Mystic, Conn. (July 3, 2018) —Mystic Seaport Museum’s summer performance series Arts on the Quad begins Saturday, July 14. For 2018, the series has been reimagined so each of the four performances will share a theme with one of the Museum’s exhibitions and it will be paired with related speakers and activities. In addition, visitors will have access to the featured gallery for the evening.

“We re-envisioned the program this year so Arts on the Quad would more closely reflect and enhance what we have going on at the Museum,” said Arlene Marcionette, public programs project manager at Mystic Seaport Museum. “The exhibitions on our McGraw Quadrangle were a starting point for us to jump off and find interesting and fun connections between the stories we are telling in the galleries and the live performances.”

Arts on the Quad this year is sponsored by CT Humanities and Charter Oak Federal Credit Union.

The performances are free with a suggested donation of $10 per person. Visitors are invited to bring their own picnic and non-alcoholic beverages. A cash bar and concession snacks will be available.

In the event of rain, performances will take place in a covered location on the Museum grounds. Rain location seating is limited and on a first-come, first-served basis. All performances begin at 6:30 p.m.

Saturday, July 14: Monument Man

The Museum’s first artist-in-residence, Kevin Sampson, is a nationally renowned artist from Newark, N.J., who transforms found materials such as cement, bones, tiles, fabric, paints, and wood into powerful sculptures that speak to family, memory, and loss through the lens of the African-American experience.

This evening’s concert will be by Sounds Great, a quartet from the Eastern Connecticut Symphony Orchestra. They will perform selections from Mozart, Beethoven, jazz works by Ellington and Gershwin, Sea Songs, and other music that inspires Sampson in his work. The concert begins at 6:30 p.m.

At 5:30 p.m., visitors can meet Sampson and view his latest work created during his time in residence.

The Kevin Sampson exhibition, “Monument Man”, in the C.D. Mallory Building will be free and open to the public between 5 and 8 p.m.

Sunday, July 29: The Vikings Begin

To celebrate the current Vikings exhibition, “The Vikings Begin: Treasures from Uppsala University, Sweden,” the Museum has invited The American Rogues to perform and explore the connections between Viking and Irish culture. The American-Canadian group is known for their epic, multi-instrumental sound that crosses the musical landscape to include jigs, reels, hornpipes, ballads, originals, covers, soundtracks, patriotic and military music, Irish foot-stompers, and more.  The concert begins at 6:30 p.m.

At 5:30 p.m., award-winning author James L. Nelson will discuss the fascinating history of Viking raiding, settling, and assimilation into Irish culture.

“The Vikings Begin: Treasures from Uppsala University, Sweden,” exhibition in the Collins Gallery will be free and open to the public between 5 and 8 p.m.

Saturday, August 11: Voyaging in the Wake of the Whalers

Flock Theatre returns to Arts on the Quad with a medley of nautically themed Shakespeare scenes. Based in New London, and the resident theater company at Mitchell College, Flock Theatre is one of the most adventurous classical theater companies in New England. Working with the timeless words of Shakespeare, Moliere, Sophocles, and more modern classics, Flock Theatre is dedicated to creating original, collaborative, and educational theater. The performance begins at 6:30 p.m.

At 5:30 p.m., Dr. Steve Mentz will discuss Shakespeare and the sea, including scenes that Flock Theatre will present. Dr. Mentz teaches Shakespeare, literary theory, and maritime literature at St. John’s University and is the author of “At the Bottom of Shakespeare’s Ocean,” among other books.

The “Voyaging in the Wake of the Whalers” exhibit in the Stillman Building will be free and open to the public between 5 and 8 p.m.

Saturday, August 25: Science, Myth, and Mystery: The Vinland Map Saga

Visitors to the new exhibition “Science, Myth, and Mystery: The Vinland Map Saga” will note the music that greets them as they walk in the door. When the Vinland map was introduced to the world by Yale University in 1965, the map created a controversy with its “proof” that the Vikings reached the Americas before Columbus. On this evening, The Beatles cover band Penny Lane will recreate that time and others with selections from throughout the Fab Four’s history. The concert begins at 6:30 p.m.

At 5:30 p.m., Nicholas Bell, senior vice president for Curatorial Affairs at Mystic Seaport Museum, will give a talk about the Vinland Map, and Fred Calabretta, senior curator at the Museum, will speak about the music in the era during which the map was unveiled to the public.

“Science, Myth, and Mystery: The Vinland Map Saga” in the Schaefer Building will be free and open to the public between 5 and 8 p.m.

For more information, please visit mysticseaport.org/artsonthequad

About Mystic Seaport Museum

Mystic Seaport Museum, founded in 1929, is the nation’s leading maritime museum. In addition to providing a multitude of immersive experiences, the Museum also houses a collection of more than two million artifacts that include more than 500 historic vessels and one of the largest collections of maritime photography. The iconic Thompson Exhibition Building is a state-of-the-art gallery that is hosting The Vikings Begin: Treasures from Uppsala University, Sweden through September 30, 2018. Mystic Seaport Museum is located one mile south of Exit 90 off I-95 in Mystic, CT. For more information, please visit https://mysticseaport.wpengine.com/  and follow Mystic Seaport Museum on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and Instagram.

Award of $735,000 Will Fund New Collections Installations, Research, and Related Public Programming

Mystic, Conn. (July 2, 2018) – Mystic Seaport Museum announced it has received a $735,000 grant from the Henry Luce Foundation to support the curation and development of three new collections installations and related programming. These projects will provide new perspectives on the art and ensure the continued preservation and refinement of the collections while also promoting public access.

Mystic Seaport Museum, the preeminent U.S. maritime museum, preserves the most significant public collections of marine art and artifacts in the western hemisphere. Through this initiative, the Museum will reimagine the artistic merit and educational potential of its permanent collections of decorative, folk, and self-taught art. These objects – not always considered as works of art and substantially hidden from public view – will be placed on display so they can be appreciated and studied afresh through the eyes of a new generation of scholars, artists, and curators.

The proposed installations and associated research and public program activities will encourage new scholarship around the themes of “The Sea as Muse,” a window into the world of immigrant craftsmanship and decorative arts; “The Sea as Studio” for folk art such as scrimshaw; and “The Sea as Commons,” through a curatorial investigation by contemporary artist Mary Mattingly.

“The Henry Luce Foundation is pleased to support Mystic Seaport Museum in this effort to expand the scholarship and knowledge around parts of its collections that will benefit from a fresh perspective,” said Teresa A. Carbone, program director for American Art at the Henry Luce Foundation. “We are excited to offer new audiences access to compelling art objects and introduce new voices into the Museum’s continuing research and interpretation of its collections.”

“This grant will enable Mystic Seaport Museum to bring rarely-seen collections to light and augment our curatorial capacity. Our staff has expertise largely in maritime history and the humanities. Introducing differing disciplinary perspectives will invite complementary yet distinct presentations and generate new narratives around selected objects. This plan reaffirms the Museum’s commitment to research, in recognition of our role as a nexus for public discourse on the American maritime experience,” said Steve White, president of Mystic Seaport Museum.

The grant will support a guest artist-curator and two scholar-curators, emerging career professionals who will gain from interaction with Museum staff while also introducing new voices to the Museum. In addition, two pre-professional inclusive internships will offer promising young students immersive professional experiences at a major museum; and three teacher-fellows will adapt the exhibit content into “resource sets” that will be archived and made available for Museum and classroom teachers beyond the exhibit installations. Teachers will use the content to encourage their students to dig deeper into the stories of the objects and their creators and make connections to their own lives.

The grant was inspired in part by a two day “think tank” hosted at the museum earlier this year, and sponsored by the Luce Foundation and the Chipstone Foundation of Milwaukee, Wisconsin. The event brought together museum staff with scholars from several disciplines to consider how the museum’s collections can be reinterpreted for future audiences.

The three installations are scheduled to open on the museum’s McGraw Gallery Quadrangle in 2019 and 2020.

About Mystic Seaport Museum

Mystic Seaport Museum, founded in 1929, is the nation’s leading maritime museum. In addition to providing a multitude of immersive experiences, the Museum also houses a collection of more than two million artifacts that include more than 500 historic vessels and one of the largest collections of maritime photography. The iconic Thompson Exhibition Building is a state-of-the-art gallery that is hosting The Vikings Begin: Treasures from Uppsala University, Sweden through September 30, 2018. Mystic Seaport Museum is located one mile south of Exit 90 off I-95 in Mystic, CT. For more information, please visit https://mysticseaport.wpengine.com/  and follow Mystic Seaport Museum on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and Instagram.

 About the Henry Luce Foundation

The Henry Luce Foundation seeks to bring important ideas to the center of American life, strengthen international understanding, and foster innovation and leadership in academic, policy, religious and art communities.

About the American Art Program

A leader in arts funding in the United States, the Henry Luce Foundation’s American Art Program was established in 1982 to support museums, arts organizations, and universities in their efforts to advance the understanding and experience of American and Native American visual arts through research, exhibitions, publications, and collection projects.

 

 

 

 

Mystic, Conn. (June 28, 2018) — Mystic Seaport Museum announces it will inaugurate its artist-residency-program with leading American contemporary artist, Kevin Sampson of Newark, New Jersey. Beginning Saturday, June 30, Sampson will be embedded at the Museum, living aboard a vessel docked on its waterfront, and working in an open studio where he can engage with the Museum community in the lead up to an exhibition of his work Monument Man: Kevin Sampson in Residence.

Sampson began his career as a police officer in New Jersey and was the first African American uniformed police composite sketch artist in the United States. Following his career, he developed a unique artistic practice transforming found materials such as cement, bones, tiles, fabric, paints, and wood into powerful sculptures that speak to family, memory, and loss through the lens of the African-American experience.

During the weeks he will spend in residence at the Museum, Sampson will make a new art installation, inspired by the Newark Ark of Kea Tawana. One of the more unusual vessels ever imagined, the 86-foot long, 20-foot wide ark was the work of a single woman, Kea Tawana, who constructed it from found materials in Newark’s destitute Central Ward beginning in 1982. Essentially complete in 1988, the city forced Tawana to deconstruct it or face demolition as an illegal structure. Sampson’s installation USS Kye Kye Kule will be created using a donated wooden Bevin’s skiff and materials collected from the Museum grounds. The name comes from a traditional African call-and-response song where the leader sings a line then the group repeats it. In this case, Sampson will be responding to Kea’s Ark.

Visitors will be invited to watch the artist at work in a temporary outdoor studio and to engage with him as he draws the very fabric of the Museum into a new and powerful vision of the American maritime experience. A selection of Sampson’s other works will be on-display in the adjacent C.D. Mallory Building. The new work will join the others in the gallery at the end of his residency.

“Kevin Sampson is showing our audience that there is a completely different perspective on what the American maritime experience is from what they might expect. We are excited to provide him a voice and platform to share that story,” said Steve White, president of Mystic Seaport Museum.

“The opportunity to work at Mystic Seaport Museum is a chance to become inspired by its exhibits and its history, and it’s a wonderful occasion to further explore my connections with the sea and its vessels,” said Sampson. “I have been making boats or vessels out of found objects, in one form or another, for over 30 years. I have always felt that in another life I lived that life somehow on the sea.”

Sampson’s residency begins June 30 and continues to July 14. Monument Man: Kevin Sampson in Residence will open June 30 and run into spring 2019.

About Mystic Seaport Museum

Mystic Seaport Museum, founded in 1929, is the nation’s leading maritime museum. In addition to providing a multitude of immersive experiences, the Museum also houses a collection of more than two million artifacts that include more than 500 historic vessels and one of the largest collections of maritime photography. The iconic Thompson Exhibition Building is a state-of-the-art gallery that is hosting The Vikings Begin: Treasures from Uppsala University, Sweden through September 30, 2018. Mystic Seaport Museum is located one mile south of Exit 90 off I-95 in Mystic, CT. For more information, please visit https://mysticseaport.wpengine.com/  and follow Mystic Seaport Museum on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and Instagram.

 

 

Mystic, Conn. (June 12, 2018) — The largest gathering of wooden boats and enthusiasts in New England will converge at Mystic Seaport Museum for the 27th annual WoodenBoat Show Friday through Sunday, June 22-24.

The WoodenBoat Show, hosted in a partnership with WoodenBoat Publications, offers something for all wooden boat enthusiasts and maritime history buffs. More than 100 traditional and classic wooden boats of every type will be on display, from hand-crafted kayaks to mahogany runabouts, to classic daysailers and schooners.

In addition to taking in the historic vessels and beautiful boats, visitors can find everything they need to outfit their own watercraft and learn new skills at demonstrations and workshops throughout the weekend. A variety of exhibitors will offer items for sale including maritime art, antiques, tools, books, nautical gear, and much more.

Throughout the weekend, Mystic Seaport Museum staff and guest experts will conduct demonstrations of a variety of boat-building skills, including wood-epoxy boat building, caulking, laminating wood, using an adze, and Viking boat building. There will also be tours of the Mayflower II restoration in the Museum’s shipyard.

Other popular features are the “I Built It Myself” display of home-built boats and Family BoatBuilding, where families and teams work to build their own pre-purchased kits during the weekend. The kits open at 9 a.m. Friday morning and tools are put down around 3 p.m. Sunday, leaving, in most cases, a boat awaiting only final finish work.

Visitors can also try their hand at rowing or sailing a small boat at the Museum’s boat livery, or in one of the boats participating in the John Gardner Small Craft Workshop, which is run concurrently with the show by the Traditional Small Craft Association.

Museum admission provides access to both The WoodenBoat Show and Mystic Seaport Museum. Three-day passes are available.

About Mystic Seaport Museum

Mystic Seaport Museum, founded in 1929, is the nation’s leading maritime museum. In addition to providing a multitude of immersive experiences, the Museum also houses a collection of more than two million artifacts that include more than 500 historic vessels and one of the largest collections of maritime photography. The iconic Thompson Exhibition Building is a state-of-the-art gallery that is hosting The Vikings Begin: Treasures from Uppsala University, Sweden through September 30, 2018. Mystic Seaport Museum is located one mile south of Exit 90 off I-95 in Mystic, CT. For more information, please visit https://mysticseaport.wpengine.com/  and follow Mystic Seaport Museum on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and Instagram.

Mystic, Conn. (June 8, 2018) — The Fellows of the G.W. Blunt White Library at Mystic Seaport Museum announced their 2018 award winners at their annual meeting last month. The honorees are Michael P. Dyer of the New Bedford Whaling Museum and Dianne Meredith of the California State University-Maritime Academy.

The G.W. Blunt White Library at Mystic Seaport Museum is the home to one of the most comprehensive maritime collections in America, and a major center of maritime research. The Fellows of the G.W. Blunt White Library is a group that was formed in 1980 to support the Library and its collections. Two prizes for scholarship are awarded each year by the Fellows. The first, the Gerald E. Morris Prize Article, is named for a former Librarian and Director of Publications who established it in 1980 to encourage scholarship and publication in the field of American maritime history. The award is given for the best article published each year in “CORIOLIS: the Interdisciplinary Journal of Maritime Studies,” an online publication of Mystic Seaport Museum. The second award, the John Gardner Maritime Research Award, is named for the late John Gardner: author, editor, curator, small-boat designer, builder and regular user of the G.W. Blunt White Library and a proponent of maritime research. The award is given to a person who has made a significant contribution in the maritime research field.

During their 2018 annual meeting, the Fellows of the G.W. Blunt White Library named Dianne Meredith the Morris Prize winner for her article “Early Maritime Russia and the North Pacific Arc,” an examination of how Russia’s Pacific coastline influenced its maritime identity. Meredith is currently an Associate Professor in the department of Global Studies & Maritime Affairs at California State University-Maritime Academy.

Michael P. Dyer was named the Gardner Maritime Research Award winner. Dyer is the Curator of Maritime History at the New Bedford Whaling Museum and won for his book “O’er the Wide and Tractless Sea: Original Art of the Yankee Whaler,” which was published to wide acclaim in 2017.

About Mystic Seaport Museum

Mystic Seaport Museum, founded in 1929, is the nation’s leading maritime museum. In addition to providing a multitude of immersive experiences, the Museum also houses a collection of more than two million artifacts that include more than 500 historic vessels and one of the largest collections of maritime photography. The iconic Thompson Exhibition Building is a state-of-the-art gallery that is hosting The Vikings Begin: Treasures from Uppsala University, Sweden through September 30, 2018. Mystic Seaport Museum is located one mile south of Exit 90 off I-95 in Mystic, CT. For more information, please visit https://mysticseaport.wpengine.com/  and follow Mystic Seaport Museum on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and Instagram.

Mystic, Conn. (June 7, 2018) — An exhibition of unique works created by the nation’s leading maritime artists, “The Plein Air Painters of the Maritime Gallery Exhibition and Sale,” will open at the Mystic Seaport Maritime Gallery Sunday, June 17.

The exhibition is a collection of the work of more than 30 of today’s leading maritime artists, who will take to their French easels on the Museum grounds and nearby locations beginning Tuesday, June 12 to capture the timeless beauty of the Museum’s historic ships, shoreline vistas, and scenes along the Mystic River in the tradition of the plein air painters of the 19th and 20th centuries.

A special participating artist this year is Geoff Hunt. Best known for his series of book covers for Patrick O’Brian’s Captain Aubrey Adventures, he was the former President of the Royal Society of Marine Artists. Other featured artists include David Bareford, Paul Beebe, Del-Bourree Bach, William Hobbs, and Leif Nilsson.

“This annual exhibition and sale is a wonderful opportunity to see the work of many of the top maritime artists working today as they draw inspiration from the Mystic Seaport Museum grounds and the surrounding area,” said Monique Foster, director of the Maritime Gallery.

The artists’ works will then be available for viewing and purchase in the exhibition from June 17 through September 23.

An opening reception at the Gallery will be held Saturday, June 16, from 5:30 to 7:00 p.m. the reception is free and open to the public. Attendees will have the opportunity to meet the participating artists, as well as purchase paintings fresh off the easels. Interested parties are requested to RSVP at 860.572.5388 or by emailing gallery@https://mysticseaport.wpengine.com/.

The gallery is open daily from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Admission is free. For more information, call 860.572.5388 or visit the gallery’s website.

Image for Download

Thomas Adkins, Mid-Day Morning, Mason’s Island, Oil, 9” x 12” (Photo Credit: Rieta Park/Mystic Seaport Museum)

About the Maritime Gallery
The Maritime Gallery at Mystic Seaport is the nation’s foremost gallery specializing in contemporary marine art and ship models. For more than 35 years, the Gallery has been privileged to exhibit the works of leading international maritime artists. Located at historic Mystic Seaport Museum, the Gallery overlooks the beautiful Mystic River attracting art lovers and collectors from around the world. For more information, please visit mysticseaport.org/gallery.

Mystic, Conn. (June 4, 2018) — On June 16-17, Mystic Seaport Museum will be transformed into a celebration of Viking culture, complete with craft demonstrations, live performances, and on-the-water activities.

The weekend coincides with the opening of two new exhibitions this spring: The Vikings Begin: Treasures from Uppsala University, Sweden, a display of one of the world’s finest early Viking-age collections; and Science, Myth, and Mystery: The Saga of the Vinland Map, the story of a controversial parchment map that created a firestorm in 1965 as it suggested Norse knowledge of the New World before Columbus sailed.

“Vikings seem to be everywhere in popular culture today, yet very few of us know what it was like to live the life of a Viking,” said Arlene Marcionette, public programs project manager at the Museum. “How did they accomplish basic activities like gathering food, cooking, sailing, and voyaging?”

Visitors can explore the exhibitions, walk through a Viking encampment by Draugar Vinlands, sample Scandinavian fare, hear live music and watch dramatic performances, and see a Nordic boat-building demonstration. There will be hands-on activities and games for children and adults throughout the day, and a special Planetarium show on Viking navigation.

Other highlights from the weekend include:

• Craft demonstrations and displays including woodworking, blacksmithing, Norse jewelry, and cooking
• Children may build a toy Viking longship
• Mead brewing demonstrations and sales
• Games of Kubb
• Fjord horses
• A display and demonstration of Norse boats
• Sea Music with Lynn Noel, the Scandinavian Women’s Chorus, and the Icelandic group FUNI
• A dramatic Vikings performance by Flock Theatre
• A Viking beard contest
• Birds of prey demonstration from the Denison Pequotsepos Nature Center

The reproduction Viking longship Draken Harald Hårfagre will be open for free tours.

Viking Days activities are included with regular Museum admission (separate charge for food, beverages, Planetarium shows, toy boat building and children’s crafts).

For a complete list and schedule of all activities please visit mysticseaport.org/vikingdays.

About Mystic Seaport Museum

Mystic Seaport Museum, founded in 1929, is the nation’s leading maritime museum. In addition to providing a multitude of immersive experiences, the Museum also houses a collection of more than two million artifacts that include more than 500 historic vessels and one of the largest collections of maritime photography. The iconic Thompson Exhibition Building is a state-of-the-art gallery that is hosting The Vikings Begin: Treasures from Uppsala University, Sweden through September 30, 2018. Mystic Seaport Museum is located one mile south of Exit 90 off I-95 in Mystic, CT. For more information, please visit https://mysticseaport.wpengine.com/  and follow Mystic Seaport Museum on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and Instagram.

Mystic, CT (May 31, 2018) — Mystic Seaport Museum will welcome between 50 and 75 new American citizens on Thursday, June 14, at its 7^th annual Naturalization Ceremony.

Held in the Tom Clagett Boat Shed on Flag Day, the ceremony has become a favorite of museum guests and staff as friends and family members join the new citizens to celebrate their achievement.

The event is hosted in conjunction with federal officials from the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services Department. On this day, Museum admission is free for ceremony participants and their families.

In 2017, 74 people from 32 countries were granted citizenship during the ceremony. The event begins at 10:30 a.m.

About Mystic Seaport Museum

Mystic Seaport Museum, founded in 1929, is the nation’s leading maritime museum. In addition to providing a multitude of immersive experiences, the Museum also houses a collection of more than two million artifacts that include more than 500 historic vessels and one of the largest collections of maritime photography. The iconic Thompson Exhibition Building is a state-of-the-art gallery that is hosting The Vikings Begin: Treasures from Uppsala University, Sweden through September 30, 2018. Mystic Seaport Museum is located one mile south of Exit 90 off I-95 in Mystic, CT. For more information, please visit https://mysticseaport.wpengine.com/  and follow Mystic Seaport Museum on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and Instagram.