NEW YORK — The Coast Guard Art Program announced the 2023 “best in show” artwork winner at its annual reception and art acceptance ceremony in New York, New York, July 13, 2023.
“Rescue off Kitty Hawk,” painted by John Ward, was named the 2023 George Gray Award for Artistic Excellence winner, the Coast Guard Art Program’s highest honor. This year the event was held at the Salmagundi Club. The winner was selected by a panel of judges comprised of Adm. Linda L. Fagan, Commandant of Coast Guard; Vijay Kumar, artist and teacher; and Bob Mueller, former curator at the Salmagundi Club.
“I am incredibly excited to be part of the judging for this year’s Coast Guard Art Program,” said Fagan. “Search and rescue is a complex and dangerous mission for our service and the action and the reality of rescuing somebody at sea is absolutely captured in this year’s winning painting.”
The exhibition is scheduled to run at the Salmagundi Club, located at 47 Fifth Avenue, until July 28, 2023. The event is free, open to the public, and can be seen Monday through Friday from 1 p.m. to 6 p.m. and on Saturday and Sunday from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m.
The Coast Guard Art Program uses art to educate diverse audiences about the Coast Guard. Art from the program is exhibited at museums around the country. It is also displayed in offices of members of Congress, Cabinet secretaries, senior government officials and other Coast Guard locations nationwide.
The art collection comprises more than 2,000 works illustrating the missions performed by the service’s force of over 57,000 active duty, Reserve, and civilian personnel.
To read more on the Coast Guard Art Program’s 2023 exhibit, click here Art Program.
To learn more about Coast Guard Art Program and the Salmagundi Club, visit www.uscg.mil/Community/Art-Program/ and www.salmagundi.org/.