The title of this work, “Marine Totem with Osprey Nest”, carries a reverence. The idea of a totem invokes a spirituality, rooted in the indigenous belief of humankind’s kinship with nature. More secularly, this concept describes something that acts as a respected symbol.

At many times in our lives, things are very rarely what they seem to be. We tend to look around, quickly form an opinion, and move on. But all that truly gives us is an often inaccurate version of reality. But if we stop and take the time to observe and learn, we can see the bigger picture. I have to admit, when I was first introduced to the world of maritime art, I was quick to judge.

A square painting filled to bursting with spectacular color and energy hangs on a rack in painting storage. Every time I pass this rack, it catches my eye and I say to myself “I need to wait on this one”. But these pieces have a special way of working themselves into my head and so on a gloomy late winter day I decided it was time.

Sometimes the quirks of technology can reveal something really interesting! While compiling a list of objects in our Collection related to submarines, our Collections Management System threw me a curveball.

This episode is a pretty big departure from the normal “structure” of Beyond the Frame. This is for a few reasons, and I want to share those with you. I like to try to give extra context with these blogs when I can and this is an episode that I think deserves a little extra context.