Mystic, Conn. (December 17, 2019) — Stephen C. White announced today he plans to retire as President and CEO of Mystic Seaport Museum. White, who has served as President and CEO since 2009, will continue in that role until his successor has been named.
“I’m honored to have worked alongside the talented, passionate, and dedicated staff and volunteers who every day strive to inspire an enduring connection to the American maritime experience,” says White. “I came here with the goal of guiding the institution to reimagine the interchange between maritime heritage and broader contemporary culture. I’m proud of all we have achieved in the last decade and that the Museum is poised to achieve more great things as it enters its 90th year in 2020.”
Under White’s leadership, the Museum strengthened its role as a leader in America’s maritime heritage community while simultaneously adapting to new visions of what a museum must be in the 21st century. It restored and sailed the 1841 whaleship Charles W. Morgan on its 38th Voyage in 2014. The north end of the campus was reconfigured into the McGraw Gallery Quadrangle, a comprehensive renovation and expansion of the Museum’s indoor exhibition spaces, which included the construction of the award-winning Thompson Exhibition Building. The Museum is poised to conclude funding of its $6-million Era of Exhibitions campaign. The campaign was launched in 2017 to fund exhibitions of world-class quality, innovation, and scholarship such as the present show J.M.W. Turner: Watercolors from Tate, the most comprehensive collection of Turner watercolors ever displayed in this country.
White served as the president of the International Congress of Maritime Museums from 2015 to 2019, and Gov. Dannel Malloy named White Connecticut’s Tourism Leader of the Year in 2015.
“Steve’s impact on Mystic Seaport Museum is best seen in the strong sense of community he fostered, both inside the Museum and in its external relationships with the world at large,” says Michael S. Hudner, chairman of the Board of Trustees. “We are grateful for his steady, confident leadership and for the zeal and imagination with which he advanced the Museum’s mission.”
The Board of Trustees of Mystic Seaport Museum will establish a search committee headed by former Board chairman Barclay Collins in January 2020 to find White’s successor.
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 new Thompson Exhibition Building houses a state-of-the-art gallery that currently features J.M.W. Turner: Watercolors from Tate, the most comprehensive exhibition of Turner watercolors ever displayed in the U.S. 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. (November 4, 2019) — Mystic Seaport Museum and the Connecticut Library Consortium (CLC) launched a new three-year partnership in recognition of the enduring importance of museums and libraries to our communities. On behalf of the Museum, the CLC is managing an annual lottery for five free Mystic Seaport Museum Library Memberships, underwritten by the Museum’s Susan Lewin Memorial Library Membership Program.
The five winning libraries – drawn at random from CLC’s membership roster of libraries in Connecticut, Rhode Island, and New York – will enjoy all the benefits of library membership at the Museum for one year:
One library pass for each day of the week that entitles up to two adults and three youth/children ages 3-17 to receive 50 percent off regular admission to Mystic Seaport Museum (children ages 2 and younger are free);
A non-transferable Director’s Card that entitles the bearer to one year’s free admission as well as discounts at the Museum Store and our various restaurants;
A subscription to Mystic Seaport Museum Magazine.
This year’s winners are Kent Memorial Library, Weston Public Library, Southington Public Library, Scotland Public Library, and Otis Library in Norwich.
The Susan Lewin Memorial Library Membership Program honors the memory of Susan Lewin, who died in 2013.
“Susan was an ardent believer in the power of museums and libraries to foster community, civic engagement, and life-long learning. She loved Mystic Seaport Museum and was committed, through her philanthropic support, to the goal of increasing access to museum resources for under-served audiences. She was the driving force behind the initiation of the Museum’s Library Membership Program in 2003,” said Museum President Steve White.
“The Connecticut Library Consortium is thrilled to partner with Mystic Seaport Museum on this exciting library program and partnership to provide increased access to the Museum and its programs for our members,” said Jennifer Keohane, executive director of the CLC.
The inaugural winners were determined Tuesday evening at a special event celebrating the new partnership. Librarians from across the state as well as Museum Library Members came to hear a presentation on the artist J.M.W. Turner by Elysa Engelman, Ph.D., director of Exhibits, followed by a private viewing of the Museum’s acclaimed new exhibition J.M.W. Turner: Watercolors from Tate.
Libraries who would like to consider Mystic Seaport Library Membership for their communities should reach out to Margaret Milnes, director of Membership and Corporate Partnerships, at Mystic Seaport Museum at margaret.milnes@https://mysticseaport.wpengine.com/.
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 new Thompson Exhibition Building houses a state-of-the-art gallery that currently features J.M.W. Turner: Watercolors from Tate, the most comprehensive exhibition of Turner watercolors ever displayed in the U.S. 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 Connecticut Library Consortium
The Connecticut Library Consortium is a statewide nonprofit membership collaborative serving all types of Connecticut libraries by helping them strengthen their ability to serve their users. We achieve our mission by initiating and facilitating cost-effective services, creating and supporting educational and professional development, and fostering innovation. For more information, please visit www.ctlibrarians.org and follow CLC on Facebook.
Mystic, Conn. (October 22, 2019) — On April 22, 1970, 20 million people took to the streets and college campuses across the country to protest environmental ignorance and demand greater protections for our planet. This first Earth Day sparked the passage of major environmental legislation in the U.S. including the Clean Air, Clean Water, and Endangered Species Acts, and the creation of the Environmental Protection Agency.
“The 50th anniversary of Earth Day in 2020 will mark a pivotal year for our planet as the Earth needs our attention now more than ever,” says Stephen C. White, President of Mystic Seaport Museum. “We recognize our obligation specifically to the Mystic River and its watershed and in the spirit of the Earth Day Network’s mission to activate the environmental movement worldwide; we look forward to engaging a host of like-minded community partners as well as the general public in support of habitat restoration, conservation and overall collective action.”
October 22 marks six months to Earth Day, and on this day, Mystic Seaport Museum announces its support for Earth Day 2020 and the EARTHRISE movement, which will mobilize across the globe on April 22 to turn out millions across generations, sectors, and continents to demand immediate action on climate change.
April 22, 2020, is as a key moment for citizens, institutions, and organizations everywhere to demonstrate our shared demand for bold, transformative change. Mystic Seaport Museum is proud to join this global movement as we build toward the next half century of action for our planet.
“As someone who participated in the first Earth Day in 1970, the 50th anniversary is an important milestone for all of us to recommit and expand support for our environment in the greater Mystic area and beyond,” says White.
In partnership with Mystic Aquarium and other community organizations, the Museum looks to hold events to share information about the history of the local watershed including human impacts and offer educational opportunities and activities to shed light on ways we all can become better stewards of the planet. It is critically important to protect Long Island Sound and maintain its water quality as a living resource to more than 1,200 species of invertebrates, 170 species of fish and dozens of species of migratory birds.
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 new Thompson Exhibition Building houses a state-of-the-art gallery that currently features J.M.W. Turner: Watercolors from Tate, the most comprehensive exhibition of Turner watercolors ever displayed in the U.S. 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.
Press Preview October 3, 2-4 p.m. Thompson Exhibition Building, Mystic Seaport Museum 103 Greenmanville Ave. Mystic, CT, 06355
Mystic, Conn. (October 1, 2019) — Mystic Seaport Museum presents J.M.W. Turner: Watercolors from Tate, a major exhibition organized in cooperation with Tate, from October 5, 2019, to February 23, 2020. The show is drawn from the renowned Turner Bequest of 1856, the vast legacy of art donated to Great Britain by J.M.W. Turner (1775-1851), which resides today at Tate. Mystic Seaport Museum is the only North American venue for the exhibition.
The exhibition spans the entirety of Turner’s long career and, by focusing on the artist’s watercolors, provides insight into the private visionary behind the public figure. The viewer will see Turner’s watercolor practice evolve from aide to memory to a way of thinking with his brush–“for his own pleasure,” to borrow a phrase from a contemporary admirer, the critic John Ruskin.
“Joseph Mallord William Turner is one of the great artists of the Western Canon,” notes Stephen C. White, president, Mystic Seaport Museum, the preeminent maritime museum in the United States. “In building our new exhibition center, the Thompson Building, which opened in 2016, we prepared for loans of this caliber. Now we are thrilled to be able to bring Turner’s watercolors here for visitors throughout the region and country.”
Tate rations display of Turner’s watercolors, given the fugitive quality of the medium. But Tate balances conservation considerations with the mission to serve new audiences. “We are exceptionally pleased to send this intimate and powerful selection of works to Mystic Seaport Museum – the result of an ambitious and rewarding collaboration between the two organizations,” says Dr. Maria Balshaw, CBE Director, Tate.
Watercolors from Tate brings together 92 watercolors, four oil paintings and one of the artist’s last sketchbooks. “Not one of these watercolors or the sketchbook would have survived had Turner had anything to do with it,” notes exhibition curator David Blayney Brown, Tate’s Manton Senior Curator of British Art 1790-1850. Before his death, Turner sought to cement his place in history by bequeathing the contents of his studio to the British nation. He envisioned that the finished oil pictures would hang in rotation in a Turner Gallery inside the National Gallery at Trafalgar Square. But that dream never came to pass and, in 1856, the Chancery Court overruled the artist’s wishes, saving the entire contents of the studio, including more than 30,000 watercolors and sketches stashed haphazardly in cupboards, crammed in drawers, and rolled between canvases.
Nicholas Bell, senior vice president for Curatorial Affairs, Mystic Seaport Museum, says, “Watercolor has always been central to Turner’s art and its inspiration to others. Perhaps surprisingly for a North American audience, which has always had greater access to his oils, the watercolors have long competed in Britain with their weightier oil counterparts for museum-goers’ affections. What’s so marvelous about this gathering of loan works is that its very size makes it possible to follow Turner’s career trajectory in all its complexity.”
“Here we see not the public Turner, whose large oil paintings hung prominently in the Royal Academy, but the private artist who continually tested compositions, color, and tactile effect,” says David Blayney Brown.
Watercolors from Tate brings together luminous landscapes and atmospheric seascapes, architectural and topographical sketches, travel drawings, and even a number of intimate interior views. Some watercolors were completed in the studio; others, sketched en plein air. A number appear to have been dashed off on tiny slips of paper; others are finished works, conceived for display, incorporating ink, pencil and gouache. The earliest work on view is a romantic scene of a gorge painted in 1791 when Turner was 17 years old; the latest, painted 55 years later and exhibited at the Royal Academy five years before the artist’s death, is Whalers (Boiling Blubber) Entangled in Flaw Ice, Endeavoring to Extricate Themselves (1846).
The exhibition is organized into seven sections: “From Architecture to Landscape: Early Work,” “Nature and the Ideal: England c. 1805-15,” “Home and Abroad: 1815-30,” “Light and Color,” “The Annual Tourist: 1830-40,” and “Master and Magician: Late Work.”
The final section, “Turner and the Sea,” was curated especially for Mystic Seaport Museum. It is a selection of 17 watercolors, oils, and a sketchbook of scenes of the sea–shipwrecks, a beached boat, coastal views, and purely atmospheric images. Highlights include a graphite and watercolor drawing evoking with stark economy a vessel or whale stranded on a mountainous coast and Stormy Sea with Dolphins (c.1835-4), a major painting that last traveled to the U.S. in 1966 as part of a notable monographic exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art.
Press Preview
Members of the media will have an opportunity to meet and have a private tour of the exhibition with its curator, the internationally renowned Turner scholar David Blayney Brown, Manton Senior Curator of British Art 1790 to 1850 at Tate on October 3, 2-4 p.m.
Conversations with Turner: The Watercolors, edited by Nicholas R. Bell, accompanies Watercolors from Tate.
The book’s format is inspired by this introduction of Britain’s seminal visual artist to new audiences. Following an introductory essay on Turner’s lifelong pursuit of excellence in watercolor by David Blayney Brown, an international cadre of established and rising scholars and artists meet in dialogue in a series of thematic “conversations” in print.
Addressing such areas as the evolution of Turner’s art in watercolor, evidence of rapid changes to England’s industry and culture in the early 19th century, his treatment of time and memory, and the question of how his works influence contemporary artists working today, these conversations are intended to offer the reader accessible entry points into the medium central to Turner’s development as an artist.
The book is co-published by Mystic Seaport Museum and Skira Editore.
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 new Thompson Exhibition Building houses a state-of-the-art gallery that will feature J.M.W. Turner: Watercolors from Tate, the most comprehensive exhibition of Turner watercolors ever displayed in the U.S. opening October 5, 2019. 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. (August 28, 2019) — Mystic Seaport Museum announces it is initiating a search for a new senior vice president for Curatorial Affairs to replace Nicholas Bell, who is leaving the Museum to become President and CEO of the Glenbow Museum in Calgary, Alberta.
“We are grateful for Nicholas’s vision and leadership and his profound contribution to the Museum,” said Steve White, president of Mystic Seaport Museum. “While we are disappointed to see him go, we are excited for the professional and personal opportunity it affords him and his family as he is returning to his native Canada. He leaves an impressive legacy, and the state of our exhibition program has never been stronger. I am thrilled to announce he will continue to serve on the Museum’s Exhibition Committee.
Bell’s arrival coincided with the opening of the Museum’s new Thompson Exhibition Building in 2016. Using the building’s 5,000 square-foot Collins Gallery as an anchor venue, Bell directed an ambitious and diverse series of exhibitions, including:
The international debut of The Vikings Begin: Treasures from Uppsala University, Sweden, an exhibition of some of the earliest Viking artifacts ever unearthed.
Science Myth and Mystery, the Vinland Map Saga, the first public display of the controversial map outside of Yale University in more than 50 years.
Death in the Ice: The Mystery of the Franklin Expedition, an examination of the fate of the ships and crew of a tragic attempt to traverse the Arctic’s Northwest Passage in the 1840s, featuring artifacts recovered from the recently discovered shipwrecks.
Murmur: Arctic Realities, the international debut of a major installation by contemporary artist, John Grade, examining the changing arctic through sculpture and augmented reality.
Monument Man: The Art of Kevin Sampson, the museum’s first artist-in-residence.
The Museum will open J.M.W. Turner: Watercolors from Tate, Saturday, October 5. The exhibition on loan from Tate, London, features 97 works by the iconic British artist from throughout his career. Mystic Seaport Museum is the only North American venue for the show, which is the largest collection of Turner watercolors ever to be displayed in the US.
The Museum recently joined the Global Curatorial Project on the history and legacy of African slavery, an international consortium led by the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture and Brown University’s Center for the Study of Slavery and Justice, that will collaborate on exhibitions and programming in the coming years.
The Museum has received unprecedented support in recent years for it exhibition and curatorial work. For example, the Henry Luce Foundation awarded a $735,000 grant to support the curation and development of new collections installations and related programming. The three projects provide new perspectives on the Museum’s collections while also promoting public access. The first of the projects, Mary Mattingly’s Open Ocean, is now on display in the Museum’s R.J. Schaefer Building.
The Museum was also the recipient of $736,167 in Save America’s Treasures grants to support the restoration of the L.A. Dunton fishing schooner and preservation work for the Rosenfeld Collection of Maritime Photography. The grants from the National Park Service are implemented in partnership with the Institute of Museum and Library Services, the National Endowment for the Humanities, and the National Endowment for the Arts.
The Museum is initiating a nationwide search for a new senior vice president for Curatorial Affairs.
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 new Thompson Exhibition Building houses a state-of-the-art gallery that will feature J.M.W. Turner: Watercolors from Tate, the most comprehensive exhibition of Turner watercolors ever displayed in the U.S. opening October 5, 2019. 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. (August 1, 2019) — Mystic Seaport Museum is pleased to announce it honored maritime photographer Benjamin Mendlowitz with the William P. Stephens Award.
Established in 1988, and named after William P. Stephens (1845-1946), known by many as the “Dean of American Yachtsmen” and “the grand old man of American yachting,” the award is given periodically in recognition of a significant and enduring contribution to the history, preservation, progress, understanding, or appreciation of American yachting and boating.
“We are deeply honored to present this award to Benjamin Mendlowitz to recognize his life’s work capturing the beauty and craftsmanship of wooden boats,” said Mystic Seaport Museum President Steve White. “Much as the Rosenfeld family chronicled the early and middle of the 20th century of American yachting with their iconic black-and-white photographs, Mendlowitz applies his talented eye and intuitive sense of light and curve to portray the classic boats that remain from the past and to document the important vessels from our generation. His work helped drive the renaissance of wooden boats in America over the last 40 years.”
Mendlowitz was born and raised in New York City and drew his passion for boats and the sea from summers on the New Jersey Shore, where he was influenced by the local traditional boat builders. After graduating from Brandeis University, he embarked on a career in photography with his work appearing in WoodenBoat Magazine and other nautical publications. Through his company NOAH Publications, Mendlowitz publishes the Calendar of Wooden Boats, which has been a staple on the walls of wooden boat enthusiasts for more than 30 years.
Mendlowitz photographs have appeared regularly on the covers of many trade and educational books, and in feature articles and on the covers of the most respected boating magazines including WoodenBoat, Nautical Quarterly, Sail, Yachting, Cruising World, Maine Boats, Homes & Harbors, Soundings, Chasse-Maree and L’annee Bateau (France), Classic Boat, (Britain), Yacht (Germany), and Arte Navale (Italy). His work has also appeared in magazines such as Time, Esquire, Money, People, Atlantic Monthly, Connoisseur, Historic Preservation, Field & Stream, Down East, Yankee, Sports Illustrated, The London Times Magazine, The Boston Globe Magazine, The New York Times Magazine, among many others.
Mendlowitz’s newest book, Herreshoff: American Masterpieces, created in collaboration with Maynard Bray and Claas van der Linde, was published in November 2016 by W.W. Norton & Company of New York. In 1998, Norton published Wood, Water & Light, a large-format, full-color book featuring more than 180 of Mendlowitz’s finest early images with accompanying text by Joel White. In addition to seven other book published by Norton, two books published by NOAH Publications feature his photography: Joel White: Boatbuilder, Designer(2002), with text by Bill Mayher and Maynard Bray, and Aida(2012) by Maynard Bray.
The award was presented as part of the Castine Classic Race Symposium at the Maine Maritime Academy, in Castine, Maine, July 31.
Previous recipients include Olin J. Stephens II, Jon Wilson, Elizabeth Meyer, Briggs Cunningham, John Gardner, Carleton Mitchell, Maynard Bray, John Rousmaniere, and Louie Howland.
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 new Thompson Exhibition Building houses a state-of-the-art gallery that will feature J.M.W. Turner: Watercolors from Tate, the most comprehensive exhibition of Turner watercolors ever displayed in the U.S. opening October 5, 2019. 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. (July 19, 2019) — Mystic Seaport Museum will hold its annual Antique & Classic Boat Rendezvous Saturday and Sunday, July 27-28.
The event showcases high-quality antique vessels, including cruisers, sailboats, and runabouts. The classic vessels will create a colorful gathering along the Museum’s waterfront. Visitors are invited to see the displayed vessels Saturday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Sunday from 9 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. An award competition will recognize excellence in restoration, authenticity, and workmanship.
This year, the Museum will honor vessels designed by Elco, founded in 1893 as the Electric Launch Company. In its years of boatbuilding, Elco produced more than 3,000 pleasure boats and more than 1,500 military vessels, including 399 PT boats during World War II. Today, the Elco legacy continues with the company building electric motors and launches with quiet beauty and sound innovation. Valentine, hull number 1 of the 50-foot Cruisette model, built in Bayonne, NJ, in 1929, is the featured boat. She is currently cared for in Essex, CT.
The Rendezvous concludes Sunday at 12 p.m. with a parade of the classic boats down the Mystic River. Each will be announced on the shore at Mystic River Park as it passes through the Mystic River Bascule Bridge. The boats then make their way down river to Fishers Island Sound in what has become a highlight of the Mystic summer season.
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 new Thompson Exhibition Building houses a state-of-the-art gallery that will feature J.M.W. Turner: Watercolors from Tate, the most comprehensive exhibition of Turner watercolors ever displayed in the U.S. opening October 5, 2019. 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 (July 2, 2019) — RUNA, a band that infuses Celtic music with Americana and roots music, will debut its newest music video at Mystic Seaport Museum in advance of its July 13 performance at the Museum’s Arts on the Quad.
RUNA shot the video for the song “The Banks of Newfoundland” on the Joseph Conrad, a full-rigged ship that is a floating exhibition at Mystic Seaport Museum. Visitors to the Museum can see the video on screens located at the North and South Museum entrances beginning Monday, July 8.
The song is about the trials and travails of young men from Ireland who were making their way to America via Greenland and Newfoundland at the turn of the 20th century. It was not an easy trip by any stretch of the imagination, lead vocalist Shannon Lambert-Ryan noted, and the song reflects the realities of the hardships they faced.
The group shot the video in April 2019 on the Conrad. The song is included on RUNA’s newest album, “Ten: The Errant Night,” which was released earlier this year.
RUNA opens the Arts on the Quad 2019 season at Mystic Seaport Museum with its July 13 concert on the McGraw Quadrangle, outside the Thompson Exhibition Building. In addition to the concert, there will be a lecture that evening about the Museum exhibit the Benjamin F. Packard Cabin. The Packard exhibit will be open from 5-8 p.m. that evening as part of the event. Suggested donation for admission is $10 per person. All Arts on the Quad programs run from 5-8 p.m.
Arts on the Quad is a summertime series that hosts a variety of speakers and activities paired with live performances that celebrate the Museum’s diverse exhibitions. Guests are invited to bring their own lawn chairs, 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.
Other performances scheduled for the summer are:
July 27, The New London Big Band and “Streamlined: From Hull To Home”
August 10, Figureheads and Flock Theatre’s performance of William Shakespeare’s “Comedy of Errors”
August 24, Homeport and Grumbling Gryphons Traveling Children’s Theatre
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 new Thompson Exhibition Building houses a state-of-the-art gallery that will feature J.M.W. Turner: Watercolors from Tate, the most comprehensive exhibition of Turner watercolors ever displayed in the U.S. opening October 5, 2019. 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.
Dark Harbor 20s racing off Islesboro, ME. Photo Credit: Antelo Devereux, Jr.
Dark Harbor 20s racing off Islesboro, ME. Photo Credit: Antelo Devereux, Jr.
Mystic, Conn. (July 2, 2019) — Mystic Seaport Museum announces it is honoring the Dark Harbor 20 class owners with the William A. Baker Award. The award is given to promote the awareness and appreciation of fine examples of one-design classes or boats of like kind, and to foster faithful preservation and restoration, and encourage their continued use.
The owners are being recognized for their effort to preserve and maintain a significant class of American sailing craft.
Antique and classic boat organizations throughout the country typically present awards for the preservation of wooden boats. As a rule, these awards are presented to individual owners or vessels, recognizing some superlative aspect of the work that has been done to keep them up, maintain original status, or examples of fine craftsmanship.
The William Avery Baker Award is unusual in that it is presented to a class association or group of owners. The purpose is to recognize the people and communities that do the bold, arduous, and often expensive work of keeping a large group or class of vessels actively sailing.
The Dark Harbor 20 was designed in 1934 by yacht designers Olin Stephens II and his partner, Drake Sparkman, in response to a request from members of the Tarratine Yacht Club in Isleboro, ME, for a new sloop for club racing. The resulting boat is a narrow, fin-keel hull with long overhangs and a Bermudan rig. The first batch of 16 boats was built by George Lawley in Neponset, MA, during 1934-5. The design proved to be a success, both on and off the racecourse. The boats are fast, easily driven with particularly good windward performance, and easy to handle.
A second batch of five boats joined the fleet after World War II. All but one of the original Dark Harbor 20s are still sailing, and in 2006 a fiberglass version was added to the class. The new boats were designed and engineered by Sparkman & Stephens to be identical in all relevant aspects to the wooden boats to ensure fair competition.
“The owners of the Dark Harbor 20s are to be commended for their dedication to authenticity and active use of the class. That so many of the inaugural fleet are still sailing is a remarkable accomplishment and yet there is room for a next generation to continue the class for the future,” said Steve White, president of Mystic Seaport Museum. “We are proud to honor the Dark Harbor 20 owners for their continued effort to allow future generations to sail and enjoy these fine boats.”
The award will be presented at a ceremony at the Tarratine Club July 31.
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 new Thompson Exhibition Building houses a state-of-the-art gallery that will feature J.M.W. Turner: Watercolors from Tate, the most comprehensive exhibition of Turner watercolors ever displayed in the U.S. opening October 5, 2019. 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.
GFOE engineers and pilots fly deep-sea robots from the control room of a ship. (Photo credit: Global Foundation for Ocean Exploration)
Plans Call for Underwater Research and Education Center, Expanded Exhibition Space, New Restaurant and Hotel
Mystic, Conn. (June 13, 2019) — Mystic Seaport Museum announced today proposed changes to its grounds that will advance the Museum’s role as a leader in the maritime heritage field.
The three projects include construction of an underwater research and education center in partnership with the Global Foundation for Ocean Exploration (GFOE), the expansion of public display of its watercraft collection, and construction of a restaurant and boutique hotel.
The Global Foundation for Ocean Exploration is a 501c3 nonprofit organization whose headquarters is currently on the Mystic Seaport Museum campus. GFOE designs, builds, and operates some of the most advanced underwater technologies used for scientific exploration. GFOE proposes to create an Underwater Research and Education Center on land to be leased from the Museum next to the James T. Carlton Marine Science Center. Phase One of this facility will house a work area for the research and development of underwater technologies. In addition, GFOE will provide interactive, hands-on displays in the Museum’s Clift Block building, which will demonstrate to Museum visitors and school groups some of the cutting-edge technologies that GFOE uses in ocean exploration. Phase Two will include a pool for testing underwater robots and other technologies, while providing a space for hands-on activities for students and the public.
The new watercraft exhibit space will be located in the Museum’s Collections Research Center. Presently 460 historic vessels are stored in the center. Due to its configuration, public access is limited to occasional public viewing events, scheduled tours, and research visits by appointment. The plan calls for the conversion of 38,000 square feet of warehouse storage to exhibit space suitable for the display of boats in the collection. This permanent exhibit will feature a rotating selection of watercraft and be open to Museum visitors on a daily basis.
The proposed restaurant and hotel is being developed in partnership with Greenwich Hospitality Group and would be built on the site of Latitude 41° Restaurant & Tavern. Plans call for the demolition of Latitude 41° and the construction of a 20-25 room hotel with a restaurant and event space. The new building will continue the Museum’s role as a superior venue for weddings, corporate meetings, and group events in the Mystic area and the restaurant will provide a fine-dining destination for Museum visitors and the public. The building will be set farther back on the property from Route 27.
“We are excited to announce these three strategic initiatives, which will add significantly to the visitor experience of the Museum, support and share the important work of the Global Foundation for Ocean Exploration, and provide new sources of revenue to help sustain Museum operations,” said Steve White, president of Mystic Seaport Museum.
Mystic Seaport Museum is located within a Maritime Heritage District in the Town of Stonington. The Museum submitted an amendment to its master plan to the town’s Planning and Zoning Commission to address the proposed projects.
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 new Thompson Exhibition Building houses a state-of-the-art gallery that will feature J.M.W. Turner: Watercolors from Tate, the most comprehensive exhibition of Turner watercolors ever displayed in the U.S. opening October 5, 2019. 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.
