Welcome to the Coast Guard Art Program
The Coast Guard Art Program (COGAP) uses fine art as an outreach tool for educating diverse audiences about the United States Coast Guard. Through displays at museums, libraries and patriotic events, Coast Guard art tells the story of the service’s missions, heroes and history to the public. Art is also displayed in offices of members of Congress, senior officials of the executive branch of government and other military services and at Coast Guard locations throughout the country.
Coast Guard artists—most of whom are professional artists—volunteer their time and talents to help COGAP fulfill its missions. Today, the collection comprises nearly 2,000 works which are primarily paintings. These capture the daily missions of over 43,000 men and women on active duty in the Coast Guard perform, including homeland security, search and rescue, marine environmental protection, drug interdiction, military readiness and natural resource management. Other works depict sea and air assets.
The program—celebrating its 39th anniversary this year—is a partnership between the Coast Guard and the Salmagundi Club, a New York City artistic and cultural center for over 140 years.
Learn more at https://www.uscg.mil/Community/Art-Program/
“The appearance of U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) visual information does not imply or constitute DoD endorsement.”
PUBLIC DOMAIN
These works from the U.S. Coast Guard Art Program must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
Securing the Way
Crewmen from Maritime Safety and Security Team Los Angeles—Long Beach conduct tactical boat maneuvers during an exercise. The exercise was designed to test the unit’s ability to protect a ship docked at a pier as well as underway, using four Coast Guard small boats. (U.S. Coast Guard Art Program work by Marty Walsh, 2015 Collection, ID# 201526)
Flared Up
Crew members participate in pyrotechnics training discharging MK-124 smoke and illumination signals at Station Shinnecock’s Boat Crew College in Hampton Bays, New York. Reserve boat crew colleges allow reservists to get a concentrated dose of instruction that concentrate on classes including towing, man overboard drills, flood control, survival swimming and engineering casualty control exercises. (U.S. Coast Guard Art Program work by Susanne Corbelletta, 2015 Collection, ID# 201508)
Rescue Basket Ready
An aviation maintenance technician assigned to Coast Guard Air Station Port Angeles, Washington, prepares to lower a rescue basket from an MH-65 Dolphin helicopter during a training exercise in the Olympic Mountains in Northwestern Washington State. (U.S. Coast Guard Art Program work by Frank Gaffney, 2015 Collection, ID# 201509)
Buoy Scraper
A female member of the Aids to Navigation Team in Cape May, N.J., scraps barnacles off a buoy during winter buoy replacement operations in Oyster Creek, N.J. Twenty-five crew members are attached to Cape May’s Aids to Navigation Team. The primary components of today’s aids to navigation are beacons – navigation aids that are permanently fixed to land – and their waterborne cousins, buoys. (U.S. Coast Guard Art Program work by Pete Michels, 2010 Collection, ID# 201017)
Securing The Lines
A Coast Guard member secures a boat’s mooring line to a bollard. Coast Guard recruits are taught basic seamanship, such as knot tying and how to secure lines, during basic training in Cape May, N.J. (U.S. Coast Guard Art Program work by Sharon Way-Howard, 2013 Collection, ID# 200318)
Dependable on Homeland Security Patrol
Four crewmembers of the floundering fishing vessel West Head were rescued by the Coast Guard Cutter Dependable, which was on homeland security patrol. Dependable is homeported in Cape May, N.J. (U.S. Coast Guard Art Program work by Mary McGlynn, 2004 Collection, ID# 200415)
My Hero
An aviation survival technician, better known as a rescue swimmer, carries a young boy away from a helicopter which has just arrived from Houston to a hospital in Beaumont,
Texas, in the wake of Hurricane Harvey. The swimmer, assigned to Air Station Miami, was called in from other states to assist Coast Guard personnel in the Houston area
in their rescue efforts. (U.S. Coast Guard Art Program work by Susanne Corbelletta, 2018 Collection, ID# 201806)
Lifeline (2017)
2017 George Gray Award for Artistic Excellence Recipient. Two female Coast Guard service members on a response boat medium from Station Emerald Isle in Beaufort, N.C., coil lines that are used to retrieve victims from the water. The Coast Guard maintains a high state of vigilance and continuously monitors for distress calls. It coordinates search and rescue efforts by afloat and airborne Coast Guard units, response efforts on waterways, renders aid to the merchant fleet and tracks international satellite-aided programs. (U.S. Coast Guard Art Program work by Ken Smith, 2017 Collection, ID# 201726)
Surfing Coast Guard Style
In rough seas just north of Newport, Ore., a 47-foot motor lifeboat navigates toward shore. The crew is trained to respond to distress calls and maritime emergencies during storms that create high and turbulent seas with surf often over 15 feet in height. Surfmen are the service’s most proficient small boat operators. There are 19 surf stations in the Service. (U.S. Coast Guard Art Program work by Gordon Kribs, 2018 Collection, ID# 201812)
Protecting the Vulnerable
Protecting the lives of marine animals is a prime goal of the Coast Guard’s maritime law enforcement mission. Here scientists aboard a 23-foot response boat and in protective clothing issued by the service release a sea turtle into waters of the Eastern Pacific Ocean. After disentangling the turtle, the Coast Guard will gather the drifting debris for disposal. The service is the lead federal maritime law enforcement agency and the only agency with both the authority and capability to enforce national and international law. (U.S. Coast Guard Art Program work by Kathryn Cross, 2018 Collection, ID# 201807)
Coast Guardsman Attends to Buoy
(U.S. Coast Guard Art Program work by Dale Dumas, ID# 88313)
Forever Vigilant
This Coast Guard boat, a law enforcement Special Purpose Craft, is used for search and rescue, high-speed pursuit cases, and port and waterways coastal security. Here, the crew member aboard the Coast Guard escort boat is returning a wave to a passenger aboard a cruise ship as it leaves Miami. (U.S. Coast Guard Art Program work by Chuck Van Horn, 2014 Collection, ID#201425)
Hudson River Patrol
The USCGC Willow (WLB 202), home ported in Newport, Rhode Island, is shown on patrol on the Hudson River. The crew of the Willow routinely conducts the cutter’s primary mission of aids to navigation on the waterways of New England and also conducts maritime homeland security, living marine resources patrols and responds to search and rescue cases. (U.S. Coast Guard Art Program work by James Wolford, 2015 Collection, ID# 201528)
High Speed Maneuvers
Boat crews from Coast Guard Station Channel Islands Harbor and a Maritime Safety and Security Team from San Diego conduct high speed maneuvers off the coast of Ventura, California during a counterterrorism exercise. Among their many capabilities, the security teams can rapidly deploy domestically and overseas to supplement U.S. Armed Forces. (U.S. Coast Guard Art Program work by Jim Stagner, 2015 Collection, ID# 201523)
Lifeline (2015)
A rescue swimmer saves an injured boater with the assistance of an MH-65 Dolphin helicopter crew. A rescue at sea is a highly orchestrated evolution requiring sophisticated flying and precisely synchronized communication among crewmembers. (U.S. Coast Guard Art Program work by Don Borie, 2015 Collection, ID# 201504)
Rescue Mission
An aviation survival technician rescue swimmer is lowered into turbulent waters off the Oregon Coast as part of advanced training at the Coast Guard’s Advanced Helicopter Rescue School at Air Station Astoria. Here, instructors prepare rescue swimmers and air crews to conduct rescues in the surf off coastal shores, on high seas in the open ocean, and along cliffs and caves found on the rugged coast. (U.S. Coast Guard Art Program work by Louis Stephen Gadal, 2010 Collection, ID# 201017)
Buoy Evolution
Male and female crew members work together on a buoy evolution operation aboard the cutter Juniper on Long Island Sound, opposite Bridgeport, Conn. The removal of a buoy from water and its replacement require a complex choreography. Once on board, the buoys are repaired and if needed, updated with new equipment. (U.S. Coast Guard Art Program work by Kevin McCaffrey)
Let’s Get Outta Here
“Lets get outta here,” cries his shipmate, as a Coast Guardsman pauses to feed a pelican while working a buoy in an oncoming storm. (U.S. Coast Guard Art Program work by Scott Pike, ID# 87138)
The USCG Challenges the Mighty Sea
(U.S. Coast Guard Art Program work by Thomas Picard, ID# 88331)
Pyro Training, Mark 13 Flares
Crewmembers on Coast Guard Cutter Madrona, homeported in Charleston, practice with Mark 13 flares. The artist’s son was commanding officer of the Madrona in 1998. (U.S. Coast Guard Art Program work by Margaret Graham Kranking, 2005 Collection, ID# 200514)
Save Our Ship
(U.S. Coast Guard Art Program work by Jim Stagner, ID# 90572)
Winter Training
(U.S. Coast Guard Art Program work by Robert Sakson, ID# 87061)
Coast Guard to the Rescue
(U.S. Coast Guard Art Program work by Ralph Star, ID# 90547)
Midnight Angel Alaskan Rescue
(U.S. Coast Guard Art Program work by Ralph Starr, ID# 90363)
Auxliarist
A Coast Guard Auxiliarist maneuvers a 41-feet utility boat during helo ops with an HH-60 Jayhawk. (U.S. Coast Guard Art Program work by Lew Jackson)
Coast Guard Fights Toxic Fire, Elizabeth, NJ
(U.S. Coast Guard Art Program work by George Delaney)
Coast Guard Musicians
And the beat goes on …
A Coast Guard singer and band members are shown as they perform in myriad venues around the country. The Band educates young and old about the Coast Guard. Its home is at the Coast Guard Academy in New London, Conn. (U.S. Coast Guard Art Program work by James Dyekman, 2019 Collection, ID# 201914)
Studying For Third Class
A crew member from Coast Guard Station Tillamook Bay studies for advancement
aboard one of the station’s three motor lifeboats (MLB). The MLB is docked near
Garibaldi, Ore., where the station was moved in the early 1980s. The station is one of 19 surf boat stations in the service and its members are responsible for protecting over 2,000 square miles of the Eastern Pacific Ocean. (U.S. Coast Guard Art Program work by Dennis Boom, 2019 Collection, ID#201905)
Going Home
Hundreds of thousands of marine mammals and sea turtles die yearly from entanglement on fishing nets and gear. But this turtle was a lucky one: Spotted by crew from the Coast Guard Cutter Harriet Lane, it was cut from nets and then gently released into waters off the Puerto Rican shore. The service’s mission protecting living marine resources is critical to saving endangered marine life. (U.S. Coast Guard Art Program work by Del-Bourree Bach, 2019 Collection, ID# 201904)
Perfect Trust
A Coast Guard petty officer is kissed by his canine partner Strike while undergoing
hoist training. The two partners are from the Canine Explosive Detection Team, a part of the Maritime Safety and Security Team stationed at Kings Bay, Ga. Canine service members remain with their human partners for the duration of their careers. (U.S. Coast Guard Art Program work by Tom Hedderich, 2019 Collection, ID# 201917)
Surfman
A crew member aboard a 47-foot motor lifeboat from Coast Guard Station Cape Disappointment in Washington battles the spray of heavy seas as he navigates the
surf boat. The station is one of only 20 Coast Guard surf stations. Crews undergo rigorous training to ensure that they are prepared to respond to distress calls and
maritime emergencies during storms that create high and very turbulent seas. (U.S. Coast Guard Art Program work by John T. Ward, 2019 Collection, ID# 201939)
All Ahead Frantic
A motor lifeboat (MLB) crew from Coast Guard Station Fort Macon, N.C., conducts
high speed training. The crew is trained to respond to distress calls and maritime emergencies during storms that create exceedingly high, turbulent seas with surf often over 15 feet in height. Surfmen are among the service’s most proficient small boat operators. (U.S. Coast Guard Art Program work by Dennis Boom, 2019 Collection, ID#201906)
On The Bridge of the Cutter Mackinaw
A Coast Guard lieutenant looks pensively at the horizon while on the bridge of the Cutter Mackinaw. The service maintains its heavy icebreaking capability on the Great Lakes to assist in keeping channels and harbors navigable during winter to meet the shipping needs of industry. The cutter is the Coast Guard’s only heavy icebreaker on the Great Lakes and was designed to provide multi-mission capabilities with state of the art
Systems. (U.S. Coast Guard Art Program work by Emily Waldman, 2019 Collection, ID# 201937)
Readying For Patrol
A Maritime Security Response Team {MSRT) member lowers into a large
boat from the Coast Guard Cutter Active. The MSRT serves here as part of
the Joint Inter-Agency Task Force-South which detects and monitors illicit
trafficking. Despite over fifty years of service, the Active is one of the most
effective Coast Guard assets operating in the Eastern Pacific. (U.S. Coast Guard Art Program work by MK2 Jasen Newman, 2019 Collection, ID# 201922)
Changing Buoy Moorings
Crew from the Cutter Spar works on buoy maintenance. Here the Damage Control man cuts buoy moorings while a second crew member sorts the chain. The service maintains the more than 50,000 buoys, lights and beacons that make up the visual component of aids to navigation. (U.S. Coast Guard Art Program work by James Wall, 2019 Collection, ID# 201938)
Cutter Ida Lewis Performs ATON
Crew aboard the Coast Guard Cutter Ida Lewis, a 175-foot Keeper Class Coastal Cutter, repairs a buoy in the Cape Cod Canal in Buzzards Bay, Mass. The cutter, homeported in Newport, R.I., also conducts search and rescue, domestic icebreaking and coastal
security missions. (U.S. Coast Guard Art Program work by Mike Mazer, 2019 Collection, ID# 201921)
Learning The Ropes
The Coast Guard Cutter Eagle serves as a seagoing classroom for cadets and officer candidates from the Coast Guard Academy. To maneuver the Eagle under sail, the crew must handle more than 22,000 square feet of sail and five miles of rigging. Over 200 lines control the sails and yards, and every crew-member, cadet and officer candidate must become intimately familiar with the name, operation, and function of each line. (U.S. Coast Guard Art Program work by Crissie Murphy, 2018 Collection, ID# 201818)
Partnership
2018 George Gray Award Recipient. In a training exercise, the crew of the U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Spar works in Port Clarence, Alaska, with the crew of the Canadian Coast Guard ship Sir Wilfred Laurier. The crews transfer a U.S. Coast Guard Vessel of Opportunity Skimming System (VOSS) between the two ships. VOSS equipment is used to remediate oil spills. Such exercises foster cooperative relationships which are critical to safety of sea lanes and security on the world’s oceans. (U.S. Coast Guard Art Program work by Leendert van der Pool, 2018 Collection, ID#201824)
Coast Guard Boards a Fishing Vessel
Crewmembers aboard a small boat from the Coast Guard Cutter Legare prepare to board a commercial fishing vessel to ensure its compliance with safety and fishing regulations. The cutter, homeported in Portsmouth, Va., conducts this inspection
off the coast of Delaware. Its numerous deployable missions take it on patrols in offshore waters from Maine to Florida, the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean. (U.S. Coast Guard Art Program work by Mike Mazer, 2018 Collection, ID# 201815)
Fire Drill at Sea
2015 George Gray Award Recipient. A petty officer records the sequence of events for a fire drill that took place aboard the Coast Guard Cutter Gallatin. Because there are no police or fire stations at sea, crews perform numerous emergency drills while underway in order to prepare themselves for a real emergency. Home ported in Charleston, S.C., the Gallatin is a 378-foot high endurance cutter that performs a myriad of missions including migrant and drug interdictions, homeland security patrols, search and rescue, and fisheries enforcement. (U.S. Coast Guard Art Program work by Tyson Snow, 2015 Collection, ID# 201522)
