Month: March 2012

Mystic Seaport, in partnership with film producer and sailor Gary Jobson, is proud to present the Mystic premiere of the documentary “Unfurling the World: The Voyages of Irving and Electa Johnson.” The screening will be held at the Olde Mistick Village Art Cinemas on Saturday, April 7, at 4:30 p.m. Jobson will introduce the film, which is one hour and 17 minutes long, and will briefly discuss the program.

Mystic Seaport and Jobson teamed together to create this new, exciting documentary about the Johnsons. The adventurous couple completed seven round-the-world voyages between 1933 and 1958 aboard a series of vessels named Yankee, and later in life traveled throughout the inland waterways of Europe. The Johnsons often visited remote islands and documented each voyage extensively, frequently as contributors to National Geographic. They were able to capture traditions, ceremonies, and customs of people that lived a lifestyle that in many cases no longer exists today. Mystic Seaport is the repository for much of the Johnson legacy, and the archival footage and most of the photographs of these voyages are from the Museum’s collections.

Tickets are $10 per person ($8 per Museum member) and can be purchased by calling Mystic Seaport Central Reservations at 860.572.5322 or online at https://mysticseaport.wpengine.com/. 

The Olde Mistick Village Art Cinemas is located in Olde Mistick Village, 27 Coogan Boulevard Olde Mistick Village, Building 18, in Mystic, Conn.

About Mystic Seaport

Mystic Seaport is the nation’s leading maritime museum. Founded in1929, it is the home of four National Historic Landmark vessels, including the 1841 whaleship Charles W. Morgan, the oldest American merchant ship in existence. For more information, please visit https://mysticseaport.wpengine.com/.

Funds to Help Youths Participate in Museum’s Sailing and Summer Camp Programs

Mystic Seaport today announced more than $50,000 will be available for scholarships for the Museum’s youth sail training programs in 2012.

Scholarships can be applied to the fees for the Joseph Conrad Summer Sailing Camp, youth Community Sailing programs, and the teen overnight programs on the schooner Brilliant.

The Joseph Conrad Summer Sailing Camp is an overnight camp for youths ages 10-15. During the six-day program, campers stay aboard the tall ship Joseph Conrad, sail the Museum’s fleet of Dyer Dhows, and learn the skills of the sea.

Mystic Seaport Community Sailing offers a full lineup of sailing programs designed to build and refine sailing skills while nurturing the love of the water. Programs run throughout the spring, summer, and fall for youths ages eight and up.

The oldest sail training program of its kind in the United States, the schooner Brilliant takes up to nine teenage participants, ages 15-18, on either five- or ten-day voyages, where they work together under the guidance of the professional crew to safely sail hundreds of miles and learn traditional seamanship skills.

The scholarships are needs-based and can cover up to half of the cost of the program.

Applications are encouraged. The deadline for applications is May 1, although scholarships will continue to be awarded on a rolling basis if funds are available. For more information on the application process, interested parties can call 860.572.5322 or visit mysticseaport.org/financialaid.

The scholarships are the result of generous support from the William and Eileen Ames Fund, the Todd Wilkins Scholarship Fund, the George Gordon Breed Memorial Fund, and numerous private donors.

About Mystic Seaport

Mystic Seaport is the nation’s leading maritime museum. Founded in 1929, it is the home of four National Historic Landmark vessels, including the 1841 whaleship Charles W. Morgan, the oldest American merchant ship in existence. For more information, please visit https://mysticseaport.wpengine.com/.

Ground-Breaking Exhibit Presents Historic Objects as Works of Art

Mystic Seaport will open its newest exhibit, “Treasures from the Collections,” on Saturday, March 31. The exhibit presents 149 historic objects from the Museum collections as works of outstanding artistic value.

For more than 80 years, Mystic Seaport has developed collections vast in depth and scope and known worldwide for their documentary and research value. Less widely recognized, but no less significant, are the artistic treasures among the Museum’s extensive holdings. These objects of creative expression–inspired by the power, mystery, dangers, beauty, solitude, and resources of the sea– merge impressive artistic skill with maritime content to reveal the broad influence of the sea on American life.

Visitors will immediately notice something very different about this exhibit. Rather than presenting objects and images based on their connection to unifying stories, themes, and ideas, “Treasures from the Collections” breaks new ground by presenting objects primarily for their artistic and aesthetic merit.

Selected by a team of the Museum’s knowledgeable and experienced curators, these rarely-seen maritime treasures run the breadth of the diverse, two-million object collections. Outstanding examples of ship models, scrimshaw, ship plans, and figureheads by preeminent artisans will stand next to masterpieces from such renowned artists as James E. Buttersworth, Isaac Sheffield, and James Bard.

For example, on display will be a Chinese silk robe from the Manchu Dynasty (1644-1912). Many exotic items came to the U.S. through maritime trade, either as curiosities or commercial exchange. Made for a horseman, this Mandarin robe has a split to permit riding a horse as well as horse-hoof sleeves and cuffs which turn back when the wearer shoots an arrow.

Another item is a sailor’s ditty box made from panbone, wood, ivory, baleen, and horn. The box was made by Capt. Frederick Howland Smith and his wife Sarah G. “Sallie” Wordell Smith while they were at sea on the whaling bark Ohio in December, 1877. The box’s lid features a striking geometric pattern inlaid with tiny pieces that testify to the fine craftsmanship–and artistic talent– that went into creating the artifact.

A select group of photographs, generally included in exhibits as reproductions, also will be displayed in their original form, including rare 150-year-old examples in ornate cases with polished brass mats.

Many of these objects have been on display before; some have not.  However, together they represent a body of work that reveals a remarkable intellectual, emotional, and even spiritual response to the maritime world and to the maritime traditions that lie so deeply embedded in our culture.

“This exhibit is a wonderful opportunity for us to display some of the finest objects in our collections and do it in a novel way,” said Mystic Seaport President Stephen C. White.” The history of America has been shaped by the sea and our relationship to it. This exhibit tells that story, and more, through the language of creative expression.”

The exhibit is accompanied by the recent book, “America and the Sea: Treasures from the Collections of Mystic Seaport,” which serves as the catalog and guide for the exhibit. The publication was produced with support from the Henry Luce Foundation and published in partnership with the Yale University Press.

The exhibit will run through 2013 in the R. J. Schaefer Exhibit Hall.

About Mystic Seaport

Mystic Seaport is the nation’s leading maritime museum. Founded in 1929, the Museum is the home of four National Historic Landmark vessels, including the 1841 whaleship Charles W. Morgan, the oldest American merchant ship in existence. The Museum collections contain more than two million historic objects and 500 watercraft. The state-of-the-art Collections Research Center and G.W. Blunt White Library provides scholars and researchers from around the world access to the collections and archives in person and online via integrated databases. For more information, please visit https://mysticseaport.wpengine.com/.