Young FL. Sailors and Artists Present a Floating Art Show

In November of 2020 members of the Street Art Regatta also known as StAR, painted sails of massive human feet. Then they teamed up with young sailors with Optimist Dinghy to maneuver the painted sails of feet to create the illusion that the sailboats were dancing. The idea was to imagine the ocean surface as a floor for human movement.

Organizer Clare Vickery, Founder and Director of the Grace Arts Center in South Florida, said the original eight sails will race again on April 29th, 2021, from the Lauderdale Yacht Club.

Vickery said two renowned artists inspired her to pair street art with the marine industry- an original series of sails by the late Painter Purvis Young in 2006 for the Winterfest Boat Parade and an American Artist in Italy named Melissa McGill.

“Purvis was not a figurative painter but his abstract images came alive on the water with the wind and lighting at night. For years I had been trying to find the right connection between artists and the marine industry to expand on the award-winning Young sails for Winterfest. In 2019, I came across the Venetian ‘Red Regatta’ orchestrated by Melissa. Sails of all sizes were painted in many shades of red celebrating the ancient city’s crimson color, legacy of design, innovation, arts and conservation of its history amid the increasing flooding from King Tides. StAR was also influenced by memories of festive regatta competition events from my youth where university students from art, design, and engineering schools joined with rowing athletes and the community to decorate boats and race them on the river,” said Vickery.

The inaugural StAR event is being presented by the Lauderdale Yacht Club, LYC Sailing Foundation, the Broward County Cultural Division, the Florida Division of Cultural Affairs and North Sails. Artists involved in the StAR program are committed to working in neighborhoods with little access to the arts or sailing opportunities.

"The first StAR Wall was completed in March 2021 along the historic Sistrunk Boulevard (6th Street) at NW 9th Avenue. Hiero Veiga collaborated with another Artist, Remote, to create a sail for StAR characterized by the singular leg and foot en pointe. Hiero was then commissioned for a mural near the Avenue of the Arts in Fort Lauderdale thirty days before the official opening of the Street Art Regatta," said Vickery.

Registration is required for entry and all guests. For complete details visit the website. “Should rain be forecasted, we will contact registrants a day before with instructions, including a rain-date,” Vickery said. There will also be a live stream option to view the event.

To learn more about the StAR visit the website https://www.graceartscenter.or...

What: Inaugural StAR Sailing Event

Where: Lauderdale Yacht Club

When: April 29 2021, 4:30 PM to 6:30 PM EST.