America and the S e a Aw a r d G a l a
Sabino Goes Electric
Investing in our Visitors’ Experience
Continuing a Tradition
MYSTIC SEAPORT
MUSEUM
MAGAZINE SPRING/SUMMER • 2022
Sargent, Whistler & Venetian Glass American Artists and the Magic of Murano
OPENING October 15, 2022
WELCOME TO ONE OF THE WORLD’S COOLEST SUMMER CAMPS
For more info, visit www.mysticseaport.org/summercamps or call 860.572.5331.
CONTENTS
MYSTIC SEAPORT MUSEUM MAGAZINE is a publication of Mystic Seaport Museum.
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PRESIDENT Peter Armstrong CHAIRMAN OF THE BOARD Michael Hudner EDITOR Dan McFadden editor@mysticseaport.org CONTRIBUTING EDITOR Sherri Ramella
S P R I N G / S U M M E R
DESIGN Susan Heath CONTRIBUTORS Sarah Armour Peter Armstrong Christina Connett Brophy, Ph.D. Elysa Engelman, Ph.D. Chris Gasiorek Akeia de Barros Gomes, Ph.D. Brian Koehler Arlene Marcionette Shannon McKenzie Paul O’Pecko Maria Petrillo Sherri Ramella Krystal Rose
2022
12
IN THIS ISSUE VIEW FROM THE BRIDGE................................................4
PHOTOGRAPHY Joe Michael Mystic Seaport Museum Archives Andy Price Captain William (Bill) Pinkney
MUSEUM NEWS .........................................................6-9 SABINO GOES ELECTRIC.............................................8 THE AMERICA AND THE SEA AWARD GALA.....................9 CAPITAL IMPROVEMENTS INVESTING IN OUR VISITORS’ EXPERIENCE...........10-11 UPCOMING EXHIBITIONS........................................ 12-18 SARGENT, WHISTLER AND VENETIAN GLASS: AMERICAN ARTISTS AND THE MAGIC OF MURANO... 12-16 OCEANUS: ALEXIS ROCKMAN.....................................17 A BIOLOGICAL INVASION.......................................... 18 EDUCATION NASA TEAMS UP WITH TREWORGY PLANETARIUM........ 19
ON THE COVER: Giovanni Boldini, Portrait of James McNeill Whistler, 1897, oil on canvas, 75 1/4 x 45 1/2 x 5 in., Brooklyn Museum, Gift of A. Augustus Healy, 09.849
HERITAGE TRADES CONTINUING A TRADITION...................................20-21
RIGHT: Charles Caryl Coleman, The Bronze Horses of San Marco, Venice, 1876, oil on canvas, 40 1/4 x 32 1/2in., Minneapolis Institute of Art, Gift of the Regis Collection, 79.13
CONTACT US Visitor Information: 860.572.5315 Administration: 860.572.0711 Advancement: 860.572.5365 Membership: 860.572.5339 Program Reservation: 860.572.5331 Museum Store: 860.572.5385 Volunteer Sevices: 860.572.5378 Please go to the Museum’s website for information on Spring and Summer schedules. ADDRESS: 75 Greenmanville Avenue P.O. Box 6000 Mystic, CT 06355-0990 www.mysticseaport.org
FROM THE COLLECTIONS..............................................22 SUMMER HAPPENINGS.................................................23
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FOR MUSEUM EVENT INFORMATION VISIT US ON THE WEB AT
WWW.MYSTICSEAPORT.ORG/EVENTS
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VIEW FROM THE BRIDGE
A MESSAGE FROM THE PRESIDENT
Finer commentators than I have described the strange year that was
2021. So, to paraphrase Dickens, I will say that for Mystic Seaport Museum
it was, “the best of times and the worst of times.” Uncertainty for an organi-
zation like ours can be fatal, and not being able to plan what was around the
corner was difficult for everyone. However, with the help of new COVID-related
federal and state grants, as well as the continued support of our amazing do-
nors, members, Trustees, staff, and volunteers, 2021 actually ended with visitation
equaling pre-pandemic years and a moderately healthy bank account.
Now is the time to invest in our people and your Museum. As you read through the pages of
this magazine, I hope you will feel a sense of, well … NEW BEGINNINGS! We are expanding and improving food service offerings, building new docks, investing in our grounds, launching exciting new initiatives, and staffing the Museum
on par with pre-pandemic levels. As you read about new exhibitions, conservation programs, educational plans, and capital improvements, please remember that none of these could be delivered without our skilled, enthusiastic, and professional staff bolstered by our dedicated volunteers. That is why, as we strive for excellence in our work, the
Museum has established a robust training program, including a heritage trades component, thanks to a generous grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Sciences.
Perhaps the most important initiative—and one I am dedicated to weaving into the fabric of the Museum—is the
opening up of the American maritime story to as wide and as diverse an audience as possible. This means building and strengthening relationships with regional partner organizations to ensure that all voices can be heard; seeking opportunities for inclusion and greater access for people with disabilities; and asking you, the community, what
stories you feel are important and meaningful. Anyone who gives thought to the American maritime experience will know it is built upon a richness of perspectives from individuals across the globe—the sea connects us all. We will
endeavor to expand the breadth of our storytelling to display and discuss this complex history, and we will ask for and welcome your feedback on how we can do a better job of telling the stories of everyone’s maritime heritage.
I ask you to join us not just as a passive recipient of history, but as an active participant as we not only share his-
tory, but start to make it. And join us as we begin to recover from the pandemic and get back to the Mystic Seaport Museum we all love.
Cheers,
Peter Armstrong
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Opening May 28, 2022
Story Boats On May 28, the Museum will open its newest exhibition, Story Boats: The Tales They Tell, in the Collins Gallery. The show features 18 boats—most from the collection, some on loan—that have remarkable stories.
While the collection’s historic boats are valued by scholars and researchers around the globe as physical objects, this
exhibition focuses on the human stories they represent. Visitors will find Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s yacht Vireo, the boat he sailed on the day before he contracted polio. You will see the lifeboat from the training vessel Albatross, and
hear the story of how the crew was marooned at sea after a sudden storm capsized their ship. You will learn about the Analuisa and how that diminutive boat was the vehicle for freedom for not one, but two groups of Cubans.
Not all of the boats will be in the gallery; several will be located around the grounds as well. Of special note is
Gerda III, the Danish lighthouse tender that transported more than 300 Jews to safety in Sweden during World War II.
On long-term loan from the Museum of Jewish Heritage—A Living Memorial to the Holocaust, that small, unassuming workboat has perhaps the most significant story of them all.
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MUSEUM NEWS
Lead Shipwright Walter Ansel
A VISITING ANCHOR When the U.S. Naval War College in Newport needed someone to restore the anchor from the USS Constellation, they turned to the Mystic Seaport Museum shipyard to take on the job. The anchor, originally from the 1854 sloop-of-war that is now a museum vessel in Baltimore’s Inner Harbor, has been on display on the War College grounds for many years. It was removed from the Constellation in 1904 when the ship was berthed in Newport as a training platform. The work on the artifact includes sandblasting and painting the iron—all 11,000 pounds of it—and fabricating
A NEW FOCUS FOR THE MUNSON INSTITUTE The Frank C. Munson Institute of American Maritime History, established at Mystic Seaport Museum, has provided graduate-level summer courses in maritime histo-
a new wooden stock from two large white oaks harvested here in Connecticut. The stock was cut down during a restoration in 1988 to enable it to pass under highway overpasses in Boston. The new stock will have the proper dimensions of the original and be hand-finished to show period tool marks. Historians at the Naval War College Museum date the anchor to around 1829. It may have seen service on a
frigate before the Constellation. The Constellation holds the distinction of being the last exclusively sail-powered warship designed and built for the U.S. Navy.
maritime history. With funding from the Mellon Foundation, the 2022 Munson Institute will align with “Reimagining New England Histories: Historical Injustice, Sovereignty, and Freedom,” a collaborative project between Mystic Seaport Museum, Brown University and Williams College, in telling the story of New England through Black and Indigenous perspectives using a maritime lens. By providing global, diverse, and multidisciplinary perspectives and scholarship on maritime history and including previously marginalized voices, the Munson Institute will continue to be on the forefront of scholarship and publications in maritime history.
ry for over sixty years. Since its founding in 1955, it has been an important center for the teaching of maritime history in the United States. We are excited to announce that moving forward, the Munson Institute will actively broaden its engagement with institutions, scholars, and maritime communities to expand its perspectives on
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Funding was provided by the Mellon Foundation as part of its Just Futures initiative.
MUSEUM NEWS
CT HUMANITIES AWARDS MAJOR GRANTS
Connecticut Humanities, the statewide, nonprofit affiliate of the
National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH), awarded Mystic Seaport Museum $519,999 in three separate grants.
The first is an award of $500,000 for a CT Cultural Fund Operat-
ing Support Grant, administered in partnership with the Connecticut
State Department of Economic Development/Connecticut Office of the Arts. The operating grants assist organizations as they recover from
the pandemic and maintain and grow their ability to serve the public.
The Museum will use the funds in part to improve accessibility on the
grounds, enhance online content and access for remote learning, and support the expansion and merging of its educational offerings under
the umbrella of the soon-to-launch Center for Experiential Education.
The second award is a $10,000 grant from the Sustaining Humanities
through the American Rescue Plan (SHARP) Capacity Grants, funded by the NEH and the federal American Rescue Plan. The Museum will use the SHARP funds to support diversity, equity, accessibility, and
inclusion (DEAI) training across all departments. The firm Lord Cultural Resources—a global practice leader in bringing DEAI principles to the museum field—has been engaged to guide this work.
The final award is a Capacity Building Grant
to cover Lord’s external information gathering and reporting in order to help the
Museum better understand and engage with a more diverse public.
BRILLIANT TURNS 90! For the last 69 years, Brilliant has served as a flagship for Mystic Seaport Museum and as the Museum’s primary sail training vessel, introducing teenagers and adults alike to the thrill and challenge of life at sea.
Launched in April 1932, Brilliant was designed by renowned naval architect Olin Stephens and built by the celebrated Henry B. Nevins yard in City Island, New York. Within the first 18 months, the boat would set a transatlantic speed record for a yacht of its size, sailing from Nantucket Lightship to Bishop Rock Light, England, in just 15 days, 1 hour, and 23 minutes.
For the next decade, Brilliant cruised as a private yacht, in grace and style, before being taken over by the U.S. Coast Guard for antisubmarine patrol work during World War II. Following the war, yachtsman Briggs Cunningham took ownership and enthusiastically sailed Brilliant for nearly ten years before generously donating it to the Museum in 1953 to teach young people the art of seamanship. We estimate 11,000 youths have counted themselves among her crew since that time, and the vessel has sailed a distance that can wrap the Earth five times.
Join us in raising a glass to Brilliant, and to toast another 90 years.
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MUSEUM NEWS
SABINO GOES ELECTRIC By Chris Gasiorek
The 1908-built steamboat Sabino has graced the wa-
ters of the Mystic River since 1974 providing countless
chargeable lithium-ion batteries was deemed impossi-
an excursion ferry, the vessel has been continually up-
design includes the same electric propulsion motor,
seaworthiness, capacity, and passenger comfort over
soundproof containments.
of electric propulsion.
tank, and special sound dampening mufflers will be
Sabino is required to be crewed by a licensed master,
75 hp motor which will drive the propeller shaft via a
engineer. Qualifying for the engineer’s license requires
configuration will still allow connection to the steam
fewer than ten American steamships currently op-
a coupling between the shaft and steam engine. New
memories for visitors to the Museum. Originally built as
ble to implement under current regulations. The current
graded for safety and efficiency with improvements to
powered instead by two diesel generators enclosed in
the years, and that continues today with the addition As a U.S. Coast Guard-inspected passenger vessel,
Two 25 kw Caterpillar marine diesel generators, a fuel
located below the main deck. The generators power a
and due to the steam propulsion, a licensed steam
chain drive. A new thrust bearing will be added and the
years of service aboard an operating steamship. With
engine by disconnecting the chain drive and installing
erating, the pool of engineers has dwindled and the
electric pumps will be added, and we are working with
boat’s operating schedule has had to
Kahlenburg Industries, Inc., to make an air-
in regular operation, the decision was
steam whistle.
keeping the steam boiler and engine
Guard and orders have been placed. Pending
historic fabric of the vessel and main-
spring with hopes of Sabino once again gracing
power for special occasions.
Chris Gasiorek is Senior Vice President of Operations and Watercraft.
be reduced. In order to keep the vessel made to add electric propulsion while
powered whistle that will sound similar to the Approval has been received from the U.S. Coast
intact to minimize the alteration of the
supply chain issues, installation will begin this
tain the option to operate on steam
the Mystic River this season.
The Museum’s proposal to the U.S.
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Coast Guard to power the electric motor from re-
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MUSEUM NEWS
2022 AMERICA AND THE SEA AWARD RECIPIENT: CAPTAIN WILLIAM “BILL” PINKNEY By Sherri Ramella
Past Recipients 2021 Terry Hutchinson 2020 Tom Whidden 2019 Wendy Schmidt
Mystic Seaport Museum is delighted to announce the recipient of the 17th 2018 Dawn Riley and Oakcliff Sailing annual America and the Sea Award is Captain William “Bill” Pinkney, former Museum trustee, U.S. Navy Hospital Corpsman, sailor, educator, author, and 2017 David Rockefeller, Jr., and adventurer. Museum President Peter Armstrong said, “Captain Pinkney expertly Sailors for the Sea and professionally unwraps the stories of the sea, from circumnavigation to the 2016 Bob and Rod Johnstone – J/Boats history of the triangle trade, for a wide and diverse audience. An ambassador to those who believe the maritime world is not their world, he has proven adept 2015 Nathaniel Philbrick in showing everyone—the sea connects us all.” 2014 Charles A. Robertson Pinkney has been drawn to the sea from a very young age and has worked to sustain a personal connection as well as provide opportunities for others to 2013 Gary Jobson learn the important history of people and the sea and the resulting influence on American culture. His work as the first captain of the replica schooner 2012 Jon Wilson and WoodenBoat Amistad—the first vessel constructed from the keel up at Mystic Seaport 2011 The Honorable John F. Lehman Museum—and his journey through the Middle Passage on Sortilege, a voyage shared with educators and classrooms across the country, brought to life 2010 Sylvia A. Earle personal connections to the history of slavery and the critical role that 2009 William I. Koch seafaring played. His solo circumnavigation on his 47-foot cutter, aptly named Commitment, spanned 27,000 miles and 22 months and grew into an 2008 Thomas B. Crowley, Jr., and the educational opportunity for many children via video diaries, phone converCrowley Maritime Corporation sations, tracking through satellite technology, and lesson plans that included 2007 David McCullough nautical calculations and the influence of faraway cultures. All of this incredible work speaks to the core mission of Mystic Seaport Museum. 2006 Olin J. Stephens, II For more information about the gala and Captain Pinkney, please visit mysticseaport.org/gala. This affair is the premier fundraising event for Mystic Seaport Museum. The award will be presented at a black-tie gala on October 26 at the Metropolitan Club in New York City. To request an invitation, please email Sherri Ramella is Associate Director of advancement@mysticseaport.org. Stewardship and Events. SPRING/SUMMER 2022
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C A P I TA L I M P R O V E M E N T S
INVESTING IN OUR VISITORS’ EXPERIENCE By Shannon McKenzie
Last fall, the Board of Trustees agreed to invest in the future sustainability of the Museum and funded a $2 million group of improvements we are calling Project 2022. The wideranging plan will address deferred maintenance on buildings, replace the north end docks with floating docks, refresh our food service outlets, improve accessibility and activities around campus, and reconfigure the entrance and exit at the south end. ARRIVAL The first introduction to these changes will be when visitors arrive at the south entrance. They will be directed
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through the Sanger Visitor Reception Center directly out onto a deck with a newly designed ramp giving an expansive view of the Village Green. A larger and more visible Information Station will be constructed to help orient visitors and share all of the day’s activities. When it comes time to leave, visitors will use a new exit through the Main Store. MARITIME PARK Last year, the Museum conducted an indepth visitor survey, asking questions about what people wanted to experience while visiting. This data has been a
C A P I TA L I M P R O V E M E N T S valuable resource to guide the direction of the projects. A common theme emerged in the responses: visitors want to be able to simply relax and enjoy our park-like setting and river views. This summer, the grounds will be enhanced with additional benches in shady areas and a fire pit with seating for people to gather with friends and family at the end of the day. The performance stage near Chubb’s Wharf will also receive a makeover. The stage will be resituated and enlarged, with an added roof and retractable side curtains. This will expand the usage of the stage, and allow performers more weather protection. “What better way to enjoy the Museum’s idyllic grounds and waterfront than by listening to some live music or taking in a theatrical performance against the backdrop of the Charles W. Morgan,” said Arlene Marcionette, Director of Public Programs. Even better, dine outdoors at the refreshed Schaefer’s Spouter Tavern, adjacent to the stage! REFRESHMENTS In January, we welcomed Lancer Hospitality as the Museum’s new food service provider. The Propeller Coffee Bar, one of three food venues that will be operated by Lancer, opened to the public in the Thompson Exhibition Building on January 20. The lounge-like setting in the bright and spacious Pilalas Lobby is a great place to start the Museum experience. Spouter Tavern reopened this spring with added outdoor seating and offers a casual indoor or riverside lunch in the heart of the village. Pub favorites, sharable snacks, and a rotating list of cocktails and local beers will be on the menu. The biggest changes, however, will take place at the former Galley Restaurant with an entirely modernized food and beverage experience. Renamed Greenmans’ Landing, visitors can get lunch made to order and delivered to their table, or take advantage of the quick grab-and-go offerings
to enjoy as a picnic outdoors. The restaurant will offer family-friendly coastal American cuisine and will feature fresh ingredients sourced from local farmers. The reimagined dining room will have a brand new look, and the patio outside will be updated with bistro lighting and additional seating. There will be after-hours access for evening catered events (indoor or on the patio), and the restaurant may even remain open to the public in the evenings. DOCKS While our dock staff get rave reviews for their service, the number one request we hear from boaters is that they would like to have floating docks. We listened and this spring we are planning to replace the Cruising Club of America dock with floating docks and extend those along Bulazel Wharf (from Chubb’s Wharf to the north end flagpole). Floating docks with modern gangway access will allow for easy access by all boat types and sizes, and allow for easier boarding of vessels for visitors of all abilities. Additionally, upgraded electrical service will better accommodate the needs of visiting boats. ACCESSIBILITY We realize the importance of investing in areas of the grounds that have a direct impact on our visitors, and enhancements to our accessibility for all is part of that emphasis. We recognize that our historic site provides access challenges, and we are taking steps to decrease barriers, including the addition of a ramp to the new Toy Boats Workshop and improving the sidewalks along the water in the village. So join us this summer at the new and improved Mystic Seaport Museum! Shannon McKenzie is the Vice President for Museum Operations.
The newly renovated Schaefer’s Spouter Tavern.
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Opening October 15, 2022
Sargent, Whistler &Venetian Glass American Artists and the Magic of Murano
“Venice—a city of water, light, and beauty—has long captivated American artists and collectors who have been inspired by the creative energy of the city and in particular of Venetian glassmakers. It is fitting that Smithsonian American Art Museum’s exhibition will be presented at Mystic Seaport Museum with their outstanding history of making connections and revealing influences among cultures linked by water.” — Stephanie Stebich, Smithsonian American Art Museum
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UPCOMING EXHIBITION
-
The Magic of Venice By Elysa Engelman, Ph.D.
Close your eyes and envision Venice, Italy. What do you see? Gondolas gliding by on a sunny lagoon lined with stucco buildings? Moonlit views of the sea from a stone terrace? Or perhaps radiant glass being crafted in the fiery furnaces of Murano? These iconic images are rooted in the art, literature, and travel descriptions of American artists and collectors
who
voyaged
to
Venice
between 1870 and 1920, then brought back artwork and collectible glass for sale, private ownership, or public display. Starting this October, Mystic Seaport Museum members and visitors can travel vicariously to turn-of-thecentury
Venice
through
Sargent,
Whistler, and Venetian Glass: American Artists and The Magic of Murano, a new exhibition in the Collins Gallery. Organized by the Smithsonian American
Art
gathers
Museum, more
this
than
100
exhibition views
of
Venice from this period, along with examples of the distinctive glasswork, lace, and beads that drew American artists and collectors there. This is the first comprehensive examination of American tourism, art-making, and art collecting in Venice, bringing to life the John Singer Sargent, A Venetian Woman, 1882, oil on canvas, 93 3/4 x 52 3/8 in., Cincinnati Art Museum, The Edwin and Virginia Irwin Memorial, 1972.37 PREVIOUS PAGE Francis Hopkinson Smith, On the Way to the Public Garden, ca.1895, opaque watercolor and pastel over graphite on paper, 14 1/2 x 24 1/2 in., Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of Laura Dreyfus Barney and Natalie Clifford Barney in memory of their mother, Alice Pike Barney, 1957.13.22
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Venetian glass revival of the late 19th-century and the artistic experimentation
that
the
city
inspired
for visiting artists. The
display
Museum
will
at
Mystic
differ
from
Seaport the
two
prior venues in Washington, D.C., and Fort Worth, Texas, by highlighting the maritime aspects of Venice. An entire
UPCOMING EXHIBITION
John Singer Sargent, Leaving Church, Campo San Canciano, Venice, ca. 1882, oil on canvas, 22 x 33 1/2 in., The Collection of Marie and Hugh Halff
section of the exhibition will fea-
ists, many of whom visited the
and lace at home. Collector interest
ture striking views of Venetian fish-
glass furnaces and eagerly col-
led to frequent depictions of Italian
ing boats, gondolas, bridges, and
lected ornate handblown goblets
glassmakers and glass objects by
the famous canals that to this day
decorated with floral and animal
prominent American artists of that
serve as streets for residents and
motifs. Venetian style seeped into
era, including John Singer Sargent
tourists. The dark side of maritime
many aspects of American civic
and James McNeill Whistler.
commerce
and public art, including mosaics
and
imperialism
is
also included, with sample cards
commissioned
for
of trade beads and loaned bead-
collectors
well
work illuminating the links between
of
Venetian
Theodore Roosevelt.
glass
beads,
the
slave
famous
as
and
to Venice’s iconic public plazas,
portraits
palazzi, and cathedrals, both Sargent
colleges as
Americans
While many artists were drawn
such
as
and
Whistler
sought
out
quieter
parts of the island city. Their works
trade, and encounters with the indig-
American artists of different media
in the exhibition depict working-
enous peoples of North America. This
and styles flocked there as well, with
class Venetians sorting beads, firing
installation also features the addition
works in the exhibition by Ellen Day
glass, or performing everyday tasks
of present-day, collectible works of
Hale, Thomas Moran, Robert Fred-
such as sweeping steps, doing laun-
art glass demonstrating the contin-
erick Blum, William Merritt Chase,
dry, and walking home from church.
ued influence of Venetian styles on
Maxfield Parrish, Maurice Prender-
“I have learned to know a Venice
artists today. The exhibition will be
gast, and Frank Duveneck among oth-
in Venice that the others never
on view through the end of February
ers. An evocative painting by Winslow
seem to have perceived,” wrote
2023.
Homer depicts the Venetian gondolas
Whistler in January of 1880, during
of
that plied the central waterways
his productive fourteen months in
1860-1917 brought a resurgence of
at the Chicago World’s Fair in 1893,
the city. John Singer Sargent turned
ancient Venetian trades and a boost
while paintings and home decorat-
his skill at portraying Boston and
to employment. It coincided with
ing manuals show how middle-class
London socialites toward dazzling
a surge in Venice’s popularity as a
Americans emulated the fashion for
depictions of beautiful bead-sorters
destination
displaying
and
The
Venetian
for
glass
revival
American
tour-
Venetian
views,
glass,
sinister
barflies
during
his
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UPCOMING EXHIBITION
“The glass-blower of Murano is no mere mechanic or artisan. He is in every respect a true artist, an artist endowed with the perception of beauty and genius, who invents and creates daily new forms and colors. The glass is
sojourns to Venice, resulting in the spectacular oil paintings featured in the exhibition. Through scenes
of
Venetian
daily
life
and
views
of
obscure areas, Sargent and Whistler redefined how visitors afterward remembered the light, colors, art, people, pageantry, and other sights of the island city. Building on the highly successful hosting of the J.M.W. Turner watercolor exhibition in 2019-2020, this exhibition will appeal to art lovers, maritime enthusiasts, and world travelers alike. With a full menu of public programs and special events in the works for members and donors, plus a gorgeously illustrated catalog with chapters by experts on glass, lace, beadwork, and American art, you can book your ticket for Venice-in-Mystic next fall or winter! Elysa Engelman is Director of Exhibits.
to him what the chisel is to the sculptor, the brush to the painter.” — Giulio Salviati, 1889 ABOVE: Maurice Brazil Prendergast, Fiesta Grand Canal, Venice, ca. 1899, glass and ceramic mosaic tiles in plaster, 11 x 23 in., Williams College Museum of Art, Bequest of Mrs. Charles Prendergast, 95.4.79 LEFT: Attributed to Ercole Barovier or Nicolò Barovier, Mosaic Glass Goblet, ca. 1914—28, blown and applied hot-worked glass, with mosaic glass inclusions, 6 5/8 x 3 1/4 in. diam., Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of John Gellatly, 1929.8.469.9
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Sargent, Whistler and Venetian Glass: American Artists and the Magic of Murano is organized by the Smithsonian American Art Museum. Generous support has been provided by the Gladys Krieble Delmas Foundation, the Embassy of Italy in Washington, D.C., Chris G. Harris, the Raymond J. and Margaret Horowitz Endowment, Janet and William Ellery James, William R. Kenan Jr. Endowment Fund, Maureen and Gene Kim, the Lunder Foundation—Peter and Paula Lunder Family, Lucy S. Rhame, Holly and Nick Ruffin, the Smithsonian Scholarly Studies Awards, Rick and Lucille Spagnuolo, and Myra and Harold Weiss. The accompanying catalog is supported in part by Jane Joel Knox. The exhibition is supported by an indemnity from the Federal Council on the Arts and Humanities. In-kind support has been provided by Christie’s. The exhibition at Mystic Seaport Museum has been made possible in part by the generous support of donors to the Era of Exhibitions.
UPCOMING EXHIBITION
WHAT LIES BENEATH By Krystal Rose
Artist Alexis Rockman is producing an exciting and timely series of works called Oceanus: Alexis Rockman, the major exhibition premiering at Mystic Seaport Museum in spring 2023. The show will feature ten large-scale watercolors and an 8-by-24-foot painting, all commissioned by the Museum to become part of the permanent collection. Last fall, Rockman worked with curatorial staff to select more than 20 models of watercraft from the collection that will be featured in the central work. From Inuit kayaks and small fishing boats to contemporary mega-freighters, these boats and ships help to show the history of human activity in relationship to the ocean, including their direct ties to the exploitation of resources in the world’s waters. Oceanus will take the viewer on a global journey of discovery beneath the world’s changing seas, deftly weaving natural history, archeology, adventure, political analysis, and science into a story about the human condition. In December and January, six of the watercolors were completed. Several were developed with and inspired by the scientific work of Dr. Jim Carlton and they explore the history of marine extinctions, invasive species, and neopelagic communities living in plastic. Oceanus: Alexis Rockman will open in Collins Gallery in the spring of 2023 and run for one year. Krystal Rose is Curator of Collections.
To learn more about Oceanus: Alexis Rockman visit www.mysticseaport.org/oceanus
Opening Spring 2023 SPRING/SUMMER 2022
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UPCOMING EXHIBITION
Opening Summer 2023
A BIOLOGICAL INVASION
By Christina Connett Brophy, Ph.D.
Two abundant invaders of Long Island Sound — both species are omnivorous scavengers and predators.
The European rock pool shrimp Palaemon elegans, first found in 2010 in Salem, Massachusetts, and now found as far south as central Long Island Sound.
The Asian shore crab Hemigrapsus sanguineus, first found in 1988 in New Jersey, and arriving in Long Island Sound in the 1990s.
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SPRING/SUMMER 2022
Animals and plants have been unwitting passengers on ocean-going vessels for centuries, through ballast rocks in wooden ships, ballast water in the modern age of metal freighters, passengers on hulls, or those transported purposefully. Many of these introduced species (also known as biological invasions) and their impacts are now being exacerbated by climate change, including warming waters and sea level rise, and rapidly increasing globalization. The Mystic River is a living example of this migration, as there are dozens of invasives living in its waters today, which offers us a very unique way to talk about our impact on the ocean through maritime activity. Working with Dr. Jim Carlton, Director Emeritus of Williams-Mystic and world expert on marine biological invasions, and his students, we have developed several new initiatives to inspire visitors to learn more about the fascinating connections between marine science and maritime history. This summer, we will install self-guided tour panels along our waterfront that will point out many of the animals visible to visitors in the Mystic River and the history of their relocation in the context of global maritime activities and the evolution of shipbuilding. We will also invite mariners staying at the Museum’s marina to participate in the project by allowing Williams-Mystic students to sample their hulls for creatures they may have picked up in their travels. Dr. Carlton’s team have been very active for years in sampling our own fleet of floating historic vessels as they are hauled for routine maintenance. In addition, we have identified invasive species that are represented in the 19th-century Blaschka invertebrate glass model collection at Harvard’s Museum of Comparative Zoology. We are planning a major exhibition of a selection of these wonderful pieces next year. This glass menagerie of more than 700 models, created for study in the late 19th-century by a German father and son team, gave students and scientists worldwide the tools to investigate these delicate creatures through the medium of glass, wire, and paint in their true color and form. This will be a very rare opportunity to see some of these models outside of Cambridge, and in the context of their relationship to maritime history.
Christina Connett Brophy, Ph.D., is Senior Director of Museum Galleries and Senior Vice President of Curatorial Affairs.
E D U C AT I O N
NASA TEAMS UP WITH TREWORGY PLANETARIUM By Brian Koehler
Museum’s
will look farther and learn more
have access to cutting-edge NASA
to receive a NASA Community Anchor
in the universe, than any tool has
content into all of our work. Even-
only 21 institutions throughout the
we create will be available in three
offerings of the Museum’s Educa-
this designation, and one of only two
etarium, in-school, and virtual.
school that requests them.
a Community Anchor, the Plan-
new programs at no cost to a pair
lected by NASA. This award validates
nearly $25,000 to develop a series
ported our project throughout the
ning more accessible. The field
nology, Engineering, Mathematics)
While that is happening, we will
Last
December,
the
Treworgy Planetarium was selected
about our galaxy, and our place
resources, and we will infuse this
award. The Planetarium is one of
been able to thus far. The programs
tually, the courses will be official
United
received
formats: on-site here at the Plan-
tion Department, available to any
such institutions in New England. As
In the fall, we will deliver the
States
to
have
We are honored to have been se-
of partner schools who have sup-
the work we do to make STEM lear-
of hands-on STEM (Science, Tech-
grant application process.
of space science has made great
programs for middle school stu-
begin work on a second series fo-
more inclusive, and our goal is for
communities.
upcoming Artemis Missions, which
see that they have a place in the
development of a series of lessons
for the first time since 1973. Our
of
Telescope.
focus on preparing and creating a
Hubble,” this incredible instrument
a NASA Community Anchor, we will
etarium will receive a grant of
strides
recently
towards
being
dents in underserved Connecticut
cusing on another NASA event: the
every member of our community to
Work began this spring with the
will bring humans back to the Moon
world of STEM.
centered around the recent launch
Artemis-themed
Lauded
sustainable habitat on the Moon. As
Brian Koehler is the Supervisor of the Treworgy Planetarium.
the
James as
Webb
the
“successor
to
activities
will
SPRING/SUMMER 2022
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19
H E R I TA G E T R A D E S
By Maria Petrillo
“Keeping skills alive is part of what makes this place a worldclass museum.” - Mary K. Bercaw Edwards, Museum Interpreter
20 | SPRING/SUMMER 2022
H E R I TA G E T R A D E S At its heart, living history is the research, preservation, and practice of historic trades and skills. Over the years, historic trades have become a central pillar of interpretation at Mystic Seaport Museum, and for many it is one of the most memorable aspects of the visitor experience. We cannot recreate in its entirety what a person felt, saw, smelled, or experienced 150 years ago. But just as a letter, document, or diary may provide a window into a person’s life, hands-on demonstrations give us a glimpse into the experiences of those who lived and worked before us. The preservation of traditional trades are at the heart of our historic village. Skills such as hand-forging a replica 19th-century harpoon, handling the complex set of lines aboard a square-rigged ship, or making a whale-line tub from hoops and staves are essential to how we understand and share the past with Museum visitors. The challenge is that preserving these skills is an ongoing process. A grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services is helping us address the continuous need for staff trained in traditional trades. The IMLS grant enables skilled trade specialists to train our newer staff on more advanced skills and techniques. These staff members will then have the opportunity to put those skills into practice while demonstrating them for the public. New hires in the spring will receive introductory training in at least two historic trades, ensuring that we have talented demonstrators available for visitors every day during peak season. In the lead-up to summer, we also plan to work toward reinstating waterfront demonstrations. This will include training on working aloft, setting and furling sails, and leading hands-on demonstrations with visitors. We are also planning to layer a revised chantey program into our waterfront demonstration training, allowing visitors to see how sailors’ work songs were used to coordinate and concentrate the work of the crew on a sailing ship in the 19th century. The preservation of trade skills is essential and as important to the mission of the Museum as the preservation of artifacts and vessels. “Once a skill is lost, it is extremely difficult to recover, either from written sources or from studying artifacts,” notes Mary K. Bercaw Edwards, long-time staff member. “Keeping skills alive is part of what makes this place a world-class museum.” The implementation of this program will be in the hands of Elizabeth Kristian, the new Working Waterfront Supervisor, who most recently worked on the schooner Roseway. She brings a true appreciation for hands-on skills training to her new role. “For me, keeping trades alive is about making the lives of ordinary people in history relevant to our present day,” she says. “Oftentimes we think of history in terms of major events and exceptional people, and while they have their relevance, it can make us miss out on the many ways that humans are connected to each other on a practical level.” As interpreters gain experience in multiple trades, they also gain an understanding of how each relates to the maritime experience, past and present. We are excited to offer this education to our staff, so they can continue the tradition of historic trades at Mystic Seaport Museum, and— most importantly—share that knowledge and experience with the public. Maria Petrillo is Director of Interpretation. SPRING/SUMMER 2022
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FROM THE COLLECTIONS
One Collector’s Passion By Paul O’Pecko
The Linda Witherill Collection of ocean liner memora-
struck and given to the crew of for
bilia, especially Titanic-related items, is an extraordinary
Carpathia
new donation to the Museum. In addition to postcards,
ery
in
saving
brochures,
sengers
who
menus,
timetables
and
tickets,
their the
bravpas-
survived
this magnificent gathering of 7,500 pieces contains
Titanic’s sinking. Known as
letters and documents concerning some of the great-
the “Unsinkable Molly Brown,”
est shipwrecks and disasters of the 20th century.
Margaret Brown was a wealthy
Examples include indenture papers for Edward Smith,
American who was celebrated
the eventual captain of the doomed Titanic, and a
for trying to convince the crew of
letter written on Titanic stationery aboard the ship
the lifeboat she was in to turn around and return to
before it sailed. Multiple handwritten accounts by
the Titanic in an attempt to pick up additional survi-
survivors of the Titanic disaster also make up part
vors. Her fame was chronicled (in a fictional manner)
of the collection as does a painting seen here done
on both stage and in film.
aboard the rescue ship Carpathia by American im-
This new gift to the Museum complements many
pressionist Colin Campbell Cooper. Cooper and his
of the existing collections of other major ocean liner
wife were traveling aboard Carpathia and the artist
ephemera
painted a number of similar views of the transfer of
collection will take at least a year and is fund-
survivors to the ship. One item in the donation is a tele-
ed by the Institute for Museum and Library Services
gram from one Elisabeth Walton Allen, the first survi-
(IMLS), the Gladys Krieble Delmas Foundation, and
vor to make it aboard Carpathia. Later in life Ms. Allen
some
became a close friend of the donor and an inspiration for some of her collecting. In
addition
to
the
two-dimensional
material,
the gift contains a number of 3D artifacts as well,
and
additional
artifacts.
funding
The
from
processing
private
the
sources.
Paul O’Pecko is Vice President of Research Collections and Director of the G.W. Blunt White Library.
including the medal seen here. This medal is called the
ABOVE: painting of the rescue ship Carpathia by American impressionist Colin Campbell Cooper, Linda Witherill Collection (2020.39).
“Molly Brown” medal, and a number of them were
ABOVE, RIGHT: Molly Brown medal, Linda Witherill Collection (2020.39).
22 | SPRING/SUMMER 2022
of
JUNE
JULY
AUGUST
WEDNESDAY, JUNE 8 Maritime Museums Collaboration Webinar: Climate Change
JULY 1-30 Artist-in-Residence: Joyful Enriquez
TUESDAY, AUGUST 2SATURDAY, AUGUST 6 Captain of Color Performance
SATURDAY, JUNE 11 As If They Were Angels Film Screening TUESDAY, JUNE 14 Naturalization Ceremony WEDNESDAY, JUNE 15 Story Boats Lecture Series: Art Collective Mare Liberum - recent projects SATURDAY, JUNE 18 Member Evening: Summer Solstice Celebration SUNDAY, JUNE 19 Juneteenth Recognition FRIDAY, JUNE 24SUNDAY, JUNE 26 WoodenBoat Show & Small Craft Workshop WEDNESDAY, JUNE 29 Story Boats Lecture Series: World-renowned sailor Dawn Riley on her groundbreaking career from Detroit to the America’s Cup
SATURDAY, JULY 2 Encampment by the 5th Connecticut Regiment WEDNESDAY, JULY 13 Story Boats Lecture Series: Marine archaeologist Kathy Abbass - Revolutionary War shipwrecks FRIDAY, JULY 15 Pub Sing SATURDAY, JULY 16 Arts on the Quad: Flock Theatre SATURDAY, JULY 16 Member Talk: Jeanne Goussev from Team Sail Like a Girl SATURDAY, JULY 23 Antique and Classic Boat Rendezvous WEDNESDAY, JULY 27 Story Boats Lecture Series: Author Howard Veisz Gerda III and the rescue of Danish Jews SATURDAY, JULY 30 Arts on the Quad: Will Evans SATURDAY, JULY 30 Newfoundland Water Rescue Demonstration
SATURDAY, AUGUST 6SUNDAY, AUGUST 7 Model Yacht Regatta WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 10 Story Boats Lecture Series: Steven Callahan 76 days adrift in an inflatable raft FRIDAY, AUGUST 12SATURDAY, AUGUST 13 Mystic Outdoor Arts Festival Performing Arts at the Museum (festival continues through Sunday) SATURDAY, AUGUST 13 Member Day: Story Boats Talks and Tours SATURDAY, AUGUST 20 Arts on the Quad SATURDAY, AUGUST 20SUNDAY, AUGUST 21 Antique Marine Engine Expo
FIND THE FULL SCHEDULE OF FUTURE EVENTS AT WWW.MYSTICSEAPORT.ORG/EVENTS
MYSTIC SEAPORT MUSEUM 75 Greenmanville Avenue PO Box 6000 Mystic, CT 06355-0990
The 30thAnnual
Show June 24-26, 2022
TICKETS ON SALE NOW. FOR MORE INFORMATION VISIT, mysticseapor t.org/woodenboat