Description
Pirates by William Plank
acrylic, 30 x 40 inches
Artist Statement: New Jersey is anchored in its own pirate history, dating back to the late 17th and early 18th Centuries. New Jersey’s pirate legends are also rich in tales of buried treasure. Privateer turned pirate Captain (William) Kidd claimed to have hidden treasure (estimated today at over one million dollars) buried somewhere in New Jersey. Speculations of the treasure’s location include Barnegat Bay, Cape May, Toms River, and Sandy Hook, to name a few.
My painting depicts a marooned scarecrow dressed in a tricorn hat and old captain’s coat – a pirate image of the past. With a reassuring grip on the pirate’s shoulder, a vigilant hawk scans the horizon for future plunder. Both figures are, in a sense, “pirates,” as they share the same ambitious need for adventure and conquest.
Jersey Inspiration: My inspiration was the many sea-faring stories that I heard growing up as a child.
Bio: William Plank is a professional artist, retired art educator and a lifelong resident of Lawrenceville, New Jersey. He is an acrylic painter whose work allows him to explore a range of emotions and themes. He has exhibited at Educational Testing Service in Princeton, Capitol Health System’s Mercer Hospital Campus, West Windsor Arts Center, D & R Greenway Land Trust in Princeton, Grounds for Sculpture and Phillips’ Mill.
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