KELSY PATNAUDE AT SEA (with cole brauer) An Exhibition at Newport Art Museum

NEWPORT, RI – The Newport Art Museum will unveil this week KELSY PATNAUDE AT SEA (with cole brauer), an exciting new show that captures a 130-day racing voyage aboard a 40-foot sailboat. The show, which runs from October 25 to April 27, is curated by Dodie Kazanjian, Vogue art world correspondent and founding director of Art&Newport.

The opening reception for the exhibition will be on Friday, October 25, from 5 to 7 p.m., with remarks at 5:30 p.m.

“Sailing is a critically important part of Newport’s history and identity, and Dodie and Kelsy have collaborated to create a visitor experience that pushes our thinking and challenges traditional ideas of what that legacy means today,” said Executive Director Danielle Ogden. “By pairing Kelsy’s incredible work with multimedia elements pulled directly from Cole’s perspective, Dodie Kazanjian has once again curated a show that both celebrates Newport and transports our visitors to a different place.”

The show features a 100-foot panorama painting using photo-transfer, oil, graphite, and ink on linen. It evokes Patnaude’s contrasting feelings of awe and fear of the ocean and tells the story of a strong woman in a male-dominated space. Depicted in the piece is Cole Brauer, with whom Patnaude corresponded throughout the journey. Brauer became the first American woman to race single-handed around the world nonstop and was the only female competitor in the 2023-24 Global Solo Challenge. She will be in attendance at Friday’s opening.

“In one way or another, all Patnaude’s work is about the sublime and gender in relation to the sea,” said Kazanjian. “She uses the panorama, a nineteenth-century form of mass media, to tell a powerful story, transporting viewers to a world – a kind of grand voyage ‘round the world – which they may not otherwise experience.”

Born in Worcester, Mass., and an MFA graduate from the Lesley University College of Art & Design, Patnaude today resides in Newport. Working professionally as a yacht captain, Patnaude splits her time on the sea and in the studio. Balancing her passion for empowering women in sailing and her artistic practice, she explores the role of women in the sailing industry in her work which has been shown up and down the East Coast.

“The longing to experience the unknowable – from awe to terror – calls many to labor on the sea,” said Patnaude. “For me, it’s the fear of the unknowable, for Cole Brauer, it’s conquering the unknowable, and for everyone watching it unfold in real time, it’s the spectacle.”

About Newport Art Museum
About the Newport Art Museum: Founded in 1912 as the Art Association of Newport, the Newport Art Museum is a creative community and gathering place for seasonal visitors and residents alike. As a cultural cornerstone in Newport, Rhode Island, the museum offers dynamic, multigenerational programming and showcases a diverse collection of classic and contemporary art spanning centuries, styles, and perspectives. Discover more at www.NewportArtMuseum.org.

Kelsy Patnaude, At Sea (detail), 2024, photo-transfer, oil, graphite, and ink on linen