On National Maritime Day and the first day
of Fleet Week we present “…the vast and endless sea” (2019),David
McQueen’s newly installed stainless steel sculpture at the LIRR Port Jefferson
station. The three ships - a schooner, a yawl, or a sloop - are modified
re-creations of those built in Port Jefferson during the mid-1800’s at the
Bayles and Darling Shipyards,each positioned to curve as whether sailing through
the sea, and held aloft by 52 boat stands. The title of the sculpture is taken
from the French aviator and author Antoine de Saint-Exupéry’s writings in a
passage approximately instilling a fancy of the sea, and “whether you wish to build a ship,do not divide the men into teams and send them to the forest to cut wood.
Instead, teach them to long for the vast and endless sea.” The ships are
presented as whether they are in the process of being built, and temporarily aground,but bound for the ocean.
Source: tumblr.com