Third-generation carpenter Michael Widener doesn’t consider himself an artist.
But what would you call a man who sees an old truck and paints an American flag on it, turning it into a North Fork icon? Or spies a pile of leftover cedar shingles and envisions a giant medallion on the side of an old barn on Route 48 in Southold?
“I’d probably say that I’m an artisan rather than an artist,” says Widener.
“I’m a third-generation carpenter, so there’s been a lot of artistry in the family. My son is not only an accomplished carpenter, he’s also an architect. We trade secrets back and forth.”
It was back in 2002 that Widener wrapped up a carpentry job, noticed some fancy cuts of red cedar shingles left over and wanted to do something with them. Something different.
There was an old barn on the property he was renting in Southold when the idea just came to him and he began work without a sketch or blueprint.
“In my mind I saw it as a circle so I started with the center point and marked my arc out and just got to it,” says Widener. “I was only able to complete about half of it before I moved. Then the new owner called and asked me if I could finish it.”
“I probably started in 2002; that’s why the bottom half is so weathered. I finished up to that point in about 2004 and after that I didn’t do much on it until now. I did it in my spare time.”
Widener thinks the barn could date from the late 1700s to the early 1800s.
“There was somebody out here on the North Fork years ago dating barns,” says Widener. “They were taking samples from the beams and carbon testing them, but they never did this barn to my knowledge.”
Creating the 15 foot diameter medallion requires more than just cutting shingles and attaching them to the barn. Careful consideration has to be given to each installation.
“People probably wouldn’t notice, but some of the points are inverted. In some areas, in order to accentuate the circle I had to make concave cuts and at the ends I had to make them convex. I wasn’t sure how I was going to do the upper half of the medallion because if I did them the same as the bottom, they would be taking weather, so I had to do it the opposite way.”
Widener anticipates finishing up the medallion some time this week. He first plans to install a stained-glass window he found at an antique shop in Greenport. It will be placed at the very top of the design.
