News Release

Annapolis Maritime Museum / 723 Second St / Annapolis, MD 21403
Contact: Jeff Holland / 410-295-0104

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE – Sept. 29, 2011

Contact:  Jeff Holland / 410-295-0104 / director@amaritime.org

Annapolis Maritime Museum presents
‘The Chesapeake Bay Art of Tilghman & Will Hemsley,’ October 14 - November 13, 2011

Annapolis Maritime Museum presents “The Chesapeake Bay Art of Tilghman Hemsley & Son.” The art exhibit will feature oil paintings of Bay scenes by Tilghman Hemsley and his son, Will. An artist’s reception will be held Friday, October 14, from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. All artwork is for sale and a portion of the proceeds will benefit the Museum’s education programs.

Right: "The Oyster Shuckers" by Tilghman Hemsley

Tilghman Hemsley is a painter, sculpture and charter-boat captain who lives and works on Kent Island. He earned his degree from Maryland Institute College of Art in 1983, and has since maintained a thriving charter fishing business as well as established himself as one of Maryland’s premier painters of Chesapeake life. Tilghman draws inspiration for his art from his close personal relationship with the Chesapeake Bay, and insists that fishing and art are natural compliments to one another.  Working the Bay for several months of a year has familiarized Tilghman with the detail and nuance associated with everyday life on the water, and these details are not lost on Tilgman’s art.  His scenes of shucking houses, pound netters and forgotten dockyards are infused with a sensitivity and genuine understanding that put on display the inner character of the Chesapeake.

Will Hemsley is a painter and sculpture who lives and works on Maryland’s Eastern Shore.  He earned his degree from St. Mary’s College of Maryland in 2005, and after traveling and painting abroad for a period, returned to Maryland to paint scenes of life on and around the Chesapeake Bay.

He has since completed numerous private commissioned paintings, as well as large-scale waterfowl sculptures for office buildings.  He is currently working on a sculpture for Salisbury University, as well as producing a documentary with his brother Francis on the watermen of the Chesapeake Bay.

Will works primarily on commission, yet has managed to create a small series of paintings that feature, among other regional subjects, Chesapeake watermen working the bay.  These paintings juxtapose the grit of the watermen's trade against the flawless beauty of his surroundings.

The exhibit is free and open to the public each Thursday through Sunday from noon to 4 p.m. See www.amaritime.org for a complete schedule, directions and parking information.

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