People attracted to boats generally have some other related loves... nature, the outdoors, sea life, birds, etc. All this interest and love of things of beauty leads naturally to a wide variety of artwork There are of course a variety of painting, drawings, models (there are several people who will provide you an exact scale model of your own boat). In addition, boaters often turn to their cameras and generate what I consider some great artwork.
A good friend shuns photographic prints as "art" (hello Shannon), but I feel that they are just as artistic as anything else, and I tend to enjoy them more.
I won't start copying people's web postings here, but will try to provide some links to some good examples that I may run across.
Another type of art (at least to us boat types) are pictures of construction, mechanical bits and pieces, and other boat details... we'll see about listing some of that too.
I know this page is a little lacking... I'll try to flesh out some more sites soon. Please send me or leave comments with other sites that you would like to suggest.
Anything you find, please respect ownership and copyrights!
"... our objective is to recognize and promote marine art and history..."
To add to the Boat Art trend, there are many commercial artists that specialize in boat and maritime subjects... I'll try to add to these as I find them.
The Magnolia Framing and Art Gallery in Gautier, MS has Bob Walters as a featured artist. A retired Navy "Top Gun" pilot and TWA captain, Mr. Walters' photographic interests are largely concentrated in the area of coastal wildlife and landscapes. Recently he has moved to digital processing and control every aspect of his creations. Bob Walters has numerous magazine credits including several cover shots for Southwind Magazine.
Danny Hahlbohm is a renouned Christian artist (he painted the Footprints in the Sand that you may have seen before. I wasn't aware that he has quite an extensive array of Christian and Naval/maritime art. His "Above the Sea" gallery has ships and various ocean scenes. Below the Sea has mostly whales and other sea creatures. Check out his many works and some commentary at his Inspired Art web site.
Inspired Art - Spreading the Word of Life... through Art.
Thanks to a Duckworks Magazine mailing list post for pointing me toward this page.
Jan Tiura was the first woman tugboat captain on San Francisco Bay... she has also been active in photography for much of her life. After driving any and all manner of tugs for years, she is making some of her photographs available at photoTIURA... really pretty stuff, much of it seen from the angle of a tug captain.
The Panbo Marine Electronics blog has a pointer to some great photography. OneEighteen is a Houston Ship Pilot who has taken many photos while plying his trade and has posted them online on flickr. Check out his various photo sets.
An interesting "art" project... looks a little like a floating shanty town or something, but...
Swimming cities of Switchback Sea is a flotilla of seven intricately hand crafted vessels that will navigate the stretch of the Hudson River between Troy and the New York harbor this August 15th - September 7th. Imagined as a hybrid between boats and bits of land mass broken off and headed out to sea, the Switchback vessels will make stops in towns along the river bringing performances and music. Over the course of three weeks they will make their way toward their home port - an invented landscape tucked into a niche along the East River in Long Island City, Queens.