She got her first camera for her eighth birthday and dreamed of traveling to Africa to photograph elephants. As a child, he did proficient drawings of sailing ships and village houses. This year the lives of these two artists converged in the village of Orient on the North Fork of Long Island.
William Steeple Davis was born in 1884. He spent his life in the village of Orient, leaving to travel abroad only after his mother, who he cared for in her old age, died in 1950. He was a self-taught artist and supported himself through commercial art work. But his passion was fine art. He was a painter of landscapes, seascapes and village scenes of the North Fork.
Childhood drawings by William Steeple Davis
Courtesy Oysterponds Historical Society
Courtesy Oysterponds Historical Society
Sarah Prescott grew up in Paoli, Pennsylvania. She is also a self-taught artist. In 2014 she received The William Steeple Davis Residency, established in the will of Mr. Davis, which has allowed her to live and work in his Orient home and studio for the past year.
Sarah Prescott with a tattoo of
an elephant on her arm.
This summer in Orient, I got to meet Sarah and also to see a show of the work of William Steeple Davis at the Oysterponds Historical Society. Although Sarah's work is abstract photography, there are similar elements in their work, and while there is no need to compare, I do find it poetic to draw a line of connection between Sarah and William.
Artist Sarah Prescott on the steps
of the Davis studio.
of the Davis studio.
When Sarah rented a house in Greenport in 2006, she sought a way to heal from health issues and the death of her mother. She found solace in her vegetable and flower garden, and also found a new direction for her art in a Greenport shipyard. She began to photograph the sides of a rusty tugboat covered in barnacles. This work became her "Rust in Bloom" series.
A work in Sarah's "Rust in Bloom" series.
Limited edition fine art print.
"In my dreams I'm a painter, in reality I'm a photographer who paints with my camera." Sarah Prescott
Sarah has had to pursue her creative work in the face of dire health issues. In 2011 she had surgery to remove a brain tumor. She returned to Greenport once again, to recover and find strength. She began to photograph reflections on water using the angle of the sun and adjacent colors that might be on the hull of a boat, to create abstract works.
Works on Sarah's studio wall in the
reflections series.
Sarah's book, a frank look at her health issues,
struggles to make art, and creative journey.
Sarah in her studio with her 24" Epsom printer.
The William Davis Steeple Davis studio as
painted by Davis.
Creativity and love of art transcends the
generations.
Courtesy Oysterponds Historical Society.
Detail of a William Steeple Davis painting.
This is where I draw the comparison between Sarah and William.
The element of water....
Two artists living on the tip of Long Island
surrounded by the sea.
Detail, William Steeple Davis seascape.
Courtesy Oysterponds Historical Society
To learn more about Sarah Prescott and
her work, look here.
À Bientôt!
Such a beautiful story. Thank you.
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