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November 2020 through December 2021
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This exhibit featured collector and artist John Pagliaro's extraordinary collection of artifacts made and used by Shelter Island's first residents, the Manhansetts.
"As Above, So Below," was an exhibit of John's artwork created over twenty years on Shelter Island. |
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DEDICATION
This show is dedicated to my mom and dad, Judith Egan Pagliaro and her late husband, Harold E. Pagliaro. They are the reason I am able to be an artist. It would be impossible for a person to receive more support as a creative professional than I have always had from Mom and Dad. Thank you both for everything beautiful that you have given to me. PATRONS Ed and Nancy Barr Walter Wisniewski Marla and Jorge Cornejo |
BIOGRAPHY
Shelter Island Artist, John Pagliaro creates works of art in ceramic, hand-made paper, sterling silver, bamboo, reclaimed wood and stone. From sculptural wall-mounted shadow boxes, to ceramic pinch potted vessels, even functional artworks (lights, tables) and wearable pieces (quartz artifact jewelry) Pagliaro's work manifests a deeply held, palpable collaboration between maker and the natural world he inhabits. Pagliaro's works are found in notable collections including The Museum of Fine Art, Houston, TX; The Honolulu Museum of Art, HI; The Newark Museum, NJ; Donna Karan, East Hampton, NY; and Longhouse Reserve, East Hampton, NY. |
The views expressed below are those of the artist & do not necessarily reflect those held by Shelter Island Historical Society or any of its members.
The Arrowhead Collection--A Brief History
Launching a fishing skiff on Louie's Beach (Crescent Beach) in 2009 I found a white quartz arrowhead with a particular symbolism, poignant in the timing of its appearance. Overwhelmed, I handed it away to my friend and elder, Dick Petry, who had stopped to help. Dick blessed the launch with a pair of white rubber boots brought from his vehicle, so that my feet stayed dry.
That first artifact handed to my friend turned out to be 3,500 years old, profoundly shifting my perspective on time and human history. A natural curiosity for cultural artifacts launched me straight into an 11-year odyssey of exploration and discovery in the field of avocational archeology. Many hours of research and learning under my own steam centered on data revealed by the projectiles and other artifacts recovered. This collection has been assembled entirely by walking beaches around Shelter Island and the North Fork. Through learning about "typology" where an artifact has been identified, named and otherwise classified by professional field archeologists, I understood how to interpret my stone finds, deducing their age and cultural origins.
Over the past 11 years persistent kayaking and walking all year has built a collection of well over two thousand artifacts, many of them presented here. These finds in aggregate offer a window into the people behind them, Shelter Island's indigenous Manhansetts. This discreet and autonomous Algonquin Tribe had ostensibly called Shelter Island home for some 11,000 years, a collectively taken data point (conservatively) indicated by this assemblage of stone tools. Indigenous People likely dwelled and hunted on Shelter Island and the North Fork for even longer than that.
The Stones Don't Lie
This compelling collection includes many diagnostic projectile points dating to 9,500 years ago and even earlier. In light of empirical data shown between these quite recently beach-recovered stone impediments it is evident that Native People held continuous presence on Shelter Island for a profoundly long time, potentially some 12,000 years (Clovis Culture). Nathaniel Sylvester purchased the Manhansetts' ancestral land in 1652 after an arduously disputed first attempt. The Manhansetts were overwhelmingly displaced and eradicated under the perils of Colonization, both passively (disease pathogens) and by direct intention (forced acquisition of un-ceded territory). Those indigenous people who chose to remain here after the death of their Sachem (chief) Pogatticut in 1652 were likely indentured and subjugated under Colonial domination. Today there are no existing Manhansett people.
Looking Ahead
I have not forgotten the Manhansett. Their fate is a metaphor for all of us and an instructive lesson. No person ever anticipates becoming a refugee; not a climate refugee, not a refugee of war, nor collective refugees re-calibrating under a Global pandemic. Perhaps we're glimpsing a but of what refugee-ism entails, now estranged from our own personal sense of normalcy. The Manhansetts' story contains a warning and essential truth for us. This lesson is one about vulnerability in our human condition. Their story signals the necessity of a shared obligation to protect one another, all of us being members of one single Human race. An enemy greater than our (presently divided) sum total has emerged. That adversary is climate change. Unity of purpose is necessary for its effective resolution. Life on Earth hinges on a successful outcome.
The knowledge lost when an entire culture is erased equals a suicidal tendency by the perpetrators, eclipsed by homicidal impulses which are painfully evident. We're suffering from our own loss of perspective about good Earth stewardship and the danger of worshipping technology and money vs. having a profound respect for nature and our planet. The latter ideas are embodied in traditional lifeways still practiced widely by indigenous populations. These ideas and their attendant ways-of-being enjoyed 16,000 years of proven success on our North American continent prior to European Colonization. Despite these odds, many Indigenous Tribes still exist and thrive regionally. Among them: The Shinnecock, The Unkechaug, the Montaukett, Mashentucket-Pequot, Mohegan, Niantic, Naragansett, and the Wampanoag. All of these Algonquin Peoples can identify ancestral lands approximate to Shelter Island.
Our supposedly "more advanced" methods are failing miserably. A re-examination of Indigenous principles is long overdue. We have diminished the value of Indigenous wisdom to our own detriment. Indigenous customs naturally model a decisive path towards generational sustainability, spiritual balance and personal dignity. Our United States Constitution embraces ideas of individual sovereignty drawn from Native American principles. Understanding this will be like a coming home again for our American consciousness. Living in collective denial of past transgressions condemns us to live in perpetual shadow. It's time to step out into the light.
Launching a fishing skiff on Louie's Beach (Crescent Beach) in 2009 I found a white quartz arrowhead with a particular symbolism, poignant in the timing of its appearance. Overwhelmed, I handed it away to my friend and elder, Dick Petry, who had stopped to help. Dick blessed the launch with a pair of white rubber boots brought from his vehicle, so that my feet stayed dry.
That first artifact handed to my friend turned out to be 3,500 years old, profoundly shifting my perspective on time and human history. A natural curiosity for cultural artifacts launched me straight into an 11-year odyssey of exploration and discovery in the field of avocational archeology. Many hours of research and learning under my own steam centered on data revealed by the projectiles and other artifacts recovered. This collection has been assembled entirely by walking beaches around Shelter Island and the North Fork. Through learning about "typology" where an artifact has been identified, named and otherwise classified by professional field archeologists, I understood how to interpret my stone finds, deducing their age and cultural origins.
Over the past 11 years persistent kayaking and walking all year has built a collection of well over two thousand artifacts, many of them presented here. These finds in aggregate offer a window into the people behind them, Shelter Island's indigenous Manhansetts. This discreet and autonomous Algonquin Tribe had ostensibly called Shelter Island home for some 11,000 years, a collectively taken data point (conservatively) indicated by this assemblage of stone tools. Indigenous People likely dwelled and hunted on Shelter Island and the North Fork for even longer than that.
The Stones Don't Lie
This compelling collection includes many diagnostic projectile points dating to 9,500 years ago and even earlier. In light of empirical data shown between these quite recently beach-recovered stone impediments it is evident that Native People held continuous presence on Shelter Island for a profoundly long time, potentially some 12,000 years (Clovis Culture). Nathaniel Sylvester purchased the Manhansetts' ancestral land in 1652 after an arduously disputed first attempt. The Manhansetts were overwhelmingly displaced and eradicated under the perils of Colonization, both passively (disease pathogens) and by direct intention (forced acquisition of un-ceded territory). Those indigenous people who chose to remain here after the death of their Sachem (chief) Pogatticut in 1652 were likely indentured and subjugated under Colonial domination. Today there are no existing Manhansett people.
Looking Ahead
I have not forgotten the Manhansett. Their fate is a metaphor for all of us and an instructive lesson. No person ever anticipates becoming a refugee; not a climate refugee, not a refugee of war, nor collective refugees re-calibrating under a Global pandemic. Perhaps we're glimpsing a but of what refugee-ism entails, now estranged from our own personal sense of normalcy. The Manhansetts' story contains a warning and essential truth for us. This lesson is one about vulnerability in our human condition. Their story signals the necessity of a shared obligation to protect one another, all of us being members of one single Human race. An enemy greater than our (presently divided) sum total has emerged. That adversary is climate change. Unity of purpose is necessary for its effective resolution. Life on Earth hinges on a successful outcome.
The knowledge lost when an entire culture is erased equals a suicidal tendency by the perpetrators, eclipsed by homicidal impulses which are painfully evident. We're suffering from our own loss of perspective about good Earth stewardship and the danger of worshipping technology and money vs. having a profound respect for nature and our planet. The latter ideas are embodied in traditional lifeways still practiced widely by indigenous populations. These ideas and their attendant ways-of-being enjoyed 16,000 years of proven success on our North American continent prior to European Colonization. Despite these odds, many Indigenous Tribes still exist and thrive regionally. Among them: The Shinnecock, The Unkechaug, the Montaukett, Mashentucket-Pequot, Mohegan, Niantic, Naragansett, and the Wampanoag. All of these Algonquin Peoples can identify ancestral lands approximate to Shelter Island.
Our supposedly "more advanced" methods are failing miserably. A re-examination of Indigenous principles is long overdue. We have diminished the value of Indigenous wisdom to our own detriment. Indigenous customs naturally model a decisive path towards generational sustainability, spiritual balance and personal dignity. Our United States Constitution embraces ideas of individual sovereignty drawn from Native American principles. Understanding this will be like a coming home again for our American consciousness. Living in collective denial of past transgressions condemns us to live in perpetual shadow. It's time to step out into the light.
AS ABOVE, SO BELOW: Notes from Below the Surface
Welcome to my imaginary undersea realm. Here water is a medium. I'm aware of it as an Animistic force and power. It is animated and symbolic of receptivity and the divine feminine. It is held under the moon's sway, drawn back and forth between never ending tides. Water can heal and transform things by renewal and it can supply stories with endless source. Entering onto the water by kayak is equal to crossing a portal or threshold. Water is a generative engine for an endless flow of creativity. Penetrating its silent and shrouded secrets is a sacred and ritualized performance. Water anoints own spiritual openness. Honoring the spirit of water as a living thing demands an awareness that the water itself wants silence from its stewards in exchange for safe passage. I've learned to stay quiet as possible while I paddle. The sea is revelatory to the earnest wanderer. Water is generous and unforgiving at the same time. It is both gentle and brutal. Water is life. Within this realm and far below the surface--dreams, imagination and magic are not only welcomed they are the dominant forms of understanding and communication.
Welcome to my imaginary undersea realm. Here water is a medium. I'm aware of it as an Animistic force and power. It is animated and symbolic of receptivity and the divine feminine. It is held under the moon's sway, drawn back and forth between never ending tides. Water can heal and transform things by renewal and it can supply stories with endless source. Entering onto the water by kayak is equal to crossing a portal or threshold. Water is a generative engine for an endless flow of creativity. Penetrating its silent and shrouded secrets is a sacred and ritualized performance. Water anoints own spiritual openness. Honoring the spirit of water as a living thing demands an awareness that the water itself wants silence from its stewards in exchange for safe passage. I've learned to stay quiet as possible while I paddle. The sea is revelatory to the earnest wanderer. Water is generous and unforgiving at the same time. It is both gentle and brutal. Water is life. Within this realm and far below the surface--dreams, imagination and magic are not only welcomed they are the dominant forms of understanding and communication.