Skipjack Gallery's demolition brought down more than walls

By Lia Russell

The Virginian-Pilot

PORTSMOUTH CURRENTS

The Titanic survived.

The Lightship Portsmouth did not.

Neither ship had to contend with icebergs or storms. Their battle was with fire and demolition.

These incarnations of the Titanic and Lightship Portsmouth were paintings consigned to Skipjack Nautical Wares & Marine Gallery, which was torn down following a Dec. 20 fire that destroyed the 142 -year-old Zion Baptist Church and an adjacent building.

Skipjack owners Joe and Alison Elder lost their home and business, but there were other victims at their gallery when the walls tumbled - the art and its creators.

The toll was emotional as well as financial.

Lost in the rubble

Marine artist Richard Moore of Pennsylvania had 36 large original oil and watercolor paintings at Skipjack when Dunn Demolition razed the downtown building in the early hours of Dec. 21.

Of those, six were retrieved, including a large oil painting of the Titanic.

"It's kind of humorous," said Moore. "My painting of the Titanic has survived longer than the actual ship did."

Lost in the rubble, however, were prized works including a locally well-known watercolor, "The Lightship Portsmouth," a rendition of the lightship that is now a city museum and recently depicted on the cover of a coloring book about local history.

Twenty-six artists had consigned work to the Elders for display and sale. Some pieces were salvaged but most were lost forever - compounding the devastation.

Moore's pieces were valued at more than $100,000 and like much of the other destroyed art, were uninsured.

"I can't imagine how Joe must have felt, standing outside his gallery, helplessly watching it be destroyed," said Moore, 75. "I feel badly for the Elders. I don't feel too good about losing my work either."

Moore, who said some of his best work was lost, learned about the downtown fire on his 46th wedding anniversary Dec. 21.

"My initial reaction was shock at the loss of something I spent a lot of time working on," said Moore, a retired Presbyterian minister. "That lasted two or three days and then I thought of that old story about getting back in the saddle, and I started to paint again."

Moore said he is fortunate that he doesn't depend on art for his livelihood.

"This is one of those occasions where you step back and count your blessings," he said. "I'm sorry I lost the work. Some of those pieces I could never paint again. But they're images, not people. I don't have a strong emotional attachment to them."

Moore said he has completed "a couple paintings" since learning of the tragedy.

"For me, it's the process of researching and doing the painting that's the real thrill, not the finished work," said Moore, who learned details of the fire from artist David Weiss.

Weiss, who had referred Moore to the Skipjack gallery, held a one-man show there in December and had more than 20 paintings on exhibit at the time of the fire.

"I was basically emotionally sick when I heard about it," said Weiss, who lives in Omaha, Neb. "I was really depressed for a couple of days and couldn't paint for a week."

Weiss learned of the fire from his parents, Ron and Berle Weiss, who own The Patriot Inn in Olde Towne.

Berle Weiss called her son early on Dec. 20 and told him she saw flames coming from the direction of Skipjack and that his father was going out to take a look.

The news wasn't good.

Unlike Moore, Weiss is a full-time artist who earns his living from art. About $40,000 of his livelihood was tied up at Skipjack.

"I don't want to call (the work) my babies," said Weiss, who has consigned work to Skipjack for about 2-1/2 years. "You can't really compare paintings to children, but I put so much energy into my work. People don't realize how much time goes into each piece."

Dad to the rescue

Incredibly, most of Weiss' paintings were salvaged from Skipjack. His father happened upon the demolition crew at 8 a.m. Dec. 21, before they knocked down the part of the gallery housing most of Weiss' work and appealed to them to remove the paintings before tearing down the remaining building.

"It became very emotional," David Weiss said of the encounter between his father and the demolition crew. "He was a father concerned about his son."

Ron Weiss said he just got lucky.

"There were no police there, just two sympathetic demo guys," he said. "I could see David's work still hanging on the walls. I guess the guys from the demolition company thought 'this guy's going to go in regardless, so we better help him.' "

Ron Weiss also managed to take out nine pieces by Rhode Island artist Francis Morey.

A couple pieces of David Weiss' that were not recovered by his father were later salvaged by the Elders.

"For me, it's a miracle," said Weiss, who also admits having something akin to survivor's guilt. "For other artists like Dick Moore, who lost so much, I feel really badly."

The loss in perspective

The bulk of Moore and Weiss' sympathies, however, go to Joe and Alison Elder.

"My art is important to me, but they lost so much in terms of personal belongings," Weiss said.

Retired Navy Capt. Peter Labyak of Virginia Beach, renowned for his miniature paintings, lost about 30 pieces in the Skipjack demolition.

"I had about eight pieces there that I prized very, very much," he said. "One was a painting of a tug scene from here at the Navy yard. I had put about 60 hours worth of time into it. That one hurt."

But Labyak, who underwent surgery the day after the fire, said dealing with a serious medical condition has helped him put the loss into perspective.

"All I lost was things," he said. "(The Elders) lost everything. I'm more emotional about my health condition and actually, I'm painting up a storm right now trying to keep my mind off of it."

Moore, Weiss and Labyak have other outlets for their work in the United States, but Skipjack was New Zealand artist Jim Bolland's only U.S. representative. His relationship with the Elders began in early 2006.

"It takes an artist quite a time to break into a market, and it was not until just before the fire that the first sale of two pieces of my work was made," said Bolland, who describes painting "as close to child-birth as a man can get."

Though Bolland would like to continue working with the Elders, the future of Skipjack is unclear. Joe Elder said he may not reopen a gallery.

Meanwhile, many artists represented by Skipjack donated pieces for a Jan. 4 auction that raised more than $10,000 for the Elders.

From afar, Bolland has been impressed by community support for the Skipjack owners.

"I have become fascinated with Olde Towne" said Bolland, who planned to visit Portsmouth this summer. "Now, reading of the kindness and love shown to the Elders by the retail community, I am keen to meet some of these lovely people."

Lia Russell, 222-5829,

lia.russell@pilotonline.com