Ship of Dreams: Artists, Poets, & Visionaries of the S.S. Vallejo (1949-1969)

Opening Events:  Saturday, January 12
* Gallery Talks – 2:00 pm
* Reception – 3:00 – 5:00 pm

Exhibit dates:  Jan. 12 – March 17

[Image: Gordon Onslow Ford, Arrival of the Slow Palace (detail), 1950, oil on board, 77 x 38.5 inches, courtesy of the Gordon Onslow Ford Collection, Lucid Art Foundation.]

Main Gallery & Photography Gallery

This exhibition shares the story of how a decommissioned ferryboat became an important cultural crossroad in the history of California.

Moored on the north side of Sausalito in 1949, the S.S. Vallejo became a dynamic home and cultural incubator for artists, musicians, and literary luminaries such as Gordon Onslow Ford, Jean Varda, Alan Watts, Allen Ginsberg, Jack Kerouac, and many others.

Co-curated by Linda and David Keaton

It was a pivotal period in the cultural development of California and America, with many of its thought leaders gravitating around this singular place on the edge of San Francisco Bay.

This exhibition surveys a spectrum of creative life aboard the S.S. Vallejo from 1949 to 1969, and presents works of art by Gordon Onslow Ford, Jean Varda, Ruth Asawa, John Baxter, J.B. Blunk, Richard Bowman, Lawrence Ferlinghetti, Luchita Hurtado, Pirkle Jones, Larry Keenan, Adaline Kent, Roberto Matta, Lee Mullican, Wolfgang Paalen, and David Simpson, along with vintage ephemera.

This exhibition debuted at the Sonoma Valley Museum of Art in the spring of 2018 and is a collaboration between Sonoma Valley Museum of Art and Lucid Art Foundation.