A gargoyle, the Church of St Denys, Aswarby, Lincolnshire, England. Photo by Spencer Means on Flickr (Creative Commons).
This square-ish fellow kind of reminds me of an early video game creature. When I went to get the image link, I noticed it was titled “Hunky Punk”, which I thought was interesting. I googled the term and discovered that “hunky punk” is a term specifically used in Somerset, England to describe grotesques (never true gargoyles) on church buildings. According to Wikipedia, which was unfortunately the most reliable site I came across on my search, hunky punks are typically short, square-ish and rather crudely-carved, just like our little pac-mac from Aswarby (Hunky Punk on Wikipedia). I’m so excited to have a new research term to explore when working on my gargoyle book! Look for more hunky punks as future gargoyles of the day.
Alexandra Kiely, aka A Scholarly Skater, is an art historian based in the northeastern United States. She loves wandering down the dark and dusty corners of art history and wholeheartedly believes in visual art's ability to enrich every person's life.
Her favorite periods of art history are 19th-century American painting and medieval European art and architecture. When she not looking at, reading about, writing about, or teaching art, she's probably ice dancing or reading.
View all posts by Alexandra Kiely (A Scholarly Skater)
I’ve some across some such tales in my research. The old myths and legends are pretty great, but the modern-day stories people write about gargoyles aren’t usually to my tastes. Gargoyle romances are apparently quite popular, but I truly can’t figure out why. I have seen a few good mysteries and adventure stories involving gargoyles, though.
I can imagine the old myths and legends would be better. I’ve never heard of gargoyle romances, good grief. But I’ll keep my eyes and ears open for some of the others!
Those gargoyles had an amazing amount of character. Makes me wonder what tales people would tell about them.
I’ve some across some such tales in my research. The old myths and legends are pretty great, but the modern-day stories people write about gargoyles aren’t usually to my tastes. Gargoyle romances are apparently quite popular, but I truly can’t figure out why. I have seen a few good mysteries and adventure stories involving gargoyles, though.
I can imagine the old myths and legends would be better. I’ve never heard of gargoyle romances, good grief. But I’ll keep my eyes and ears open for some of the others!