2017 Coast Guard Art Program
About the Coast Guard Art Program
The Coast Guard Art Program (COGAP) uses fine art as an outreach tool for educating diverse audiences about the Coast Guard. Today, the Service addresses an abundance of challenges as it works to maintain the nation’s security at home and abroad and execute its statutory missions. COGAP art provides visual testimony to the unique contribution to the nation in its multifaceted roles as a military, humanitarian and as a law enforcement organization. Museums around the country exhibit art from the program. It is displayed in the offices of members of Congress, Cabinet secretaries, senior government officials and other military services and Coast Guard leadership and locations nationwide. The overseas State Department also display these works in its Art in Embassies program.
This year marks the 36th anniversary of the COGAP. The collection holds over 2,000 works that capture the myriad missions the active-duty men and women of the Coast Guard perform daily. Including homeland security, search and rescue, marine environmental protection, drug interdiction, national defense and natural resource management. Paintings and drawings bring to life the work performed by the Coast Guard and vividly demonstrate the Service’s contributions to the country.
Virtual Gallery
The 2017 collection is comprised of 33 works by 29 artists, making this one of the service’s largest collections in recent years. Seven of the works result from artist travel to Coast Guard units or Coast Guard deployments. They are art by James Consor, Daven Anderson, Crissie Murphy, Stephen Louis Gadal, Frank Gaffney and Ken Smith. Many of the new works depict rescue swimmer and aircrew training exercises, illegal drug and migrant interdictions, Arctic exploration and patrols. Other missions portrayed include ice rescues and landings, aids to navigation and buoy tending exercises and a variety of the often grueling training service members undergo. Several works also honor service members or commemorate Coast Guard events
Hover over the images below to see their titles. Click on an image to enlarge and learn more about the artwork, artist, and content.
Priscilla Messner-Patterson
Sequim, Wash.
Watercolor
16 x 20 inches
When the fishing vessel Lady Gudny became disabled in heavy seas, Coast Guard Air Station Kodiak was called to its rescue. Four people were hoisted to safety aboard an MH-60 Jayhawk helicopter and transported to the air station. The Coast Guard Cutter Spar, a 225-foot seagoing buoy tender, arrived on scene the following day and prepared to bring the distressed fishing vessel into tow. However, its towline separated, causing the cutter to become disabled.
Coast Guard Art Collection 201720
Steve Lush
North Andover, Mass.
Watercolor
21 x 14 inches
A member of the Coast Guard Honor Guard folds the American flag during a memorial service for a maritime enforcement specialist tragically killed in a traffic accident. The service member was survived by his wife and three children. His ceremony took place in Los Angeles.
Coast Guard Art Collection 201719
Juliette Aristides
Seattle, Wash.
Oil
18 x 24 inches
The Coast Guard is the country’s lead agency for maritime search and rescue—a mission for which the service is undoubtedly most famous. A distressed vessel in frigid Alaskan waters awaits rescue as Coast Guard service members in an approaching craft signal their imminent arrival.
Coast Guard Art Collection 201702
Bob Blevins
Elizabethton, Tenn.
Watercolor
12 x 19 inches
A Coast Guard flight mechanic calls out the distance in his MH-65 Dolphin helicopter to crew on Kodiak Island as he prepares for an ice landing. These landings, rare and inherently dangerous, require skis to be installed to keep the helicopter’s landing gear from settling in the snow. They demand testing the strength of the ice before attempting. Blowing snow can cause loss of all visual reference with the ground, adding further difficulties to an already complex maneuver.
Coast Guard Art Collection 201703
Dick Kramer
Leesburg, Va.
Pencil
15 x 20 inches
A damage controlman—the rate of a Coast Guard firefighter—is responsible for watertight integrity, emergency equipment associated with firefighting and flooding, plumbing repairs and numerous other emergencies. They are stationed across the Coast Guard on sea assets as well as on land.
Coast Guard Art Collection 201715
Frank Gaffney
Mountlake Terrace, Wash.
Oil
16 x 20 inches
Crew from the Coast Guard Cutter Kukui launches a navigation buoy after it is serviced. Named after the state tree of Hawaii whose nut oil was once used to light navigation lamps, the Kukui is a 225-foot seagoing buoy tender. Home-ported in Honolulu, the Kukui is equipped with a global positioning system that permits the crew to service and accurately position floating aids to navigation.
Coast Guard Art Collection 201710
Mara Sfara
Farmington, Conn.
Oil
12 x 12 inches
Coast Guard rescue swimmers from Coast Guard Air Station San Francisco patrol waters near the Golden Gate Bridge. Search and rescue is one of the Coast Guard’s oldest missions: Minimizing the loss of life, injury, and property damage by rendering aid to persons in distress and property in the maritime environment is a top priority. The service is recognized worldwide as a leader in the field of search and rescue.
Coast Guard Art Collection 201724
Daven Anderson
St. Louis, Mo.
Watercolor
20.6 x 26.8 inches
The Coast Guard is the principal U.S. federal agency responsible for maritime safety and security. With some 152 vessels dedicated to aids to navigation, the service maintains the more than 47,000 buoys, lights and beacons that make up the visual component of that system. Here, a service member regards the Coast Guard Cutter Cheyenne while work progresses on the Missouri River near St. Louis.
Coast Guard Art Collection 201701
James Consor
New York, N.Y.
Oil
30 x 24 inches
Crew on the buoy tender Katherine Walker in the Kill Van Kull Channel release a crane from a buoy that has just been hauled aboard the cutter. The crew will determine if the buoy should be cleaned or, if in irreparable shape, replaced. The channel is between New York Harbor and Newark Bay.
Coast Guard Art Collection 201707
James Consor
New York, N.Y.
Oil
24 x 30 inches
A weathered buoy waiting to be cleaned is on the deck of the Katherine Walker, a 175-foot black hull buoy tender. On either side are freshly painted replacement buoys. The many feet of heavy chain on deck reveal the complicated process involved in anchoring a buoy.
Coast Guard Art Collection 201706
Jeanne Tubman
Sault Ste. Marie, Mich.
Oil
16 x 20 inches
Operation Taconite is the largest domestic icebreaking operation in the U.S. Shipping offers the only effective means of transporting the vast amounts of iron ore needed to meet the demands of steel mills in Lake Erie and Lake Michigan. Operation Taconite is primarily responsible for ensuring the successful transport of this cargo amid the harsh winter conditions of the northern Great Lakes.
Coast Guard Art Collection 201729
Paul Smith
Philadelphia, Pa.
Oil
24 x 20 inches
A member of the Coast Guard Maritime Security Response Team (MSRT) stands watch over a secured area. MSRTs are a highly specialized resource with advanced counterterrorism skills and tactics. Members are trained to be first responders to potential terrorist situations. They also educate other forces on Coast Guard counterterrorism procedures.
Coast Guard Art Collection 201727
Susanne Corbelletta
Glen Head, N.Y.
Oil
18 x 18 inches
Aviation survival technicians—better known as rescue swimmers—serve as go-to assets for rescuing victims of maritime incidents. Their training and medical expertise allow them to not only save people from treacherous waters but also to provide much needed critical medical care once the victims are safely aboard the helicopter.
Coast Guard Art Collection 201708
Karen Loew
New York, N.Y.
Oil
12 x 12 inches
Crewmembers from the Coast Guard Cutter Kathleen Moore, a fast response cutter, assist Cuban nationals off their hand-made boat in the Caribbean Sea. The Coast Guard is tasked with enforcing immigration law at sea. Its migrant interdiction operations are as much humanitarian efforts as they are law enforcement missions. In fact, the majority of migrant interdiction cases actually begin as search and rescue missions and usually on the high seas rather than in U.S. coastal waters.
Coast Guard Art Collection 201717
Ron Weil
Tualatin, Ore.
Acrylic
18 x 24 inches
A C-130J from Coast Guard Air Station Elizabeth City, N.C., drops memorial wreaths over the site of the RMS Titanic’s grave off Newfoundland. The wreaths, supplied by the Titanic Historical Society, are thrown out every year by the Coast Guard while on iceberg patrol. The service manages the International Ice Patrol and during “ice season,” regularly patrols the North Atlantic shipping lanes, reporting data on icebergs. The International Ice Patrol, consisting of 13 maritime nations, was formed in 1913 and since that time, no ships or lives have been lost due to icebergs.
Coast Guard Art Collection 201733
Crissie Murphy
Lowell, Mass.
Acrylic
16 x 20 inches
The captain aboard the Coast Guard Cutter Eagle enjoys a moment of reflection. For him the training vessel Eagle bares witness to the future of the service. The Eagle provides Coast Guard Academy cadets and officer candidates with their first taste of sea and salt air. Built in Germany in 1936 and recommissioned by the United States at the close of World War II, it is the largest tall ship flying the Stars and Stripes. Eagle’s homeport is New London, Conn., on the Thames River at the academy.
Coast Guard Art Collection 201721
Ken Smith
Pulaski, Va.
Oil
30 x 22.5 inches
Two female Coast Guard service members on a response boat medium from Station Emerald Isle in Beaufort, N.C., coil lines that are used to retrieve victims from the water. The Coast Guard maintains a high state of vigilance and continuously monitors for distress calls. It coordinates search and rescue efforts by afloat and airborne Coast Guard units, response efforts on waterways, renders aid to the merchant fleet and tracks international satellite-aided programs.
Coast Guard Art Collection 201726
John Ward
Saranac Lake, N.Y.
Acrylic
14 x 19 inches
Aviation survival technicians—better known as rescue swimmers—undergo some of the most rigorous training in the Coast Guard. To join their ranks, candidates must endure physical and mental challenges that rival those facing any potential Army Ranger, Navy SEAL or Air Force parachute rescue man. Here the rescue swimmer on the right is shown just before his retirement after a 21-year career saving lives. Pictured on the left is a fellow rescue swimmer who’s avocation is photography.
Coast Guard Art Collection 201732
Steve Lush
North Andover, Mass.
Watercolor
14 x 21 inches
A Coast Guard MH-60 Jayhawk helicopter—painted orange in celebration of the 100th anniversary of Coast Guard aviation—and its crew from Air Station Clearwater, Fla., perform preflight checks just before taking off for a medical emergency. The Coast Guard is the lead agency for maritime search and rescue in U.S. waters. It aims to cut suffering and loss of life and property by aiding those in distress. In an average year, the service conducts 16,425 search and rescue cases and saves 3,650 lives and over $43 million in property.
Coast Guard Art Collection 201718
Dennis Boom
Hillsboro, Ore.
Oil
15 x 30 inches
Crew aboard a 47-foot motor lifeboat rides the crest of a treacherous wave while on patrol. The crew is trained to respond to distress calls and maritime emergencies during storms that create exceedingly high, turbulent seas with surf often over 15 feet in height. Surfmen are the service’s most proficient small boat operators.
Coast Guard Art Collection 201705
Charles Van Horn
Glen Head, N.Y.
Watercolor
22 x 30 inches
When the worst flooding in over 100 years overwhelmed Clendenin, W. Va., and surrounding areas, the Coast Guard Marine Safety Unit Huntington rushed in to rescue residents. The unit transported victims to safety from isolated areas, responded to 911 calls and when possible, brought drinking water to residents.
Coast Guard Art Collection 201730
Bob Blevins
Elizabethton, Tenn.
Watercolor
14 x 22 inches
Coast Guard crew practices ice rescue techniques during a four-day training session at the Ice Capabilities Center of Excellence at Station Saginaw River in Essexville, Mich. Using each other as victims, a service member pulls another member from the freezing waters. Crews here learn the proper techniques for rescuing people on ice-covered bodies of water.
Coast Guard Art Collection 201704
Leendert van der Pool
Brooklyn, N.Y.
Oil
24 x 18 inches
The Maritime Safety and Security Team from Galveston, Texas, conducts hook and climb training aboard Coast Guard Cutter Harriet Lane During training, members pull alongside the cutter, attach a collapsible embarkation ladder, and rapidly board the cutter and conduct law enforcement operations.
Coast Guard Art Collection 201731
Kristin Hosbein
St. Joseph, Mich.
Oil
10 x 20 inches
A 45-foot medium response boat pilotted by a female service member heads to Lake Michigan in front of District Nine Coast Guard Station St. Joseph, on the mouth of the St. Joseph River in Michigan. The station has been in the same location since 1874. The brick building in the background was formerly the 9th District Armory Depot.
Coast Guard Art Collection 201712
Louis Stephen Gadal
Los Angeles, Calif.
Watercolor
14 x 20 inches
A small boat deploys from the 87-foot patrol boat Swordfish out of Port Angeles, Wash. The small Coast Guard vessel will check boats to ensure they comply with all safety and handling requirements. Maintaining safety is an important part of the Coast Guard’s many local duties.
Coast Guard Art Collection 201709
Charles Gilbert Kapsner
Little Falls, Minn.
Oil
12 x 24 inches
Coast Guard Station Bayfield, Wisc., maintains a duty crew ready to respond round the clock, seven days a week to distressed boaters, medical emergencies in water-only accessible locations, and victims of thin ice during winter. Here a crewmember simulates a victim as a yellow ice rescue shuttle board is deployed to bring him back to safety. Ice teams often train multiple times a week during winter months.
Coast Guard Art Collection 201713
Tom Hedderich
Westtown, N.Y.
Watercolor
10 x 14 inches
A U.S. Coast Guardsman from Maritime Safety and Security Team (MSST) Honolulu practices entering and clearing spaces aboard a Navy vessel anchored at Pearl Harbor. The versatile MSST units can be assigned in support of any of the Coast Guard’s 11 statutory missions, but are commonly associated with port, waterway and coastal security as well as other homeland security roles.
Coast Guard Art Collection 201711
Dick Kramer
Leesburg, Va.
Pencil
20 x 30 inches
Two damage controlmen work a simulated fire aboard the Coast Guard training ship Eagle. As members of an extremely diverse rate, damage controlmen have the knowledge and skills of numerous civilian professional trades, including welding, plumbing, carpentry as well as firefighting. They are known throughout the service as the “Jack of all Trades.”
Coast Guard Art Collection 201714
Dino Sistilli
Woodbury, N.J.
Oil
14 x 18 inches
NASA scientists drill holes in a melting pond of ice on the Chukchi Sea. These will be used for instruments to sample physical, chemical and biological data of ocean and sea ice. The Coast Guard routinely aids scientists in the polar regions as they study the effects of melting ice and global climate change. In the distance, the Coast Guard Cutter Healy awaits the scientists’ return.
Coast Guard Art Collection 201725
Hugh O’Connor
Grosse Pointe, Mich.
Acrylic
9.5 x 11 inches
A member of the Direction Action Section (DAS) of a Coast Guard Maritime Security Response Team (MSRT) participates in a training exercise aboard a ship. The highly trained DAS is tasked with boarding and securing a maritime objective. The MSRT is a tactical unit that specializes in maritime counterterrorism and high risk law enforcement.
Coast Guard Art Collection 201723
Anne Kullaf
Lebanon, N.J.
Oil
12 x 16 inches
Crew members aboard the Coast Guard Cutter Active practice vertical replenishment from an MH-65 Dolphin helicopter. This is a method of delivering supplies to a cutter at sea. The Active was on counter-narcotics deployment in the Pacific Ocean. On an average day, the Coast Guard seizes 874 pounds of cocaine and 214 pounds of marijuana. The cutter is homeported in Port Angeles, Wash.
Coast Guard Art Collection 201716
Jim Stagner
Johnson City, Tenn.
Watercolor
15 x 22 inches
Coast Guard Station Noyo River crews in California conduct training in high surf to ensure they are prepared to respond to any maritime emergency during rough weather conditions. Part of the training involves “crossing the bar,” an exercise that replicates the Columbia River Bar in Washington State. Known as the “Graveyard of the Pacific,” this bar provides an ideal rough weather training environment.
Coast Guard Art Collection 201728
MK2 Jasen Newman
Port Angeles, Wash.
Oil
18 x 24 inches
Coast Guard aircrew members from Coast Guard Air Station Kodiak, Alaska, deploy two weather data-collecting probes from an HC-130 Hercules airplane above the Arctic Circle during an Arctic domain awareness flight. The probes give researchers and the Coast Guard a better understanding of Arctic environments and predictability statistics for the following year’s summer.
Coast Guard Art Collection 201722
Check out other COGAP virtual artwork exhibitions: