RELIEF CARVING: BRECK MARSHALL (LIBERATED!)

The Breck Marshall is a replica of a Cape Cod pre-1900 Crosby-designed 20-foot working catboat. The Breck Marshall was built at the Mystic Seaport Museum Small Boat Shop in 1987 using the techniques developed by the Crosby family of boatbuilders at Osterville on Cape Cod. The classic lines and swan-like grace of this iconic sailing craft inspire Museum visitors to experience for themselves a half-hour sail along the Museum's picturesque and well-protected waterfront. A seaworthy and able working craft type, she is shown here "liberated" from the confines of the Mystic River estuary as she would appear while sailing on an ocean swell and homeward-bound off a North Atlantic coastline.

The hand-carved piece in clear northern pine was begun as a bas relief woodcarving study and live demonstration as part of the Mystic Seaport Museum A Way With Wood exhibit in the Collins Gallery during the reopening of the Museum following the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. It was selected to be finished for auction and was completed in the summer of 2021. The piece expresses the artist's hope for everyone's "liberation" from the confines imposed by the pandemic, and for their having a first, joyful experience of sailing the wind.

More information about wood carving at Mystic Seaport can be found at https://www.mysticseaport.org/explore/village/ship-carver/.

More information on the Breck Marshall can be found at https://www.mysticseaport.org/explore/vessels/breck-marshall-working-catboat/.

Item measures 10 1/2" wide by 18" tall.