Coast Guard Art Program artist Ken Stetz is the winner of the 2024 George Gray Award for artistic excellence. The Collegeville, Pennsylvania-based artist was recognized at the Coast Guard Art Program (COGAP)’s annual art acceptance ceremony on July 11, 2024, at the Salmagundi Club in New York City.
This best in show award is the Coast Guard’s highest honor for artistic achievement. The winning artwork, an oil painting entitled “Absorbing the roll,” was selected from 36 pieces in the service’s 2024 collection. Stetz’s work was chosen by a jury comprising Rear Adm. Michael Platt, U.S. Coast Guard District One commander; Richard Rosenblatt, a former Salmagundi Club art committee chair; and Stephen Bluto, senior collections manager of arms and armor at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Rosenblatt and Bluto are also artists.
Stetz’s winning painting depicts members of cutters Angela McShan and Seneca conducting joint search and rescue (SAR) drills. Stetz artfully captures the impact of heavy waves on the McShan’s crew as Seneca makes its approach during a simulation of a disabled vessel drill.
He was as surprised by the award as he was honored to receive it. “I’m proud to be associated with the Coast Guard,” he told MyCG. The recognition held a deeper significance for the artist, whose late father sailed for the military Sealift Command as a civilian employee of the U.S. Navy. That family history drove Stetz to apply for COGAP membership. “I wanted to give back the way my father did,” he reflected.
Stetz’s painting and the rest of the collection will be displayed at the Salmagundi Club until July 26. They are accompanied by 28 other works from previous COGAP collections. This year’s collection features art depicting daring search and rescue (SAR) operations and marine environmental protection activities, among other missions. Established in 1981, COGAP uses fine art to educate the public about the Coast Guard’s important work. Its artwork is displayed nationwide, from the offices of cabinet secretaries to the halls of Congress, to museums and Coast Guard facilities. The COGAP collection includes over 2,200 works.
Artistic expression and creativity are in the Coast Guard’s DNA, dating even further back than COGAP’s inception. The service has been home to and inspired a wide range of artists. Acclaimed artist Jacob Lawrence’s service in World War II inspired an entire series of Coast Guard-themed works. Captain America’s co-creator, Joe Simon, served in the Coast Guard during World War II and even created Coast Guard-themed comic books.
That legacy lives on in the Salmagundi Club exhibition. Located at 47 Fifth Avenue in New York, it is free and open to the public. It is open from Monday to Friday, from 1 p.m. to 6 p.m., and on Saturday and Sunday from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. After July 31, the exhibit will transfer to Federal Hall National Memorial in Lower Manhattan for two months. For more information about COGAP and the exhibition, please visit the COGAP homepage.
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