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Exhibits
introduction > visiting exhibits
VISITING EXHIBITS
Bustin' Down the Door:
Dan Merkel Photography Exhibit
Iconic Surfing Images from the 1970's
The Santa Barbara Maritime Museum is proud to announce the opening of an exhibition of classic surfing images by Emmy Award-winning photographer Dan Merkel. Opening on January 21st, the exhibit will remain on display through February 18th. Featuring images from the documentary Bustin' Down the Door, this collection of iconic photographs includes images of surfing legends Rabbit Bartholomew, Mark Richards, Shaun Tomson, Peter Townend, Eddie Aikau, Barry Kanaiaupuni, and many others.
Dan Merkel has been one of surfing's legendary photographers for over 30 years. He is responsible for some of surfing's "Free Ride" era's most memorable images. From the late 1970s through the 1990s he abandoned still photography to concentrate on commercial cinematography, contributing to such surf film classics as Big Wednesday and Endless Summer II.
Limited edition, numbered prints of each photograph will be available for purchase through the Maritime Museum, with a portion of each sale to benefit the Museum. The photographs are either 20" X 30" or 24" X 36", and range in price from $700 to $900. A copy of the exhibit catalogue (PDF) is available to download. Orders may be placed at the Museum or call (805)962-8404 ext.105 for more information.
Taut Lines and Full Canvas:
Pacific Coast Lumber Schooners
(Temporarily off exhibit until February 21, 2008.)
The Santa Barbara Maritime Museum is proud to present Taut Lines and Full Canvas: Pacific Coast Lumber Schooners, a collection of paintings by maritime artist Hans Skalagard. Curated by his wife and manager, Mignon Skalagard, this show will feature 15 oil paintings and 2 watercolor paintings depicting lumber schooners that operated on the Pacific Coast during the late 1800's and early Twentieth Century. Lumber schooners such as these supplied the raw materials out of which many of California's cities would be built.
Hans Skalagard creates authentic, majestic paintings of a variety of ships, everything from galleons, historic battle scenes, American Down Easters, as well as magnificent Clipper ships from the 1850's. He has also painted European ships, cruise liners, a series of America's Cup defender yachts and a number of paintings depicting World War II "North Atlantic Convoy Scenes." Having survived three sinking ships during his six years of war, he drew from those experiences to create the dramatic views of World War II at sea. He served in all but one of the convoy scenes he has painted.
After the war he studied briefly at the Royal Academy in Copenhagen and with marine painter Anton Otto Fisher in New York. While still at sea he had his first one-man show in 1954 in New York. He also had an exhibit at the California Palace of the Legion of Honor in 1960. Since that time he has held over eighty one-man shows throughout the United States and Europe. His paintings hang in many public buildings including the Naval Post Graduate School, House of Four Winds, The Monterey Maritime & History Museum, Los Angeles County Maritime Museum, and in Norway and the Faro Islands.
Skalagard is the recipient of six gold medals, one silver medal, and an honorary lifetime membership in six different prestigious Italian Academies of Art. A "Statue of Victory" and title "Maestro" were recently bestowed on him by the Academia Italia Del Arte e Del Honoro.
