Joseph Kincannon started work at the Cathedral in the gift shop. It was located in the North Transept. His brother D’Ellis “Jeep” Kincannon was a messenger in the administrative area of the Cathedral. He had his eye, however, on the stoneyard. Soon Jeep became the seventh apprentice after Poni Baptiste.
I graduated from High School one day, moved to Manhattan the next, and was working at the Cathedral the following day.
-Joseph Kincannon
Joseph remembers the day the first stones arrived at the infant stoneyard. Heading to lunch down Amsterdam Avenue, crossing the green area on the north side of the Cathedral he saw the activity and knew right away something very important was happening. He waited and watched in the gathering crowd.
Apprentice Kincannon
While still at the gift shop, he and some mates played some friendly soccer with Chris Hannaway on that Green… Chris, of course, in shirt and tie and tweed jacket. Some time later, Jim Bambridge invited himself to a frisbee tossing with Joseph and friends. Ultimately, Joseph found his own way into the stoneyard. As most everyone did, he started on the saws. While there, he developed a way to preserve the job ticket instructions despite the deluge of water that came with the saws.
Joseph said he was quite happy working on the saws, but his brother encouraged him to join the cutters when an opportunity presented itself. Jeep told him that there was a path to growth. A cutter position opened and Joseph was a natural. Later, when Nicholas Fairplay came on board, he was one of three cutters to be trained as carvers. Along about now, Joseph Kincannon’s lifelong journey as an architectural sculptor began.
The Bull Gang
The bull gang was the crew that moved the stone from the ground up to the tower. Of those days Joseph says – ” Sometimes the job was tricky and dangerous as the stones could be quite large. Along with chain hoists (hand operated), we relied on planks and rollers a fair amount of the time. The term (bull gang) applied to those who positioned the stones as close as possible to where the masons needed them on the building. The masons would take it from there.
“We also had to make sure the masons were supplied with bricks and mortar – masons’ tenders. A busy job. Al Rivera and I were tasked with this. We moved a lot of stone up onto that tower. Young man’s work – moving stones up and down all day with a beautiful view, built up the muscles, etc. Al kept us laughing all day. Steve (Boyle) had his hands full with us, though.”
It’s so quiet up there, it’s like working on a ship. All you see is the sky and your crew. Up there, each worker depends on every other crew member.
-Joseph Kincannon
Head Carver
Joseph became head carver in the stoneyard through his growing skill and leadership. The Cathedral contracted Simon Verity to carve the statues at the Portal of Paradise on the West Front of the Cathedral. He had the carvers from the stoneyard carve the bases. Joseph’s base for the combined statue of the prophets Isaiah and Jeremiah is shown below. He carved that base in the late 80’s. After vandals damaged the base, the Cathedral asked him back to repair and restore it in 2019.
All who passed through the stoneyard in those 12 years knew Joseph Kincannon. They were used to his steady hand, his help when they needed it and his unending special humor. He only left when the stoneyard shut down.
Joseph and his wife Holly (Young), a restoration architect, founded Kincannon Studios in Austin, Texas. After 20+ years there, the studio moved to Savannah, Georgia.
Additionally, Joseph currently serves as the Chair of Stone Carving at the American College of Building Arts in nearby Charleston, South Carolina. He is passing his knowledge and skill on to a new generation.
- Kincannon Studios – www.kincannonstudios.com
- American College of Building Arts – www.acba.edu