Medfield’s Other Art Gallery: 18th Century Gravestone Art and Carvers in Vine Lake Cemetery

The Medfield Historical Society will present the third of its spring programs, “Medfield’s Other Art Gallery: 18th Century Gravestone Art and Carvers in Vine Lake Cemetery,” taking place in the vestry of the First Parish Unitarian Universalist Church at 26 North Street in Medfield on April 2, 2012, at 7:30 pm.

Gravestone art has not traditionally been placed in the same category as furniture, pottery, metalware and textiles, these being artifacts commonly exhibited in art galleries. However, stone carvings as a craft tradition have important advantages over less ephemeral articles because of their sheer number: hundreds of them endure in Vine Lake Cemetery in a relatively concentrated area along with the lineage of at least 20 carvers. With a remarkably fresh approach, Medfield’s only outdoor museum can now be viewed as our other art gallery.

Rob Gregg, president of Vine Lake Preservation Trust, and Vincent F. Luti, the preeminent researcher of 18th century gravestone carvers in southeastern Massachusetts, will collaborate and present their findings. You are invited to discover more about one of Medfield’s last surviving remnants of its beginnings—specifically, the art of carvings and their carvers―always on display in Vine Lake Cemetery, Medfield’s oldest yet newest art gallery.

Admission is free.