Work of island artist is unveiled in California

December 19, 2016 1:30 am
Image courtesy of Neil Johannsen Bainbridge Island artist Neil Johannsen’s model of the Western Flyer, made with wood from the original vessel, was unveiled at the National Steinbeck Center in Salinas, California as part of the recent celebration to mark the 75th anniversary of the publication of “Sea of Cortez: A Leisurely Journal of Travel and Research.” Image courtesy of Neil Johannsen Bainbridge Island artist Neil Johannsen’s model of the Western Flyer, made with wood from the original vessel, was officially unveiled last week at the National Steinbeck Center in Salinas, California as part of the celebration to mark the 75th anniversary of the publication of “Sea of Cortez: A Leisurely Journal of Travel and Research.”
Image courtesy of Neil Johannsen Bainbridge Island artist Neil Johannsen’s model of the Western Flyer, made with wood from the original vessel, was unveiled at the National Steinbeck Center in Salinas, California as part of the recent celebration to mark the 75th anniversary of the publication of “Sea of Cortez: A Leisurely Journal of Travel and Research.” Image courtesy of Neil Johannsen Bainbridge Island artist Neil Johannsen’s model of the Western Flyer, made with wood from the original vessel, was officially unveiled last week at the National Steinbeck Center in Salinas, California as part of the celebration to mark the 75th anniversary of the publication of “Sea of Cortez: A Leisurely Journal of Travel and Research.”

Bainbridge Island artist Neil Johannsen’s model of the Western Flyer, made with wood from the original vessel, was officially unveiled last week at the National Steinbeck Center in Salinas, California as part of the celebration to mark the 75th anniversary of the publication of “Sea of Cortez: A Leisurely Journal of Travel and Research.”

Johannsen was slated to personally attend, but said he “stayed home to paint for two upcoming shows.”

The boat is famous for being the vessel Ed Ricketts and John Steinbeck used during a six-week specimen collection/exploration voyage, which Steinbeck chronicled in the aforementioned, highly regarded book. The boat itself is in Port Tonnsend now undergoing renovations, though Johannsen was able to salvage some wood from which to build the model – the only one of its kind.

“It was exciting and satisfying to build the only model in existence of the Western Flyer [while] working with my art partner for fine woodworking, Charles Duer, wood original to the boat,” Johannsen said. “The diesel, tobacco and whiskey stains in the old wood helped conveyed to me a sense of living history in this wood. This aromatic wood has life in it. Doc Ricketts and his pal, John Steinbeck are in it.”

“Steinbeck wrote two books based on the trip,” according to the Moterey Herald. “The first one was published in 1941, shortly after their return from the Gulf of California. It combined the journals of the collecting expedition with Ricketts’ species catalogue. ‘The Log from the Sea of Cortez’ was published 10 years later, after Ricketts’ death.”

Johannsen said he first fell in love with the book when he raid it, three times, in fact, while sailing up and down the Alaska Coast years ago, before relocating to Bainbridge. A selection of his work is currently on display at the Treehouse Café through the end of the month.