NEW YORK— Ken Stetz was named the 2024 George Gray Award for Artistic Excellence winner at the Coast Guard Art Program (COGAP) annual art acceptance ceremony Thursday. The award-winning artwork, "Absorbing the Roll" oil on canvas was selected from 36 artworks in the 2024 collection.
These 36 works by 31 COGAP artists are on exhibit at the Salmagundi Club, a New York art and cultural center located at 47 Fifth Ave., through July 26. An additional 28 works from previous years’ collections are also on display, including artworks by and in honor of deceased COGAP artists C.R. “Bob” Bryant and Dick Kramer. The collection includes works depicting search and rescue, marine environmental protection, patrols and training exercises.
The exhibition is free and 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. Following the exhibition at the Salmagundi Club, the 36 works of the 2024 collection will be on display for two months at the Federal Hall National Memorial in lower Manhattan. This display will begin July 31.
COGAP uses fine art to educate audiences about the service’s missions and this year marks the program’s 43rd anniversary. Art from the program is exhibited at museums, members of Congress' offices, Cabinet secretaries' offices and Coast Guard facilities nationwide. COGAP artists donate their work to the program, which now comprises more than 2,200 works depicting the missions performed by the service’s active-duty members. To learn more about COGAP, visit www.uscg.mil/Community/Art-Program/.