Notes From The City: An Abundant Life - Courageous Inspiration

I met Reid Stowe about fifteen years ago through someone I knew in the sailing community in New York City Harbor. At the time when I met him he was talking about taking a sea voyage that he had been planning for several years, and one that would break the world's record for the longest amount of time at sea on board a sailing vessel without touching land or restocking, and the time he had planned for was 1,000 days. I had thought about joining him for a part of the journey - his schooner, the Anne is a beautiful one that he had built himself and lovingly carved magical images into through meditational and shamanic practices, and the adventure sounded like the trip of a lifetime, but he was emphatic that anyone who got on board would have to be ready to commit to it in its entirety. I am always honest about what I know I can and cannot do, and I knew that though I might want to test my endurance on a trip like that and that it could be an incredibly beautiful and enlightening one, I know myself and I don't like to be landlocked or sea-locked anywhere for any purpose - I like my independence and like to be able to move about as I wish to. I also know that I don't like living with people under any circumstances - I like people well enough and there are some whose company I can enjoy on many occasions, but I also like my private and quiet time and always joke that even in my romantic relationships I would not ever want to live with anyone full time. So I didn't go on the trip with Reid, and then my life took a different course for a while so I lost track of my sailing contacts and didn't know what had ever happened with his trip.

Then one day last summer, my friend Paul Calendrillo the Gallery Owner was telling me about a project he was working on and asked if I would be interested in helping with the public relations and marketing and the planning for the opening night. He started describing the Artist and that he had taken a more than 1,000 day trip on board a Schooner he had built named the Anne, and that while on board he had worked on some of the pieces that would be a part of the show. It all sounded so familiar except for one part because I had never heard anything about art being a part of the life of the sailor I had known fifteen years before. But then Paul said that the Artist's name was Reid Stowe, and I said that I knew him and that of course I'd be happy to help publicize his work, and when Paul showed me photographs of Reid's artwork I was even more sure that I wanted to work on this project. The work even in photographs looked extremely beautiful, and as I began to read more about the art and the Artist, the story blended with what I already knew about the Reid I had met and began to build an interesting bridge between my own past and my present. We began to have conversations over the phone, conference calls with Paul and email correspondence, and the Artist began to emerge from the recesses of my memories of the Sailor I had met.

As we began the planning process, I introduced Paul Calendrillo to Aleks Veyg, who I wrote about in this blog a few weeks ago, who has a wonderful lifestyle brand company named Bolder and who as part of that company has developed BoulderArts. Aleks was such an important part of creating a special and memorable evening by connecting the event to the Liquor Sponsor Kas'tell Vodka, as a Chef providing food, and inviting the team from Awesome TV to document and conduct interviews at the opening. During this time I suggested that a friend, Aaron Paul the British Popstar, perform at the opening night, because though it seemed like a very odd mix of styles, Aaron is very much an avant garde Artist who is open to collaboration, is a beautiful person, and he is very much aware of the importance of ecology, sustainability, and humanitarian causes. Though their styles might be vastly different, at heart they spoke the same language, and in what I consider a very brave and open-minded daring leap, Reid very enthusiastically said yes. Later on I told him that his generous and open-hearted yes had been the best yes of a career because of the immeasurable publicity, good spirit and beautiful energy Aaron Paul brought to the project along with his friends who are Artists, Influencers, Photographers, Creative Directors and Stylists, that made it not just another opening night but an event that was memorable in the world of Prime Chelsea Galleries and Art shows.

Reid's work is created using recycled materials, mixed media, and in some cases the sail cloth from his own schooner and the sails from other historic ships. The paints he uses are often recycled, leftovers from other Artists or things that were disposed of. He'll add smaller paintings from his history into newer paintings of today, pieces of his schooner, photographs, newspaper and magazine articles, and charts from his voyages. There is an ephemeral quality about his work because though the pieces are substantial, Reid does not consciously strive to use archival methods and materials, and they are created with the knowledge that they will begin to change over time. One of the methods that Reid uses while he is working on a canvas in his current home with his family in North Carolina is to hang the large canvases and sail cloths from the trees to work on them and to allow them to live in nature and interact with the wind and rain and leaves, sky, air and earth.

When I first arrived at the gallery for the opening I was stunned by the beauty I could see from outside the door. And as I began to walk around the space and look at the work I was enraptured. I've never seen work like this that was so layered with meaning and energy, life and light. Images of faces look out of some, and thick layers of paint create worlds within worlds of others. I started taking photographs in almost a trance-like state because I was so drawn into the experience of the paintings. And then people started to arrive and the party became a big party and then a bigger one, and the opening night was in full swing. But even then those paintings still took on a powerful presence in the room - there is so much energy in them that is powerfully full of light and life that they seemed like benevolent guests of honor at a celebration.

There is another reason why I am so happy that everything came together so beautifully to give Reid an especially memorable opening night and great press and publicity. The art is gorgeous and his journey on board ship astonishing and memorable, but the one added touch that in my mind is the most glorious is that years ago when I met Reid, nearly everyone around him said that it wouldn't be possible for him to take the trip and that he was just talking and dreaming about something that would never materialize. But the proof of his vision was not only in the completion of a sea voyage that lasted more than 1,000 days but also in the stunning artwork that greeted me when I arrived at the opening, with some pieces that were from his 45 year history as an Artist. He's been painted by Basquiat, had songs written about him, and he's sailed over the world in a schooner he created and built with his own hands, but to me one of the most beautiful things about Reid Stowe is the courage he had to follow his vision despite the doubts that anyone else had.

The person who had introduced me to Reid Stowe the Sailor years ago at a harbor event was at the gallery on the night of the opening. I hadn't seen him in years, and though he didn't say it in words, I could see the amazement on his face that spoke louder than any words ever could and seemed to say, "He did it." Not only did Reid do it, but he made it back with stories to tell, a record that is so far above the previous record that it may never be broken, and a heart and mind that are open to possibility, to new ideas, and to going forward with hope. While I was talking with Reid after the opening, the passage from 1 Corinthians 1:27 came to mind, "God has chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise," and I also thought of the image from Isaiah 62:3 "You will be a crown of glory in the hand of the Lord, a royal diadem in the palm of your God." There are people who talk about things that they are going to do and then never do them, but that is not the way of a heart like Reid Stowe's. I knew that night that I met him almost fifteen years ago that he was serious about what he said he would do, and that's why I could not with good conscience say that I would commit to his journey because I knew I could not. And nearly fifteen years later I had the opportunity to see his life and his work as an Artist and a Sailor be celebrated, and the sea voyage of over 1,000 days be recognized for the courageous act of physical strength, endurance and integrity that make up the man and the Artist Reid Stowe.

Reid Stowe

At Paul Calendrillo New York

548 West 28th Street

New York City

http://www.reidstoweart.com/bio.html

https://www.paulcalendrillo.com/