from the wooden hull can be seen poking out of the sand after a big storm timed with particularly low Spring Tides.

Rocky Point residents have long been captivated by the sunken Shipwreck, including Lionel Barrymore (Mr. Potter in It’s a Wonderful Life” and granduncle to Drew Barrymore), who spent several summers in Rocky Point in the 1910s. An avid fine artist, Lionel created several renderings of the wreckage, as an etching. Other artists added paint and printed it on foil.

Photographs of the wreckage taken by Hal B. Fullerton (1857-1935) in 1911, are the best visual record of the ship. He was commissioned by the Long Island Railroad to take photographs of towns along the rail line to be used on tourism-promoting postcards.

Local Rocky Point resident Annette Falcetta wrote “Vessel Ashore at Rocky Point” in 2018 after researching the wreckage, starting from legend and folklore to engaging NOAH, and Cathy Ball, a librarian from Smithtown.

Still to today, residents and maritime enthusiasts alike will send urgent text alerts to each other when parts of the boat become visible. And a few pieces salvaged from the wreckage are on permanent view at the Hallock Homestead Museum, along with copies of the newspaper clippings and Maritime Registry records for the E. Brush and its owners.

THE ART MAKING PROJECT

Project participants will map out the estimated 25 x 60’ footprint and hull construction of the E. Brush wreckage on the beach.

Coinciding with the setting sun, Wilczynski will lead a group “light drawing” of the boat, thereby lifting it up from its sandy depths to make the location, size and shape of its hull visible in its entirety.

Images and a real-time making-of video will be rendered and soon after displayed at the Rocky Point Historical Society’s Hallock Homestead Museum. Prints will be made available as a fundraiser for the organization, with an artist’s talk to follow. An additional display and talk will also take place at North Shore Library in Shoreham, where Wilczynski will show the final results and explain how the images were made.

MORE ABOUT LIGHT PAINTING / DISCOVERED 1880s

Light Painting (aka Light Trail Photography, Light Drawing, etc.) was discovered by chance in the late 1880’s (around the same time the E. Brush was built!) by Physiologists Étienne-Jules Marey and Georges Demeny while studying the movement of the human body. It is a long-exposure camera technique done in complete darkness, whereby any movement or ‘painting’ of light while the camera shutter is open gets recorded in one image.

THIS EVENT IS FOR…

History buffs, maritime enthusiasts, artists, traditional- and new-media enthusiasts and the general public of all ages are welcome to witness this one-night-only “living history” image creation event.

MAKE IT A DAY!

This event follows the Annual Rocky Point Historical Society Art Show taking place from 10am to 4pm.

The Hallock Homestead Museum is just a short walk from the site of the wreckage, and surely would have been witness to many cordwood deliveries coming down Hallock Landing to the E. Brush by horse drawn wagon.

FREE PARKING, ARRIVE EARLY

Parking is available at the Hallock Homestead & Museum, 172 Hallock Landing Rd, which is a few blocks from the beach. Additional FREE event parking will be available in the NSBPOA Parking Lot at Beech Road and Soundview Dr.

PLEASE NOTE: Only a few handicap spots are available at the beach entrance, arrive early to reserve. Limited viewing space at the top of the town stairs to the beach. There is a concrete ramp to the beach but it is not wheelchair-friendly.