“We’re thrilled to present Ships of the Sea Maritime Museum’s first sequential art exhibition and hope ‘Drawn to the Sea’ will attract a multigenerational audience to explore the museum,” said Molly Carrott Taylor, Executive Director of Ships of the Sea Maritime Museum. “This extremely creative exhibit uses cartoons to tell historic maritime stories that resonate with today’s audiences.”

 Ships of the Sea Curator Tania June Sammons organized the “Drawn to the Sea” exhibit and invited each artist to select a ship model at Ships of the Sea Maritime Museum to feature in his or her work, offering the opportunity to create historic as well as fictional narratives.

 “Comics and graphic novels are extremely popular,” Sammons explained. “We wanted to use the comic book format to explore our four most important nineteenth-century Savannah ship models to connect with new audiences. We hope people learn something new about Savannah’s maritime history as well as the city’s historical relationship to the sea.”

 Sammons also partnered with Lee Heidel, owner and managing partner of Neighborhood Comics in Savannah, to design and publish a special “Drawn to the Sea” comic book, which is available at the Ships of the Sea Maritime Museum Gift Shop.

 “’Drawn to the Sea’ is the perfect opportunity for Neighborhood Comics to team up with one of Savannah’s most unique cultural and historical institutions, Ships of the Sea Maritime Museum,” Heidel explained. “The exhibit offers a unique opportunity to see the impressive skills that go into creating comic art and cross-referencing these exciting stylistic interpretations with the amazing models and historical artifacts at the museum. The comic book showcases diverse voices that bring together Savannah’s deep connections to both the open water and its history of artistic narrative.”

 Featured “Drawn to the Sea” artists include:

• Lucy Bellwood, a professional adventure cartoonist based in Ojai, Calif., focuses on the Anne, the legendary vessel that carried James Edward Oglethorpe and the first group of English colonists to Georgia in 1733.

• Avery Hick, a SCAD graduate and Level Ground Comics Executive Editor, explores life aboard the SS Savannah, the first steamship to cross the Atlantic Ocean, marking a bold turning point in maritime history.

• Rich King—who has published five books about the ocean, including Ahab’s Rolling Sea: A Natural History of Moby-Dick, Ocean Bestiary and Sailing Alone—drew inspiration from the Pulaski, a luxury steamship that suffered a catastrophic boiler explosion off the coast of North Carolina in 1838, killing approximately 130 people. He is an accomplished author and illustrator who is based in Santa Cruz, Calif.

• Sharon Norwood, a Jamaican-born interdisciplinary artist who lives in Savannah, Ga., takes a deep dive into life aboard the Wanderer, one of the last ships to illegally transport enslaved Africans to the United States. In 1858, more than 50 years after the transatlantic slave trade had been outlawed, the vessel secretly carried more than 400 captive Africans across the Atlantic, landing near the coast of Georgia and sparking international outrage.