Steve was born in 1949 into a family with roots in both art and the sea. In 1968, after a year working as a "machinist apprentice" in an East Boston shipyard, Steve attended the Massachusetts Maritime Academy. Graduating in 1971 with a Merchant Marine Engineer's license. Steve sailed five years aboard freighters with American Export Lines and oil tankers with Standard Oil Co. of California. These voyages took him to ports around the Mediterranean, India, Africa, the American west coast and the South Pacific. Steve made three voyages from Brooklyn, NY to India via the Cape of Good Hope when, in the 1970's, the Suez Canal was closed to transit shipping.
Steve began building model ships in 1978 while living in Spain renewing his love of ships and the sea. Since then he has won 2 gold medals and 1 silver medal in model ship competitions in the Boston area and in Spain. In 1992 he began painting mostly in watercolor. He gave much of his early work away to friends and relatives and began exhibiting his work to the public in early 2007.
Many of Steve's maritime themed watercolors are a result of much research on specific ship construction details and port history. Steve has a collection of reference books, ship construction plans, personal reference photos and model ships and dioramas that he has built. All of this could be used as Steve orchestrates his paintings. Once his subject is drafted his application of the following washes are a combination of a painterly approach combined with strategic detail . Every August, Steve and his wife, Nella, travel to southern Italy to visit Nella's relatives. Steve finds time to paint plein air during this time in Italy, a welcome change from his normal studio based work.
Steve's marine watercolors have been exhibited at:
- Museum of America and the Sea, Mystic Seaport, Mystic, CT.
- Maine Maritime Museum, Bath, ME.
- Ventura County Maritime Museum, Oxnard, CA.
- Biggs Museum of American Art, Dover, DE.
- Herreshoff Marine Museum, Bristol, R.I.
- National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association (NE Regional Headquarters), Gloucester, MA.
- Cape Cod Cultural Center, S. Yarmouth, MA.
- South Shore Arts Center, Cohasset, MA.
- Cotuit Center for the Arts, Cotuit, MA.
- Art Complex, Duxbury, MA.
- On going Artist Member exhibits at the Northshore Art Association, Gloucester, MA. and the Rockport Art Association, Rockport, MA.
Steve's ship models have been exhibited at the USS Constitution Museum, Charlestown, MA. regularly since 1985.
Steve is a Signature Member of the American Society of Marine Artists (ASMA) and is a member of the ASMA Exhibition Committee. Steve is also the ASMA North Region Representative which includes the 6 New England States, Wisconsin, Illinois, Ohio, Minnesota, England and Canada (for US citizens living abroad).
"My art has been influenced by my experiences as a seagoing engineer, my model shipbuilding and literature of the sea. I love strong colors and strive to impart a sense of emotion, understated activity and contrasting light in my work."
Steven is an artist member of:
- American Society of Marine Artists (Signature Member)
- North Shore Arts Association, Gloucester , MA. (Artist Member)
- Rockport Art Association, Rockport, MA. (Artist Member)
Steven is associated with the following organizations:
- USS Constitution Model Shipwright Guild
- New England Watercolor Society
- Transparent Watercolor Society of America
Awards of Note:
- "Museum Purchase Award" 29th Annual International Maritime Art Exhibition, Museum of America and the Sea, Mystic Seaport, Mystic, CT. ("The Red Tanker")
- "Painter's Award" Concord Art Association, Concord, MA. ("Brindisi at Night")
- "Gold Medal" (2) 1st medal @ The Model Ship Exhibit, Flix, Tarragona Spain 1981 for the felucca "Alexandra". 2nd medal @ The USS Constitution Model Shipwright Guild Model Ship Exhibition at the Constitution Museum, Charlestown, MA., 2008 for Joshua Slocum's yawl "The Spray"
- "Silver Medal" (1) @ The USS Constitution Model Shipwright Guild Model Ship Exhibition at the Constitution Museum, Charlestown, MA., 2010 for the Spanish lluad "Duilia"
Galleries:
- Museum of America and the Sea, Maritime Art Gallery, Mystic Seaport, 75 Greenmanville Ave., Mystic, CT. 06355
Contact:
Phone: 978-975-0015