FIGUREHEADS REIMAGINED

Dramatic Mysterious Memorable

SAILOR MADE: FOLK ART OF THE SEA

When sailors went to sea in the 19th century, they faced difficult working conditions, cramped personal space onboard ship, and voyages that at times could stretch for months or even years. Sailor Made: Folk Art of the Sea, a new exhibition in the Museum’s C.D. Mallory Building, explores the art that emerged out of this working world, reflecting sailors’ connections to shipboard life, their thoughts about culture on shore, and the souvenirs they created to remember and share the experiences of their travels.

The second of four new exhibitions funded by the Henry Luce Foundation, Sailor Made highlights more than 200 objects from the Museum’s collection, many of which have long been hidden from public view. Each artifact has its own story, and through the work of exhibition curator Mirelle Luecke, Ph.D., much new information has been uncovered about the objects in the show.

“When stuck in the difficult, dangerous, and sometimes monotonous environment of the ship, sailors used art to express themselves. The designs they inscribed on scrimshaw, the types of household items they made, and the ways they used different materials were all intentions, and tell us something about the sailors themselves, their experiences, and the world they lived in,” said Luecke.

These stories show how creating art enabled sailors to differentiate their labor and leisure time in the otherwise all-consuming work environment of the ship.

To do this sailors turned to art, carving scrimshaw, drawing in journals, sewing intricate embroidery, and creating intricate knot-work, to name but a few of the media on display.

As self-taught artists, sailors engaged with the working world of the ship, imagined their ideal lives on shore, and created objects to commemorate their experiences at sea. This exhibition is a view into the world of the 19th-century sailor, with a few modern examples to show how those impulses and activities continue today in some naval and merchant mariners. Mystic Seaport Museum was honored to be the recipient of a major grant from the Henry Luce Foundation to support a series of four guest-curated exhibitions that run through 2022: • Mary Mattingly’s Open Ocean • Sailor Made: Folk Art of the Sea • Figureheads & Ship Carvings • The Sea as Muse The Henry Luce Foundation’s support brought three distinguished curators to the Museum to select, present, and interpret artifacts from the Museum’s own collection with the purpose of offering new audiences access to compelling “hidden” art objects and introducing new voices to the Museum’s interpretation of its collections. The Henry Luce Foundation funded exhibitions are presented in concert with the Museum’s Era of Exhibitions.

The Era of Exhibitions has been made possible in part through the generous support of the following:

LEADERSHIP CIRCLE Jay S. and Jeanne Benet Alexander and Amanda Bulazel Chubb, the global insurance company, in Honor of Robert G. Stone, Jr. J. Barclay Collins, II in Honor of Nicholas R. Bell Charles and Irene Hamm Henry Luce Foundation Ken and Dina Siegel Thompson Family Foundation

PATRON CIRCLE Grant and Peggy Cambridge Cape Branch Foundation The Capital Group Companies S. Carter Gowrie The Manton Foundation The Donald C. McGraw Foundation Robert Musetti and Carol Allison-Musetti Laurie Olson and Maria Fasulo Hope H. van Beuren Vietor Family, in memory of their father, Alexander O. Vietor Robert & Susan Vincent

ERA OF EXHIBITIONS SPONSORS Anonymous Richard and Suzanne Clary Sharon Cohen & Stephen Johnson William E. and Antonia B. Cook Maarten de Jong and Kendra Matthew Mrs. Rogers M. Doering Dolan Family Foundation Peter and Renate Gleysteen M. Frank Higgins & Co. Michael Hudner The Edward and Mary Lord Foundation Robert and Cynthia Martin Michael and Joanne Masin Cayre and Alexis P. Michas Elizabeth Riley and Daniel Smith Steve Stepler and Susan Scarritt

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Please make your donation by December 31, 2020. To make your gift today, please call 860.572.5365 or visit www.mysticseaport.org/support.