It’s Time To Play A New Game. Art, Or Part?
Is it art now without a boat? This refinished control center is more than an entire cruiser. You can buy it here.
I was doing my usual stalking of ebay over the Easter weekend, and came across some nice parts, or is it art? It made me curious, am I the only one that looks at some of this stuff as art? Really, a nice Chris Craft Outboard plate could be framed and put on a wall, or used as a paper weight?
On the wall? Even as a poster this would be cool art on a wall. You can buy it here.
What about a stumpy light? Is there really still a use for an old wheel? OK, OK, yes, there is..
Light? Click here.
But think for a bit… More thinking……….You can put any wheel on your old cruiser and it will work. So why this cool one? Maybe it just looks cool….like art? Maybe its parts that are art..s? Am I alone?
Need a wheel, Or maybe a towel rack? Click Here
A cool Dash! Click Here. Sorry, deal ended. But you get the point.
Lets take it to the extreme. How about this hanging in your living room? Thanks Steve Bunda for the photo
Art is like Beauty, it is in the eye of the beholder.
Personally if you have a use for it on a boat it is a part, if you don’t and want to recommission it in your house (or elsewhere) than it is art that makes a statement. Or I guess you could consider it interior decorating since some of it (like the helm bar) is functional.
It really is no different than the nice light I purchased in Dora from http://www.bigshipsalvage.com/ that now hang on the side of my house at my front door.
Troy
Looks like you had bilge paint left over
Doug
I don’t get what you are trying to say?
Hey that is my ebay item, a restored cabin cruiser helm station where the bottom opens up to store your favorite beverage. Also the horn really works and the gauges light up. Just a cool form of art to have in your favorite nautical room, home , office, restaurant. All hardware is original and getting hard to find. Get one before I stop doing them , as I have a lot of boat restoring to be getting done this spring, I flunked woodshop class in high school !
Maybe this means I have a museum. I’ll try that one on the county inspector next time someone complains.
“It’s ART if it can’t be explained. It’s FASHION if no one asks for an explanation. It’s DESIGN if it doesn’t need explanation.”
Wouter Stokkel
To me, the greatest designs are born out of necessity. I’d be happier in a museum of well-designed boats/parts than a gallery of shit I can’t explain.
Chad….a well designed boat that meets your criteria.
A great gift for mother’s day
Love the Meteor!
The answer to today’s question is……yes.
I keep gradually decorating our cottage with boat art and photos. I think Marianne is really starting to like it also, so it must be more art than junk!
Probably closer to “Art” if the “Part” were still attached to the original boat. However, if the “Part” was salvaged from a failing boat that couldn’t be saved, then some of us might consider it to be “Art”, if displayed as such.
My woody boating “in the house” art. Grandkids old enough to use it as a rocking ol’woody horse now. It started out as a cradle.
Art, who knows? Beauty, definitely with respect to a lot of aspects. Probably more like industrial design. One of the great aesthetic dimensions of boating was the deepening incorporation of industrial design principles in the development of boats from the 20’s say thru the 50’s. Some of this came naturally, like with Hacker, who probably was the most talented designer of wood boats, with a great sense of line.
The incorporation of general design trends into boating, such as streamlining and art deco, etc. was not only with respect to the boats themselves, but the hardware, upholstery colors and patterns, deck layouts, etc. This evolution of design is one of the neater dimensions of the hobby. Of course auto styling had a lot to do with it, most strongly perhaps in the later 50’s centuries.
Thanks, Matt, for bringing this up.
I found some deals on nice boarding ladders on the big E and buy them to hang on the cabin as shelves. I do hate it when I find someone looking for one that I have hung up, but I’m not taking it down. 🙂
Unfortunately I am still decorating the boat. Seems like in Canada a lot of boats were use like our john boats, if something broke, just grab the cheapest thing to stick back on. Now Don’t get me wrong, not trashing this concept, at the time it was exceptable, but 66 years later in another country trying to restore that same boat to historical correct can be daunting. One such item was the correct stern light assembly. Most have only seen pictures of these units that are into Shepherds. After a 2 1/2 year quest I was only able to find two, that’s it USA/ or Canada, and the first person would not ship it anywhere and was way to far from a platter to hand deliver it. The second person located three months ago was my hero. He lives just across the creek from Clayton NY and had family in Toronto that he visited often.” I feel the glow of angles”. He agreed to hand deliver it to a platter there, and the platter would hand deliver and retrieve from caster, finish and plate.
And now without further ado my boat art.
PS: Yes I also got the molds for future travelers seeking this item. And I have the source for the correct GLASS lens.
Pic two
Pic 3
Nicely done!
Thanks Philip , its fantastic to see ol Shepard parts brought back from extinction . BTW a dearth of originals suggests that the original part was designed incorrectly and was too easily broken . Frankly I don’t think that Canadians in general have any special predilection to trash there stern lights in favour the Canadian Tire deal of the week stern markers.
the first item today, the helm station is made about three miles down the road form me at a friends shop. Price may seem high to some, but he buts hours into these looking for all the original parts, etc. a true work of art. Greg had these on display at the Geneva International Boat Show three or four years back.
My wife would refer to all this as dust collectors or “toe-stubbers”. I hate to see the preponderance of small outboards and “one-lungers” used as decoration in cottages and homes when they could be gracing the fine lines of a little skiff. But I’m as guilty. Lots of people are surprised when they see a 12′ Penn Yan Cartopper standing in my living room but its green and it matches my wall paper.
I am pretty sure it is a crime for a man to use the excuse “but it matches my wallpaper”
Yup! Turn in your “man card” Floyd.
If you’re putting a 12′ Penn Yan in you’re living room the only angle that will get it by your wife is going to be “it matches the wallpaper”. Man card retained
By the way, its not my wallpaper, it’s “her” wallpaper. I would have tin on my walls, makes it easier to pressure wash or dust with a leaf blower.
I like the Art from Classic Boating , see picture. Also the Bush paintings and Hildebrant art work.
and if car parts can be considered art, why not boat parts?
Man card reinstated!
Then there’s art you can add to your boat. The boys at Sanborn Canoe here in Minnesota make these stunning, hand-painted paddles for canoes but one looks damn good in my Gar Wood. They’ll even custom paint one to fit your boat.
Why a paddle? My wife will attest I have run out of gas once. Or twice.
and Don Vogt nailed it, there’s art in design and that’s what makes it interesting whether its classic design like certain CC models, Rybovich, the Matthews Martinique, et al.
This is the helm station salvaged from a 1969 CC 41 foot (I think) motor yacht that was being parted out. The lights on the gauges work, the wheel is a favorite with every kid that visits. It is great storage. The light above was an Ebay find.
Of course we believe boats and boat parts are art, on or off the water.