Carved Slate Triptych | Striped Bass | Updike

This triptych image was carved by renowned local artist and carver Michael Updike with only traditional hand tools. What make this work all the more unique (and why we love Michael's work) is the utilization of reclaimed roof slate as the base stone carving medium. The rich maroon, blacks and weathering is the result of a good 60+ years on a New England rooftop and creates an incredible character of tone and texture. Original attachment holes remain and illustrate the legacy of this beautiful source material.

Signed by artist.

Dimensions

• Overall - appx 30”W x 20”H
• 4 individual slate pieces to comprise whole work - each is appx 10”W x 20”H
• Wire hangers

About the Artist |

Michael Updike graduated from Mass College of Art and received his MFA from Vermont College. He is a long-standing North Shore artist of unique, nuanced works that mirror the legacy stone carving traditions of New England.

Trained as a sculptor, he recently began creating artistic personalized memorial stones as well as unique slate carvings. His work challenges the pictorial paradigms of additive imaging. “I honed my carving skills on old slate roof shingles which then became my primary medium. I use slate with outward signs of wear. Paint, tar, nail holes, fractures, chips and flaking tell of the slates former utilitarian life. The scars of its history rest on its surface while I cut through the patina revealing fresher layers of stone.”.