The official 'Like' page for my ships, their stories, their cultures reflecting real peoples of the
Operating as usual
U.S. Coast Guard International Ice Patrol | Titanic Memorial Ceremony 2021
We thank the USCG for their service, respect and remembrance of those who perished on the RMS TITANIC.“Honor The Brave Who Sleep Where The Lost Titanic Lies....
Me at work the other night...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q7-Camib758
The Members Exhibition has been a staple of Hallwalls' yearly activities since its first appearance in December of 1975. Once again this year, Hallwalls host...
:) :)
Hallwalls Members Show after hours •
Check it out with the lights on TODAY from 11-6!
L: Justin Higner
R: Axel Sack
Love builds up the broken wall and straightens the crooked path. love keeps the stars in the firmament and imposes rhythm on the ocean tides. Each of us is created of it and I suspect each of us was created for it.
----Maya Angelou
Please support this amazing restoration effort of a small but significant contribution to ocean liner travel and German post-war culture. Every purchase makes a difference. I'll be wearing my own shirt with you soon!
https://www.yahoo.com/news/photos-abandoned-stripped-cruise-ships-132600807.html
There's been an increase in the number of cruise ships getting stripped for parts since the pandemic, revealing a new normal for the cruise industry.
Tribute to the "Florence DuBois"--sculpture ship of Higner Maritime Artworks
This great piece was amazing and one of the very best of my collection. She was revolutionary in design and stunning in her lights. Unfortunately, she fell a...
The main influencers of my life in Art: the great ocean liners.
Documentary which tells the story of how, in the years following the Second World War, countries competed to launch the most magnificent passenger ships on t...
For the first time in a long time, John Maxtone-Graham's rare program on his seminal book The Only Way to Cross can now be seen. Filmed on board the SS Norway in the mid 1980s. Enjoy :)
Produced in c. 1986, this rare program is adapted from John Maxtone-Graham's celebrated and comprehensive seminal work on the history and anecdotal stories o...
In time for the anniversary of the Titanic disaster, here is a look at a rare documentary from 1988 that influenced me greatly as a child. This show, among other features such as brief but thoughtful interviews with survivors and experts, contains recreations and viewpoints by actors filmed on the Queen Mary at the time of Frederick Fleet, Lillian Goodwin, and Bruce Ismay. This is in honor of all on board, their families, and those tat built her and her fleet-mates. Please enjoy.
Secrets & Mysteries, (or Secrets of the Unknown as marketed via MPI Home Video) was a television series which originally aired in syndication from 1988 to 19...
The end of a legend.
This was the largest ship in the history of the Higner Maritime Collection up until 2017, when the now-20 year old "Leviathan" was refitted, Layland Cruise L...
I'll be conducting a new set of mixed media workshops with Autism Services of WNY, helping promising kids of many skills from disadvantaged backgrounds to create their own worlds and enjoy an special sensory set of activities. I'll post pictures of those later on in April :) A similar session in Niagara Falls High School will be coming shortly as well.
Well, here it is: an official portrait of me as the 'Commodore' of my craft, taken recently at the Carnegie Art Museum in North Tonawanda. The award-winning "Savannah" is at my hand.
These kids remind me so much of when I was young :)
A favorite documentary that influenced my art.
Dr. Bob Ballard explores the histories and the final resting places of famous 20th-century passenger liners, including the Titanic, the Lusitania, and the Em...
Me at work the other night...
Inspiring documentary for me as I was growing up.
Secrets & Mysteries, (or Secrets of the Unknown as marketed via MPI Home Video) was a television series which originally aired in syndication from 1988 to 19...
Ward Line: Expeditions' "Bulgarian"--revisited. This ship took a Christmas break from its first season to have its forward superstructure extended and its zodiac raft cranes doubled and re-arranged in the same style as her older sister-ship, the "Burgundian". Guest Artists: Spain Rodriguez (back wall), Barbara L. Rickard (port side wall), Autism Services student work (starboard side wall), back wall main room 'Runners' (unknown--will recheck.) Historic Ward Group takes delivery of two new ships of similar if more utilitarian designs, the "Bolivian" and the "Bohemian" (2020, 2021). In the lore of the collection, this line fills in niches in the market and also manages hotels and other facilities. Layland Corp. actually owns the ships. Ward also operates the classic passenger-cargo ship "Bavarian". This kind of thing is fun for me ;)
In the year 2020, several ships in the collections will clock in at 20 years of age! This includes the six-foot long "Romania" (built Dec. 2000-1/2001) as well as the six-foot long "Carmania" and "Caronia" sisters (built as "Oxfordshire II" and "Yorkshire II"). I must include my own versions of the "Americana" and "Canadiana" for CSL. This, along with an anniversary of the creation of the now-gone "Greater Buffalo II" massive rivership (last existed as the "Russia" as a sectioned barge before it disintegrated almost completely by 2018.) More that anything, the collection started to get seriously BIG after the entry of the "Leviathan" in 1999, resulting in the age of the 'Giants'--that is, ships built at 10 feet long or more! The latest 'giant', the "Oxfordshire IV", was built in 2019 and is necessarily existing in three sections for storage sake. Her sister will be built next year, 20 years after the "Oxfordshire II". :)
Happy New Year!
The four sister ships about to enter service in January, if you will, in the continuing process of painting and arranging of elements at the Alexander Maritime Yards. Once the paint cures of the smells, etc; each will be brought inside for final detailing and more black paint and their Zodiac rafts/life rafts lift cranes. On board already are several artists (see below) displayed and exhibited. The all-electric-powered ships' names are: "Pluto II", "Ceres", "Sedna", and "Luna II". Since these are pretty small members of the Solaris Expeditions (the historic Solar Star Line Cruises) fleet, they are given names representing dwarf planets (our own moon is bigger than Mercury!)
Tis the season for spray-painting FOUR expedition ships at once as part of this decent weather! (Is that a song?) Last night the projected "Ceres", "Pluto II", "Sedna", and "Luna II" for Solar Star Line Cruises' Solaris div., all built at 'Alexander S&E Corp.)', got their skins on. But there is much more line and detailing work to be done to make them stand out, radically, when done. I can't wait to show them off when done. Also, according to the lore of my ships, they will be storied as the first 'all-electric' vehicles in honor of advances in transportation and environmental efficiency awareness.
Christmas and Holidays Ship, 2019--the "Burgundian". :) (from my other camera.)
:)
This year's Christmas and Holidays Ship is Ward Line Expeditions' "Burgundian", seen here nestled with the nutcrackers across from the tree. The purpose for this annual tradition is to provide a 'venue' for guests and their families for he events of the season here (at least that's what my old childhood brain figured!) Originally built as the "Fairmajesty" as a ferry cruise river ship then used by another co. as a floating casino ship for years, it was completely rebuilt except for its core and and reappeared as you see it. Its long-suspended sister-ship also sailing is the "Bulgarian". The interiors include original print artworks by Paul T. Hanover and Chris Sodano.
The beginnings of a great mixed-media workshop at Niagara Falls High School where their awesome sculpture instructor, Ms. Bley has been gracious in hosting this event. One of my pieces, the 'Paridot Isle', made an appearance and an example of what I do. Students are expected, however, to let the materials speak in their own unique ways for them. To be continued with even more interesting results ;)
'Every piece that I have built throughout my life, practically, has had provenance built-in; a story all its own that must be told and expressed however it is done. When the ship is launched it's already foaming at the mouth and ready to sail, come Hell or high-water. If its the materials that make you wonder, that's good. If its the cultures I display as best as I can that make you wonder, that's good. If its the people and events that I dedicated every piece to that makes you wonder, that's great too. How about the smell of spray paint? Think of these fleets as madcap humanity in action...only in the most sincere and quirky ways. If you remember that, then you're set.' ---2018
WE SHALL REMEMBER
On Tuesday November 19th Artist Tom Paul Asklar and the Lewiston, NY, Arts Council held its popular Edmund Fitzgerald 1975 sinking Commemoration and Music event at the Brickyard Pub and Brewery on Center St. which included a presentation, a solemn memorial service (in which I once again had the honor or reading off the names of the 29 lost Merchant Mariners to the sounds of the bell), and live music. Higner Maritime Artworks and myself was once again a big part of this event with my own model sculpture of the great ship. The ship, illuminated as as accurate as possible at the time (2015), comes in four separate pieces for ease of transportation and storage. Special thanks to out many sponsors, including Great Lakes Brewing Company, Great Lakes Real Estate, DiCamillos Bakery, and others.
6815 Ward Road
Niagara Falls, NY
14304
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