2018 Coast Guard Art Program
About the Coast Guard Art Program
The Coast Guard Art Program (COGAP) makes use of fine art to educate diverse audiences about the Coast Guard. Today, more than ever, the service addresses an abundance of challenges as it works to maintain the nation’s security at home and abroad and executes its 11 statutory missions. COGAP art provides visual testimony to the unique contribution the service makes to the nation in its multifaceted roles as a military, humanitarian and law enforcement organization. Art from the program is exhibited at museums around the country. It is displayed in offices of members of Congress, cabinet secretaries, senior government officials and other military services and Coast Guard locations nationwide. It has also been displayed by the State Department in its prestigious Art in Embassies program.
Today, the collection holds over 2,000 works of art. While pieces received earlier tended to portray Coast Guard assets and history, more recent works capture the experience of actual service in the Coast Guard. COGAP’s talented corps of volunteer artists—most of whom are professional artists—brings to life the missions performed daily by the over 42,000 active-duty men and women of the service, as well as reservists and Auxiliary members.
The 2018 collection is comprised of 28 works by 23 artists, making this one of the service’s larger collections in recent years. Highlighted are the service’s response to the devastation wrought by Hurricane Harvey and another such daring rescue. Other missions portrayed are illegal drug interdictions and Arctic exploration. Ice rescues, aid to endangered species, motor lifeboats pounding treacherous waters, life aboard the cutter Healy and securing the maritime domain are also depicted. One painting of 2018 also honors a service member and her family by commemorating her promotion.
Charles P. Schaefer
Palm Coast, Fla.
Oil
16 x 20 inches
A helicopter crew from the Coast Guard Cutter Spence, based in Boston, runs underneath the whirring blades of a HH-65 Dolphin helicopter after installing primary tie-downs on the flight deck. While underway, the cutter’s crew refueled the helicopter. Refueling at sea requires precisely synchronized communication among crewmembers.
Coast Guard Art Collection 201820
Robert C. Semler
Bradenton, Fla.
Oil
16 x 28 inches
Two Coast Guard members aboard the Coast Guard Cutter Joshua Appleby which is homeported in St. Petersburg, Fla., perform deck maintenance. This seemingly modest task is often unseen but vital in keeping the service’s fleet seaworthy and afloat.
Coast Guard Art Collection 201821
C. R. (Bob) Bryant
Gig Harbor, Wash.
Oil
16 x 24 inches
The son of a female Coast Guard public affairs officer dons a lei similar to his mother’s in celebration of her promotion. The event took place in Honolulu in the Coast Guard’s District 14. The service member’s husband, also active duty and a storekeeper, joined in the celebration. Promotions are honored events celebrated by units throughout the Coast Guard.
Coast Guard Art Collection 201803
James Consor
New York, N.Y.
Oil
20 x 20 inches
A Coast Guard service member speaks orders into a horn as the Coast Guard Cutter Eagle raises sail in New York Harbor during Fleet Week. This annual event celebrates both domestic and international maritime services and draws thousands of visitors. The Coast Guard uses events like Fleet Week to interact with the public, educating and informing visitors about the service’s missions and objectives.
Coast Guard Art Collection 201804
Gordon Kribs
Surprise, Ariz.
Oil
20 x 20 inches
In rough seas just north of Newport, Ore., a 47-foot motor lifeboat navigates toward shore. The crew is trained to respond to distress calls and maritime emergencies during storms that create high and turbulent seas with surf often over 15 feet in height. Surfmen are the service’s most proficient small boat operators. There 19 surf stations in the service.
Coast Guard Art Collection 201812
Tom Hedderich
Westtown, N.Y.
Watercolor
11 x 17 inches
Two MH-65 Dolphin helicopter crews from Coast Guard Air Station Barbers Point in Hawaii conduct a practice formation flight around the Island of Oahu. The helicopter aircrews practice proficiency with multiple air assets flying simultaneously.
Coast Guard Art Collection 201811
Frank Gaffney
Mountlake
Terrace, Wash.
Oil
16 x 20 inches
Members of the Helicopter Interdiction Tactical Squadron (HITRON) in a specially equipped helicopter aim to stop a “go-fast” smuggling boat. If the suspected vessel fails to stop after several visual and verbal warnings, the Coast Guard crew will take a firing position alongside the go-fast and the aerial gunner will then fire warning shorts across the bow. If warning shots do not stop the suspects, the gunner will attempt to disable the vessel by shooting out its engines. HITRON’s primary missions are drug interdiction and national security.
Coast Guard Art Collection 201810
Karen Loew
New York, N.Y.
Oil
14 x 18 inches
A crewmember pulls a young child to a Coast Guard vessel, rescuing him, his father and another man, all stranded aboard their small boat when it ran aground on a jetty near Mayport, Fla. The U.S. Coast Guard is considered the world leader in search and rescues and saves 3,650 lives and conducts 16,425 search and rescue cases on average every year.
Coast Guard Art Collection 201814
Kathryn Cross
Glastonbury, Conn.
Watercolor and Pen and Ink
14.25 x 18 inches
Protecting the lives of marine animals is a prime goal of the Coast Guard’s maritime law enforcement mission. Here scientists abroad a 23-foot response boat and in protective clothing issued by the service release a sea turtle into waters of the Eastern Pacific Ocean. After disentangling the turtle, the Coast Guard will gather the drifting debris for disposal. The service is the lead federal maritime law enforcement agency and the only agency with both the authority and capability to enforce national and international law.
Coast Guard Art Collection 201807
Leendert van der Pool
Brooklyn, N.Y.
Oil
14 x 20 inches
In a training exercise, the crew of the U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Spar works in Port Clarence, Alaska, with the crew of the Canadian Coast Guard ship Sir Wilfred Laurier. The crews transfer a U.S. Coast Guard Vessel of Opportunity Skimming System (VOSS) between the two ships. VOSS equipment is used to remediate oil spills. Such exercises foster cooperative relationships which are critical to safety of sea lanes and security on the world’s oceans.
Coast Guard Art Collection 201824
Susanne Corbelletta
Glen Head, N.Y.
Oil
16 x 20 inches
An aviation survival technician, better known as a rescue swimmer, carries a young boy away from a helicopter which has just arrived from Houston to a hospital in Beaumont, Texas, in the wake of Hurricane Harvey. The swimmer, assigned to Air Station Miami, was called in from other states to assist Coast Guard personnel in the Houston area in their rescue efforts.
Coast Guard Art Collection 201806
Crissie Murphy
Lowell, Mass.
Acrylic
16 x 20 inches
The Coast Guard Cutter Eagle serves as a seagoing classroom for cadets and officer candidates from the Coast Guard Academy. To maneuver the Eagle under sail, the crew must handle more than 22,000 square feet of sail and five miles of rigging. Over 200 lines control the sails and yards, and every crew-member, cadet and officer candidate must become intimately familiar with the name, operation, and function of each line.
Coast Guard Art Collection 201818
MK2 Jasen Newman
Port Angeles, Wash.
Watercolor
24 x 16 inches
A boarding officer and her team from the Coast Guard Cutter Active, homeported in Port Angeles, Wash., prepare to launch a small boat and conduct a law enforcement boarding of a commercial vessel in the Eastern Pacific. The team is part of the Joint Interagency Task Force which acts to support interdiction and apprehension efforts by U.S. and partner nation law enforcement agencies. The Active is assigned primarily to law enforcement and search and rescue missions.
Coast Guard Art Collection 201819
Jim Stagner
Johnson City, Tenn.
Watercolor
14 x 21 inches
Coast Guard crewmembers from the 87-foot Coast Guard Cutter Petrel homeported in San Diego intercept a suspected drug smuggling boat and crew in international waters off the coast of Baja California, Mexico. The suspects and boat were turned over to Mexican authorities for prosecution. Daily, the Coast Guard averages seizures of 874 pounds of cocaine and 214 pounds of marijuana.
Coast Guard Art Collection 201823
Acacia Anglin
Port Angeles, Wash.
Mixed media
11 x 9 inches
A Coast Guard boarding team member in the San Francisco Bay begins climbing the ladder of a commercial vessel for inspection. A second member stands by to protect the climber from injury or falls. On an average day, the Coast Guard screens 360 merchant vessels for potential security threats prior to their arrival in U.S. ports.
Coast Guard Art Collection 201802
Sherry Krivosheev
Redmond, Wash.
Oil
24 x 36 inches
Instructors aboard a 47-foot motor lifeboat teach students at the National Motor Lifeboat School handling skills. The school is located near the Columbia River at Cape Disappointment just outside of Ilwaco, Wash., in highly treacherous waters known as the “Graveyard of the Pacific.” Here students undergo training that will permit them to become expert surfmen and coxswains. The area earned its telling sobriquet by claiming more than 200 ships and countless lives since 1792 when record keeping began.
Coast Guard Art Collection 201813
Amy Digi
Yonkers, N.Y.
Oil
18 x 24 inches
Crewmembers from Coast Guard Air Station Barbers Point conduct hoisting exercises with members of the Korean Coast Guard in waters off Oahu, Hawaii. The joint exercises allow the vital exchange of knowledge and best practices between the respective services.
Coast Guard Art Collection 201808
Paul Smith
Philadelphia, Penn.
Acrylic
20 x 24
A Coast Guard machinery technician serving the Aids to Navigation Team in Kodiak, Alaska, maintains control of a trail line to a rescue basket as an Air Station Kodiak MH-60 Jayhawk helicopter crew conducts hoist training in Middle Bay, Alaska. Hoist operations require split second decision making and precise coordination among crewmembers.
Coast Guard Art Collection 201822
Mike Mazer
Mattapoisett, Mass.
Watercolor
16 x 20 inches
The Coast Guard Cutter Healy routinely aids scientists researching the Arctic environment. This year the Coast Guard will deploy cutters, aircraft, and personnel to the Arctic to engage in operations encompassing a variety of Coast Guard missions. Operations will focus on promoting national interests and security throughout the region. Here a group of scientists are depicted as they dredge the Arctic continental shelf to determine its longevity.
Coast Guard Art Collection 201816
John T. Ward
Saranac Lake, N.Y.
Acrylic
20 x 27.5 inches
After a very long day of ice operations, a Coast Guard petty officer cools off in the ice during a short break in ice rescue training drills on the Coast Guard Cutter Hollyhock. The cutter was heaving to—slowing down in laymen’s terms—after conducting ice breaking operations to facilitate the flow of commerce on the Great Lakes.
Coast Guard Art Collection 201828
Frank Walsh
Santa Clara, Calif.
Acrylic
14 x 18 inches
The Coast Guard motor lifeboat Potato Patch navigates treacherous waters as it patrols the unruly seas. The boat is named after the notorious Potato Patch Shoal located north of San Francisco. This shoal takes its name from the potato farms that existed near Bolinas Lagoon in the 1800s and where boats sometimes capsized on the shoal’s sand bar.
Coast Guard Art Collection 201826
John T. Ward
Saranac Lake, N.Y.
Acrylic
12 x 9 inches
A Coast Guard canine handler from the marine Safety and Security Team in Galveston, Texas, and his bomb-sniffing partner with goggles, are lowered from a Dolphin helicopter from Air Station Houston to a waiting vessel. The hoist was part of a training exercise designed to acclimate dog and handler with vertical delivery.
Coast Guard Art Collection 201827
Charles Van Horn
Glen Head, N.Y.
Transparent Watercolor
20 x 20 inches
A Coast Guard aircrew member assists an infant during the aftermath of Hurricane Harvey in Houston. The Coast Guard pulled assets and resources from across the country in response to the devastating storm.
Coast Guard Art Collection 201825
Amy Digi
Yonkers, N.Y.
Oil
18 x 24 inches
Service members from the Coast Guard Cutter Pelican offload nearly a ton of cocaine, estimated to have a street value of $23 million. The action took place in St. Petersburg, Fla., homeport of the cutter. The illegal drugs and three suspected smugglers were interdicted by a Coast Guard tactical law enforcement detachment which was deployed at the time aboard the Canadian Navy Ship Moncton during a Caribbean patrol. Canada and the U.S., along with other countries, participate in this vital law enforcement operation.
Coast Guard Art Collection 201809
Mike Mazer
Mattapoisett, Mass.
Watercolor
16 x 20 inches
Crewmembers aboard a small boat from the Coast Guard Cutter Legare prepare to board a commercial fishing vessel to ensure its compliance with safety and fishing regulations. The cutter, homeported in Portsmouth, Va., conducts this inspection off the coast of Delaware. Its numerous deployable missions take it on patrols in offshore waters from Maine to Florida, the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean.
Coast Guard Art Collection 201815
Acacia Anglin
Port Angeles, Wash.
Mixed media
13 x 10 inches
Ricky, a Coast Guard canine service member, takes a break during vertical delivery training exercises from a MH-65 Dolphin helicopter. A protective mask covers his eyes. A Belgian Malinois, the four-legged member works extensively in explosives detection.
Coast Guard Art Collection 201801
James Consor
New York, N.Y.
Oil
24 x 30 inches
A Coast Guard cadet climbs the rigging of the Coast Guard Cutter Eagle as it sets sail in New York Harbor. This majestic sailing ship 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, the Eagle is the largest tall ship flying the Stars and Stripes. Eagle’s home port is New London, Conn., on the Thames River at the U. S. Coast Guard Academy.
Coast Guard Art Collection 201805
PA 2 Cory Mendenhall
Alameda, Calif.
Watercolor
20 x 30 inches
An oceanographic pump is lowered off the stern of the Coast Guard Cutter Healy while the vessel is deployed in the Arctic in support of polar science. The pump aids in collecting samples at various layers of the water column to measure salinity, temperature and the presence of trace elements. This research is part of an international effort to study the distribution of trace elements in the world’s oceans.
Coast Guard Art Collection 201817