Wooden Boat Festival Poster 2011

Theme: Craftsmanship

Artist: Jayne Hemmerich

The 35th Wooden Boat Festival poster artist is Jayne Hemmerich.  Jayne's graphic art talents made her the clear choice during the public viewing and voting that took place at our Holiday Open House early December.

This year's theme is Craftsmanship.  Jayne used images and inspiration from her first Wooden Boat Festival in 2009 to create the poster.  Here is more from Jayne in an email correspondence with festival director, Kaci Cronkhite... in her own words.

KC: How did you select the boats and images in the poster? 

JH: Bertie and the other boat where chosen as the centerpiece of the poster because they represented the beauty of old craftsmanship and nautical tradition. Their images out on the water captured my attention the first day of the festival. It was an image that seemed locked in time, a wonderful glimpse into the past. I love the lines of the boats and the silhouettes of their sails. They seemed such an appropriate symbol for the theme this year, images of a time when things were made with love and care by hand.

I filled the background of the poster with faint images such as the compass, parts of boat building diagrams and nautical charts to represent timeless nautical images. The fish at the bottom is an outside spectator who glances back at the viewer who hopefully is imagining or dreaming of days and traditions well worth remembering.

KC: Tell us more about your personal boating history?

JH: Larry and I started boating late in life. Ziggy, our Jack Russell, has been with us every step of the way. Even at the wee age of a few weeks old, he came on our first boat and experienced the smell of the salt air and the feel of the rolling seas in Nantucket Sound and I can honestly say he has been a salty dog ever since. A job transfer to Boston back in the 90's gave us a chance to learn about boating as we took sailing lessons our first summer in old Boston Harbor. After a summer worth's of grueling lessons and our first true New England squall, we got a power boat. It was an old used Heritage Trawler and was a great boat to learn on. We began timidly cruising the waters of New England whenever we had a spare weekend or vacation. That first summer was when our love of the sea and all that goes with the infatuation of nautical life began.

We've now graduated through five boats. A Heritage Trawler, a Grand Banks, a 57' Nordhavn, a 28' New Zealand Protector pontoon speedster, and our current "lobstah" boat, the fifth of the "Knotty Dogs", after our Jack Russell.

We had many highlights while cruising Americas coasts. I remember so well the moment we cruised into New York Harbor and got our first glimpse of the city skyline, recently without the Twin Towers. It was at once both breathtaking and thought provoking. Another memorable time was coming out on the Atlantic side of the Panama Canal after leaving the calm waters of the Pacific. Cruising America was a thrill, from the upper coastal tip of Maine, seeing coastlines and harbors full of stories, interesting people and many adventures: the Hudson River in NY;  the shores and ports of the Chesapeake; the amazing Potomac River, the entire 100 or so miles of it, all the way to Washington DC, where we spent two solid weeks riding our bikes, visiting the monuments of DC with Ziggy in our bicycle basket.

We love the life of staying overnight in ports and anchorages, meeting new people, seeing interesting boats and activities that go on around the docks and harbors. We also enjoy seeing the wildlife that you see while cruising the PNW.

Our current boat comes from a little hamlet called Eaton, Maryland nestled in protected harbor on the Chesapeake. It's a Downeast boat, with a Duffy lobster boat hull from Maine. The cabin and finish work was done by Campbell Custom Yachts out of Eaton. It's what some would call a spiffed up "lobstah" boat and we love it! We cruised her on the waters of the Chesapeake, the Outer banks, down the length of the ICW to Florida and back over to the Bahamas again. She handled the seas with confidence and won our hearts. Then, we shipped her to Victoria, BC and her NW homeport.

KC: How does the Wooden Boat Festival inspire you? 

JH: We love being on water and never tire of seeing all sorts of boats and meeting the people that belong to them. We love classic wooden boats, tall sailing ships, old fishing boats and sailing regattas. Love for wooden boats and nautical history grew from traveling by boat. We were thrilled to attend festival for our first time last year. It was a magical place with magical people - a wonderful experience for any boat lover. We fell in love with the Port Townsend. 

Visit the artist's website: http://www.knottydog.com/

Purchase your poster online: Wooden Boat Chandlery