This site along with our sister site Gravestone Rubbing Supplies is dedicated to our customers who have been purchasing our products since 1991. We owe our business success to all of you. You have inspired us to keep searching for new designs to add to our product collection. And because you continue to purchase our products, you have helped us set the high standards of quality and customer satisfaction that is "set in stone" as part of our business philosophy.
Did you know that early new England burying grounds were the first public art galleries in the new World? Even today, many of these verdant, tranquil sites contain a remarkable progression of the artistic, cultural and religious history of the region. Often, old gravestones explain how an entire family lived and died. Neglect, natural aging, and vandalism, unfortunately, have resulted in the destruction of some of the finest examples of the early stone carving, and numerous old cemeteries are closed to the public to protect the remaining stones.
Trough careful hand-rubbing on special paper, Gravestone Artwear has preserved hundreds of images representing the evolution of the early stone carver's art from 17th century symbols to the more sophisticated and artistic tableaux of the 19th century. This catalog illustrates the depictions of 17th through 19th century gravestone carvings from New England, ancient Celtic designs from Ireland, and medieval brass rubbings from England.
Studio at York Harbor, Maine, these beautiful images are made into silk screens and meticulously printed onto t-shirts and a collection of velvet garments and accessories. Hang tags describe the designs, their origins, and detail the symbolism used by the stone carvers.
** Featured in: The Boston Globe, Yankee Magazine, Down East Magazine, the Portland Press Herald, TWA's Ambassador, The Portsmouth Herald, Fosters Daily Democrat, The New Age Retailer, WCSH-TV
Between the years 1866 - 1948 an estimated 8,000 people, mostly native Hawaiians, were forcibly taken from their families and sent to the Kalaupapa Peninsula because they were believed to have had leprosy, now officially named Hansen's Disease. Since there were no antibiotics in the 19th century, isolation was thought to be the best solution to deal with this contagious disease. The first group of 12 people arrived on January 6, 1866, and consisted of nine men and 3 women. They were accompanied by 4 family members who were designed as helpers.
The Kalaupapa National Historical Park is located on the island of Molokai in the State of Hawaii and was designated a national historic landmark on January 7, 1976, to honor and perpetuate the memory of those individuals who were forcibly relocated to the Kalaupapa Peninsula.
It's most outstanding citizen of this colony was Father Damien deVeuter who arrived at Kalaupapa in 1873 and lovingly served the leprosy patients for 16 years until his death from the disease in 1889. He was canonized a saint on Oct. 12, 2009, by Pope Benedict XVI and is buried in the graveyard adjoining St. Philomena's Catholic Church, one of two churches on the island. Mother Marianne Cope who devoted her religious life to care for women and children leprosy patients will be canonized as a saint by Pope Benedict XVI on October 21, 2012.
There are two cemeteries on the island which include many unmarked graves as well as monuments and markers to respect the victims of Kalaupapa tragedy. Our Aqaba rubbing paper and gravestone rubbing wax are being used under the supervision of Ka'ohulani McGuire, Cultural Anthropologist, to record all the information found on markers in these cemeteries for posterity.
Visitors are welcome to visit this beautiful remote island. Access to the island is limited to airplane or boat ride. Once there walking and mule ride are the best means of transportation.
Please visit the Kalaupapa National Historical Park site at www.nps.gov/kala/index.htm to read about its plans to commemorate a memorial to the Kalaupapa patients.
The famine and refugee crisis in Africa continues. All of you who purchased Gravestone Artwear t-shirts this fall helped us donate 10 percent of each sale during the months of September and October to CARE International to help support its humanitarian efforts to fight poverty. A Gravestone Artwear check in the amount of $300 has been sent to CARE to help bring relief to the more than 13 million people in the Horn of Africa who are in urgent need of lifesaving humanitarian assistance, including woman, children and the elderly in Ethiopia, Kenya, Somalia. Thank you all for helping to support CARE in its efforts to improve the lives of the world's poor.
For more information about how you can help,
Please visit CARE's website: http://www.CARE.org/
The Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum at Pier 86 in New York City will
host the Dignity Memorial Vietnam Wall from November 7 - 20, 2011.
The Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum at Pier 86 in New York City will
host the Dignity Memorial Vietnam Wall from November 7 - 20, 2011.
This is the first time ever the traveling wall will be in
Manhattan. The wall is a three-quarter scale replica of the Vietnam
Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C., standing 240 feet long and eight
feet high. It is inscribed with the names of more than 58,000
Americans who died or are missing in Vietnam. We are honored during
this Veteran’s Day period to have our rubbing kits available at the
Intrepid Museum shop so loved ones can create a lasting black wax
impression of a person’s name from its inscription on the wall.
The wall serves as a reminder of the human losses and speaks of the
heroism, courage and bravery of the soldiers who fought in the Vietnam
War. It brings people together and fosters healing to verterans and
their families and instills an awareness for all - young or old - who gaze upon it.
GRAVESTONE ARTWEAR Will be selling new designs from our “Velvet Collection” including sorcerers’ pouches and scarves at the Haley Art Gallery on Saturday, August 13th. And sign up now for the **Victorian Tea Time Art - Tea leaves and Psychic Readings from 2 - 5 p.m. that afternoon at that gallery.
**(Tea-Time Art - Psychic Reading Saturday, Aug. 13, 2-5 PM Back by popular demand, psychic Daphne awed our May event attendees so we have invited her back for another great event Space is limited so reserve your seat soon. Reservations are required Tea-Time Art is $30/pp and includes gourmet tea, tea-time delicacies and a 15% discount on gallery.Readings are additional cost. Reserve a space - contact the gallery)
Directions: Haley Art Gallery, Haley Road (off Route 1), Kittery, Maine
Click here to Contact: Haley Art gallery
Set of FIVE Gravestone Artwear postcards for ~FREE~ with each purchase
The 34th annual conference of the Association for Gravestone Studies (AGS) was held at Colby College, Waterville, Maine, June 14 – 19th. There were lectures, workshops, exhibits, tours of Maine cemeteries and even sales tables – something for everyone interested in gravestone studies.
Lecture topics presented included Lynne Bagget’s “Incised Letterform”. As demonstrated by Lynne, through careful examination of carved lettering, a stonemason can be identified and his heritage revealed. She also takes this process one step further and creates the most interesting art forms from lettering found on graves and other resources. Even her cast forms taken from contemporary sign lettering have their roots in the ancient carvings.
Always, these lectures and workshops display our cultural heritage and our connections to ancient, medieval, colonial and Victorian influences when it comes to gravestone art and the men and women who carved the stones.
Other papers were presented on topics ranging from images of turn-of-the century Maine; rare Jewish cemetery monuments; portrait gravestones, finger pointing hand carved gravestones of the 19th Century; sandstone markers in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, cemeteries; grave structures in Louisiana and other parts of the South; Yellow Fever Epidemics; Old Dutch Cemeteries, and even a lecture on the allegorical death scene in which an angel guides a soul on the last voyage across water to a distant land. All of these lectures required a great deal of research by each presenter and inspire further study into each topic.
The most noteworthy hands-on two-day workshop during this conference is the Conservation workshop. It’s hard work and involves the participants in learning the proper techniques for cleaning, repairing, resetting stones and mortaring them into a base. And that’s the “Beginner” Workshop. That workshop is followed-up by a full day advanced workshop which includes learning how to assess and document gravestones and monuments, use a consumer grade handheld GPS, advanced cleaning techniques, core drilling and removing rusted, damaged pins, adhesive repair of stone fragments and the use of various mortars for infills and replacement of lost materials. WOW! These workshops teach Association for Gravestone Studies participants conservation and restoration skills and they in turn use these skills to work in their favorite burying grounds and cemeteries to restore damaged markers, gravestones and of course monuments.
Other workshops included letterform casting; photography; making foil impressions of gravestones; paranormal experiences; understanding the history and evolution of cemetery markers; gravestone rubbing; and even “humor in the graveyard.”
The next AGS conference will be in June of 2012 at Monmouth University, West Long Branch, New Jersey. Please contact the Association for Gravestone Studies in Greenfield, Massachusetts, for more details.
Please use the the AGS web site link: http://gravestonestudies.org/
Here are photos of AGS conferences wearing Gravestone Artwear t-shirts.
Jane Macomber, President of the Maine Old Cemetery Association
The Phil Wooldridge Family from Great Meadows, New Jersey --
Jack, Lorner and Phil
Other Conferences:
While we are Updating our new Web Site……If you are interested in any our products, and or have ANY questions please contact:
