April Street: The Mariners’ Grand Staircase (Armoured Stars and Flying Clouds)

The installation takes its inspiration from the historic voyage of Navigator Eleanor Creesy and Captain Josiah Perkins Creesy in the clipper ship Flying Cloud (1851), which set a record by sailing from New York to San Francisco (traveling around Cape Horn in South America) in only 89 days. Comprising 13 three-dimensional paintings in a salon-style configuration, Street’s installation evokes the portrait wall of a grand staircase from ages past. It is also accompanied by sound—an original track by the artist and other actors that may also be construed as an abstracted conversation between the seafaring couple. Referencing history, exploration, mythology, and art history, Street’s work invents sublime parallels with both time and place.

Credit: Exhibition overview from museum website.