Author: Mystic Seaport Museum

Probably the most unusual gift we have received in some time comes from carousel figure collector Larry Freels, who had one of the biggest such collections in the country. Some time ago Mr. Freels began breaking up his collection and sending pieces to places like the MET, the MFA, the Philadelphia Museum of Art and other notable museums.

The piece he donated to Mystic Seaport Museum last year is one of the more unusual items that he collected and he felt that the marine nature of the piece made it especially pertinent to us. We agreed. Carved by noted carousel-figure carver Gustav Dentzel in Philadelphia in 1895, the hippocampus figure actually appears in a number of items in our collection including on a ship’s sternboard and on a silver trophy. A hippocampus is a mythological figure of a sea horse with two forefeet and a body ending in the tail of a dolphin or fish.

The photograph by staff photographer Joe Michael shows the carving as it currently appears in the Thompson Exhibition Building. The drawing comes from a 1560 book in our collection by Konrad Gesner who tried to illustrate all the “known” animals in the world at that time.

Our newest exhibition, A Way with Wood: Celebrating Craft, introduces visitors to the many ways people transform one of nature’s most malleable materials to objects of utility, art, and beauty. In association with this exhibit, the Museum has two related but distinct opportunities for people who work with wood: demonstrating in the exhibit (varying time slots available, August – December) and/or participating in Woodcraft Weekend, August 29-30, 2020.

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One of the Museum’s longest-serving employees has decided to retire after more than 40 years on the job. Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer Susan Funk will retire effective July 1.

It is not an understatement to say that there is no aspect of the Museum that does not owe something to Susan’s influence.

Her association with the Museum began in 1977 when she was a member of the inaugural class of the Williams-Mystic program.

“My skills class was to be paired with shipwright Willets Ansel, who was building a dory for the L.A. Dunton. I learned all about clinker boatbuilding and how to clench nails,” she says. “It was a great experience at that point in life: he was so genuine and disciplined, but also open to change and growth.”

The hook had been set. Susan says she recently found an old letter to a cousin where she wrote that she was having so much fun that “Maybe I could work here?”

After a first job after college working in Geneva, Switzerland on the Law of the Sea Treaty – which taught her politics was not her passion – she did come to work here by taking a summer position where she worked on the demonstration squad, exhibit interpretation, and many other projects. That began a succession of 12 different job titles over the next four decades, culminating in her last as Executive Vice President & COO.

Personal highlights over the years include chaperoning  teen groups on board schooner Brilliant, and traveling with the Williams-Mystic program to the Pacific Northwest and going to sea with them.

“These were opportunities to see the combination of the academic and experiential in actions,” she says. “I can’t think of anything more powerful in education that influences lives and opens up dialogue and change.”

Funk’s leadership played a key role in bringing many of the Museum’s milestone events to reality: the building of the schooner Amistad and the accompanying website Exploring Amistad,  the 38th Voyage of the Charles W. Morgan, and the construction and successful launch of the Thompson Exhibition Building and the Collins Gallery.  The broad range of entertaining public programs and inspiring educational activities that she devised and contributed to is too long to list.

Her service extended beyond the Museum. Funk served on the board of the New England Museum Association and was the board chair for 6 years. She spent 7 years participating in an advocacy campaign for the American Alliance of Museums (AAM) to champion issues and programs to benefit museums, and she found time to be a reader and peer reviewer for AAM accreditation and National Endowment for the Humanities and the Institute of Museum and Library Services grant applications.

“What I will miss most about Susan – aside from her wisdom, sage advice, and calm presence – is her passion for maritime history and the Museum. She dedicated her professional life to ensuring that that visitor experience here is world class and much of what the Museum is today is due to her intelligence and hard work,” said Steve White, president of Mystic Seaport Museum.

“I have loved every minute of my time here and I will miss the daily exchanges with coworkers, scholars and visitors who are the heart of the institution,” said Funk. “Thank you all for your part in making Mystic Seaport Museum a most remarkable organization.”

“I look forward to enjoying the many dimensions of the Museum as a ‘civilian’ in the years ahead,” she added.

Funk plans to remain in Mystic with her husband, Jim, and pursue a variety of projects, most notably to spend time visiting her two grandchildren in Sweden.

Mystic Seaport Museum will open a new exhibition, A Way with Wood: Celebrating Craft, on July 3, 2020.The show will introduce visitors to the many ways people transform one of nature’s most malleable materials to objects of utility, art, and beauty. It will be on display in the Thompson Exhibition Building’s Collins Gallery.

At the core of the exhibition will be a boat-restoration and boat-building demonstration staffed by shipwrights from the Museum’s Henry B. duPont Preservation Shipyard. For this exhibition, the shipwrights will carry out different projects over the course of the show. The first will be a restoration of Afterglow, the tender to the Museum’s schooner Brilliant. Following will be the completion of a restoration of the Woods Hole spritsail cat Sandy Ford, and then the construction of a new dory for the L.A. Dunton. Little to no power tools will be used; the focus will be on work using hand tools.

Complementing the shipwrights’ work is a section where outside artisans will be invited in for periods to set up shop to practice and share their craft with the public. This changing stable of woodworkers might feature a variety of different disciplines: woodcarving, furniture making, sculpture, and model making are some of the possibilities.

Throughout the 5,000 square-foot gallery, there will be rotating displays of objects from the Museum’s collections, such as rare tools, unique carvings, small boats, photographs, and other artifacts that illustrate the wide range of ways wood has been shaped by the artisan’s hand.

The displays in A Way with Wood will change as new projects, artisans, and objects rotate in and out. The exhibition is intended to evolve over time and provide different views into the world of craftsmanship and wood.

“Warm, renewable, flexible, strong – the remarkable qualities of wood have appealed to countless generations, making it the traditional go-to material for crafting boats, buildings, furniture, and much more” says Director of Exhibits Elysa Engelman. “We’re excited to be using our largest and newest gallery to show-off our staff skills and our collections, by celebrating woodcraft and the craft of woodworking in a maritime setting.”

A Way with Wood replaces the previously announved SALT: Tracing Memories, an installation by Japanese artist Motoi Yamaoto, which was scheduled to open April 26. That exhibition was postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. SALT is tentatively rescheduled for spring 2021.

As a casualty of the COVID-19 crisis and the weakening marine art market, Mystic Seaport Museum has made the difficult decision to close the Maritime Art Gallery.

The Gallery was founded by Rudolph Schaefer III in 1979 as a business venture to support Museum operations and to provide a venue to nurture the careers of emerging artists in the contemporary maritime art field. Many of the leading artists at work today got their start at the Gallery. It has also enabled a deep relationship between the Museum and the American Society of Marine Artists.

Unfortunately, the Gallery has faced declining sales in recent years as art-buying trends have shifted and the demand for maritime art declined. The economic upheaval caused by the COVID-19 pandemic forced the Museum to review all aspects of its business operations with a focus on sustainability. Therefore, after a great deal of deliberation, Mystic Seaport Museum has decided to close the Maritime Gallery on August 23. Effective immediately, the Gallery will be open on a limited basis and by appointment.  If you have any questions or concerns, please contact Monique Foster, Gallery Director, at 860-572-5388 or monique.foster@mysticseaport.org/.

Steve White
President and CEO
Mystic Seaport Museum