Oars for Art Exhibition
The Havre de Grace Maritime Museum is currently sponsoring an exciting program called Oars for Art destined to be one of the most unique programs in the City of Havre de Grace, Harford County and the Northeast Region.
This innovative project reaches out to residents and tourists alike, and literally puts Havre de Grace on the map (see below.) Developed in partnership with the Philadelphia arts organization Philadelphia Sculptors, it was kicked off in February 2018. Additional sponsors are the Joseph Robert Foundation, Harford County Cultural Arts Council, and the Maryland State Arts Council.
Artists from the mid-Atlantic region were invited to participate in creating art from oars that had been stockpiled at the Maritime Museum. Our Museum has longed served as a repository for abandoned and neglected wooden oars and paddles. No longer attached to rowboats, kayaks or canoes, they have lost their purpose. Now, artists have breathed new life into these forgotten artifacts by transforming them into artworks.
Our juror was Jim McFarland, Interim Dean, Visual, Performing & Applied Arts and Professor of Art + Design, Harford Community College. From all the applications, he selected seventeen sculptures from fifteen different artists. The artists are from Chicago, IL; Havre de Grace, MD (4); West Orange, NJ; Delta, PA; Downingtown, PA; Philadelphia, PA (3); Quakertown, PA; Yardley, PA; and Falls Church, VA.
Artists love challenges, and our artists responded to this one in clever and thoughtful ways. We now have fanciful creatures, bucolic vistas, and other ingenious interpretations of the “lowly” oar. No two sculptures are alike – and even identifying the oar in the sculpture can be quite a puzzle. Lynne Galloro helps you by using her oar as a guide to treasures in The Find but in Elizabeth Miller McCue’s Nature’s Necklace you have to look closely to puzzle out which parts of the oar you are really seeing.
You can picture yourself looking out over the water and seeing Jody Harvey’s peaceful Susquehanna Canoe and more forceful The Tempest. You can get a close-up of the feather of a waterfowl with SPRINGed Oar and PASSed TIME by Paul Santoleri (the artist who created our wonderful mural on the outside of the Museum.) You can imagine yourself immersing your own blade into the water with Nancy Agati’s merrily~merrily, where vines serve as water currents. Michael Hadley and Jonathan Rockford might make you think twice about jumping in the water, though – (C2H4)n uses 3D printed plastic to reference the molecules of plastic contaminating our waters.
If you are interested in the boats the oars might have once been attached to, you will be in luck here too. Evan Reed gives us an untitled work that cleverly represents both a model skiff and its waterman – all the size of the blade of his oar. Barry Kline’s Sailing Forward; Looking Back tells a story of ship propulsion using an image of a totem pole. Grant McFarland reminds us of how we are responsible for our acts – Unrecovered, Unreturned shows us oars that have been lost and broken up, to add to the detritus in our waters.
The artworks are currently displayed in local businesses, with the collaboration of the City of Havre de Grace and local business owners. Local businesses sponsoring an art piece will have their place of business included on a Havre de Grace map and many will have their business ad placed on the map as well. Maps will be available at all locations.
Artists’ Emporium
220 N. Washington Street
(C2H4)n
Blue Heron Gifts & Floral
456 Franklin Street
Hooked
City of Havre de Grace Opera House
121 N. Union Avenue
merrily ~ merrily
Concord Point Coffee
217 N. Washington Street
Bay O’Wolf
Glyph
233 St. John Street
Sailing Forward; Looking Back
Havre de Grace Public Library
120 N. Union Avenue
Ceci n’est past un Havre
Havre de Grace Decoy Museum
215 Giles Street
PASSed TIME
Havre de Grace Maritime Museum
101 Lafayette Street
Unrecovered; Unreturned
Nature’s Necklace
Havre de Grace Visitor’s Center
450 Pennington Avenue
Oratory
JoRetro
137 N. Washington Street
Biped
Joseph’s Department Store
122 N. Washington Street
The Find
Spencer Silver Mansion
200 S. Union Avenue
The Tempest
The Art Rooms
116 N. Washington Street
SPRINGed Oar
Vandiver Inn
301 South Union Avenue
Untitled
Vincenti Decoys
353 Pennington Avenue
Harvey the Smallmouth Bass
Vintage Café
114 N. Washington Street
Susquehanna Canoe
Don’t worry – you don’t need to be an art lover to appreciate these creations. Whether you are a resident, or someone visiting from elsewhere, you are sure to find something that piques your interest – and makes you see the old wooden oar in a very new way. The art pieces will be moved back to the Maritime Museum in mid September and will remain on display until October 7 at which time there will be a public reception and auction. They will be auctioned off for the benefit of the participating artists and the Maritime Museum.