JOHN SILVER MANTEO ARTIST, gallery and studio owner John “Possum” Silver is building a boat with his son, John. “He’s a commercial fisherman and he wants to go up in size, so I found an old Chesapeake Bay hull,” John Silver says. The classic dead rise had fallen to pieces, Silver says, but the fiber-glass hull was still in good shape. The father and son team, gutted and refit the boat buoyed by the expertise of the Wanchese boat-building elite, is well past the three-month mark. “I’ve gotten great insight into renovating boats,” Silver says. “Everybody in Wanchese is so help-ful, it’s like the foundation of this world, I think. They all know so much and I don’t have to know any-thing but ask the right questions and here they come. Their sharing is an amazing experience for me. I have reconnected with all the culture, how technically genius they all are — Buddy Davis’s son, Patrick Harrison and Max Jones, they’ve all built boats and are willing to share their knowledge.” Silver’s brother Winkie owns Wanchese Dock and Haul. “Whenever the old boats come in, he gives me a heads up and I paint the old boats on poppits because of the shape. As time goes by there’s fewer and fewer of them and they look so good up there, the bottom paints, the tints. I have painted quite a few. Just about each one has a little story with it,” Silver says. “It really shows the character of the keel,” he says. “The whole shape of the boat is so beautiful to me.” Captain Rose and Miss Bettie, 16 x 20 inches, oil on canvas. Up for Repairs, 12 x 16 inches, oil on canvas. 63 www.wrightsvillebeachmagazine.com WBM
Wrightsville Beach Magazine May 2015
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