Mystic, Conn. (September 29, 2020) — A $1,572 grant to Mystic Seaport Museum awarded by Connecticut Humanities will enable the Museum to hold a free online lecture series related to its new exhibition, Sailor Made: Folk Art of the Sea, which brings rarely-seen hand-crafted artifacts from the Museum’s collection to light. Three different speakers – Dr. Hester Blum, Nicolas Fox, and Dr. Nicole Williams – will explore Sailor Made from different perspectives, and encourage participants to dig deeper into the stories of the objects and their creators.
With content geared to adult learners, the lectures will appeal to college students, maritime enthusiasts, and craftspeople.
Dr. Blum’s lecture, “The Inner Lives of Sailors” on October 7, will explore what happens when a place of manual labor becomes a location of creative and intellectual work as well. Dr. Blum is a professor at Penn State University.
In his October 14 talk, “Wish You Were Here,” maritime artist Nicolas Fox will discuss the drawings and illustrations in the exhibition from the creator’s perspective: from their drive to create and share what they saw, to the multitude of materials they used.
Dr. Williams, a recent postdoctoral fellow at Washington University, will discuss how artists, writers, and museum designers of the early twentieth century shaped a lasting image of the American whaling industry as a preindustrial craft practice. Her lecture, “’With loving care he wrought’: Maritime America, Nostalgia, and the Arts and Crafts Movement, 1900-1940,” takes place October 21.
All of the lectures will take place at 1:00 p.m. ET, via Zoom. Registration is required.
“We are thrilled to offer digital programming for adults who wish to continue engaging with humanities content, but who may not be able to travel to the Museum in person right now. The high capacity of Zoom allows us to accommodate more participants from a more diverse geography than we could in person,” said Arlene Marcionette, public programs project manager at Mystic Seaport Museum. “We are grateful for this grant from Connecticut Humanities, which allows us to bring these stories to the public.”
Connecticut Humanities, a nonprofit affiliate of the National Endowment for the Humanities, supports cultural and historic organizations that tell the state’s stories, build community and enrich lives.
For more information, or to register for the lecture series, please visit the calendar at www.mysticseaport.org/.
Media Contact
Dan McFadden
Director of Communications
Mystic Seaport Museum
860.572.5317
dan.mcfadden@mysticseaport.org/
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. Mystic Seaport Museum is located one mile south of Exit 90 off I-95 in Mystic, CT. For more information, please visit www.mysticseaport.org/ and follow Mystic Seaport Museum on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and Instagram.
