The 2016 PEM Talks Series will focus on Vanished Steamboats: The Maritime Art of C. Leslie Oursler, the newest exhibit on display in the Mezzanine Gallery at the Calvert Marine Museum. Celebrate the largely forgotten era of steamboat travel on select Thursday evenings at 7 p.m. in the Harms Gallery in September, October, and November. Lectures are free and open to the public.
On Thursday, September 8, Jack Shaum, guest curator for the exhibit and longtime friend of the artist, will speak about Oursler’s life and work. An expert on steamboats in his own right, Mr. Shaum vividly evokes the golden age of steam travel through photographs and descriptions.
On Thursday, October 6, Dr. Ralph Eshelman, will discuss how steamboat wharves and landings became the focal point of social and commercial activity on the waterfront. With the move to automobiles and trains and consequent decline in steamboating, the social and commercial fabric of this region changed; however the evidence of this era as Dr. Eshelman will show, remains.
On November 10, Pete Lesher, Chief Curator at the Chesapeake Maritime Museum broadens the focus to steamboats throughout the Chesapeake. The importance of the steam lines to commerce, the economy, and social interactions of people living up and down the Chesapeake Bay is fully explored.
Vanished Steamboats: The Maritime Art of C. Leslie Oursler is on display in the museum’s Mezzanine Gallery through the end of December. For more information about the PEM Talks 2016 Series, contact Sherrod Sturrock, Acting CMM Director at 410-326-2042, ext. 32 or email sturrosa@co.cal.md.us.
