Monique Boutin

Deer Isle Granite

2019-20

Deer Isle Granite is an exploration of the use of Deer Isle Granite, a type of granite formed 371 million years ago in the area of Deer Isle and Stonington, Maine, during Earth’s fourth mass extinction event. The project traces this granite from sites of its use back to the Maine quarries where it was extracted throughout the 20th century. Series of videos, photographs, and paper casts document the return of small, dislodged fragments of Deer Isle Granite from four of the monuments, institutions, and structures it was used to construct: the New York County Supreme Court, New York, NY; the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston; the Washington Monument at the United States Military Academy, West Point, NY; and Kykuit, the Rockefeller Estate in Sleepy Hollow, NY. 

With research permission from the Island Heritage Trust in Deer Isle, ME, the current stewards of Settlement Quarry in Stonington, ME, paper casts were made from the surfaces where granite was extracted from the quarry, and from granite chunks still remaining there. 

Thanks to the assistance of generous volunteers at the archives at the Deer Isle-Stonington Historical Society, historical images of the quarry and granite used at these locations were projected back onto the surfaces of Settlement Quarry, along with current images of these sites.