Posted on June 30, 2022
On the weekend of July 4th, over 75 sailboats will set out from San Francisco Bay to Kaneohe harbor on O'ahu for the 42nd Pacific Cup race. With the start of the race just days away, we caught up with Denise Kramer, the artist behind our inaugural Pac Cup commemorative Aloha shirt, to learn more her about unique artwork and the process behind this year's print.
Denise has been an artist since childhood and earned her Bachelor of Fine Arts from Atlanta College of Art and a Master of Arts from City University of New York. While she has always been a passionate painter, her interest in nautical-themed work started in 2014 when her husband introduced her to sailing.
"I was so inspired by the movement and energy of wind and water that it has become the sole focus of my visual art."
Her discovery of used nautical charts as a unique canvas for her paintings occurred to her one day while she was sitting on her boat waiting for wind in the Long Island Sound. While sketching on an old chart to pass the time, she realized the used charts would be the perfect canvas to commemorate the places that she or her patrons have sailed, including the California coast, Hawaii, San Francisco, Narragansett Bay, and Long Island Sound.
When others in the sailing community saw her work, they started to ask for commissions – and her business, Sailboat Artwork, was born.
When we decided to create our first Pac Cup commemorative print, we immediately sought Denise's expertise to help us with the design. Denise is a member of the Richmond Yacht Club - host of the Pac Cup race, and she is deeply connected to the race.
Her husband and son have completed the race multiple times, and she has served on the shore crew. Plus, her technique for capturing the beauty and excitement of sailing made her the perfect fit.
Denise worked closely with the Pac Cup board when creating this special print, and each boat featured is a past competitor of the race with venerable sailing resume.
Makani ʻOlu a Holo Mālie
Fair winds and following seas to all the participants in this year's race!
Check out these paintings Denise has created to celebrate racing to Hawai'i!
https://www.sailboatartwork.com/hawaii/
