Heather Hertel, a professor of art at Slippery Rock University, led a team of students to create a floating art exhibition at the Erie Yacht Club on August 14. The artworks were painted directly onto recycled J22 yacht sails, attached to working yachts, and sailed out on Presque Isle Bay. The project began in 2015 when Hertel, an experienced sailor, wondered why she had never painted on sails. The team conducted material investigations to find paint that would stick to sail cloth, ultimately producing nine large-scale paintings. The exhibition also involved cross-disciplinary learning, with engineering professor Louis Christensen giving a presentation on sailboat physics to ensure the sails moved correctly.
This project matters because it demonstrates an innovative approach to public art that challenges traditional exhibition formats by using moving, functional sails as canvases. It highlights the value of cross-disciplinary collaboration between art and engineering, and serves as a real-world example of Hertel's "SMART" goal-setting teaching strategy. The exhibition's success has generated interest in making it an annual event, and Hertel hopes to take the show nationally to venues like the Annapolis boat show. The sails will remain on display at SRU's SGA Student Art Gallery through September, extending the project's impact beyond the initial floating exhibition.