Savannah’s Ships of the Sea Museum will host a reception tonight to open the mixed-media exhibition “Savannah Calling: New Work by Robert Morris and Charlie Ellis.”
For the past three years, Morris — yes, the same Robert Morris who serves as spokesman for the Georgia Ports Authority — and Ellis have traveled the 25-mile Savannah River channel, capturing images and collecting objects to translate into art.
Morris, who has previously mounted major one-man shows at the Cincinnati Museum Center, Mason Murer Gallery and The Telfair Museum, employs oil and hand-made resins on canvas to depict the Savannah River from the nation’s fourth busiest container terminal to the sea. Conversely, Ellis, a Savannah native who has spent six decades collecting objects found along the Savannah River, has created a series of mixed media works that include driftwood, fishing lures, shoe soles and baby dolls.
In addition, William “Will” Morris, a SCAD film major, whose work has been screened at the St. Louis Film Festival and Cinema St. Louis International Film Festival, will premiere his new short film “The River” at 6 p.m.
“The River” is also included in the exhibition.
“Savannah Calling is a dynamic exhibition that celebrates life, commerce and art along our river,” said museum director Tony Pizzo.
“It is our hope that the paintings, mixed media and film included in this exhibition will inspire a greater appreciation for the vast beauty and potential our river has for artists, the business community and the general population throughout our region.”
The Savannah River, which Morris first visited in 1989, has been a source of inspiration for the artist for two decades. From his Tybee Island studio, Morris has created a series of 10 paintings that range from a 6-foot, ethereal image of a container ship passing the historic district at midnight to fluid paintings of color and light that capture the natural flow of water.
The first work in the series is titled “Garden City Terminal, Big Blue” and depicts the massive bow of a Maersk vessel at dock. As the series progresses downriver, Morris seeks to balance representation with illusion in capturing the essence of the river.
Morris says he often awakens to the horns of massive container vessels and follows the ships as they pass through the mouth of the river, in and out of our waters.
Ellis can remember back to the early 1940s when, as a 12-year-old boy, his father took him by boat up the Savannah River to Mulberry Grove where he found his first Civil War era bottle. Today, Ellis’ collection of artifacts and inventions include more than 1,500 bottles, ship parts and even a three-bladed airplane propeller from a crash site.
In recent years, however, Ellis has begun to translate these finds into assemblages, or, as he calls them, “ojays of dart,” adding that one of his primary goals is to make the viewer chuckle.
In his film, Will Morris — a second cousin to Robert Morris — has captured a series of scenes that, in part, depict the work Morris and Ellis have done together exploring, salvaging and recording life and commerce along the Savannah River.
He said what attracted him to the “Savannah Calling” collaboration, other than his older cousin’s insistence that he get involved, was the great contrast of imagery found along the Savannah River.
He hopes “the abstract blend of historical objects and the most modern ships in the world,” resonates throughout his film.
Completing the Savannah maritime flavor of tonight’s event is Tommy Stokes III, president of Local 1414 of the International Longshoremen’s Association. A veteran dockworker and well-known jazz musician, Stokes will play for the reception.
Senior business reporter Mary Carr Mayle covers the ports for the Savannah Morning News and savannahnow. She can be reached at 912-652-0324 or at mary.mayle@savannahnow.com.
IF YOU GO
The exhibit “Savannah Calling: New Work by Robert Morris and Charlie Ellis” will run March 7—May 4 at the Ships 0of the Sea Museum at 41 Martin Luther King, Jr. Blvd.
SHIPPING SCHEDULE
Following are the ships expected to call on Georgia Ports Authority’s Garden City and Ocean terminals this week. Schedules are supplied by GPA and are subject to change.
TERMINAL VESSEL ETA
GCT PRAIA Today
GCT MAERSK MONTANA Today
GCT KAAN KALKAVAN Today
GCT MAERSK UTAH Today
GCT UASC SITRAH Today
GCT YM MANDATE Saturday
GCT MSC METHONI Saturday
GCT ZIM QINGDAO Saturday
GCT SAIGON EXPRESS Saturday
GCT YANTIAN EXPRESS Saturday
GCT HANJIN MUNDRA Saturday
GCT XIN CHANG SHA Sunday
GCT APL CORAL Sunday
GCT MSC ALESSIA Sunday
GCT EVINOS Sunday
OT TIRRANNA Sunday
OT KIRANA NAREE Sunday
GCT MSC EMMA Monday
GCT CHARLESTON EXPRESS Monday
GCT MSC ESTHI Monday
GCT FRISIA ROTTERDAM Monday
GCT SAVANNAH EXPRESS Monday
GCT JULIETTE RICKMERS Monday
OT MONICA P Monday
GCT ZIM CONSTANZA Tuesday
GCT EVER DELUXE Tuesday
GCT MSC CAROLE Tuesday
GCT MSC LUDOVICA Tuesday
GCT SABYA Tuesday
GCT PETROCHEM TRADER Tuesday
GCT MOL EFFICIENCY Tuesday
GCT NYK METEOR Tuesday
GCT MAERSK CHICAGO Tuesday
OT STAR KIRKENES Tuesday
GCT ISLANDIA Wednesday
GCT MOL PROGRESS Wednesday
GCT MSC ELA Wednesday
GCT TOKYO EXPRESS Wednesday
GCT OAKLAND EXPRESS Wednesday
GCT HANJIN LOS ANGELES Wednesday
OT TARAGO Wednesday
GCT HANJIN CHITTAGONG Thursday
GCT SEA-LAND EAGLE Thursday
GCT WARNOW ORCA Thursday
GCT ZIM LIVORNO Thursday
GCT YM GREAT Thursday
GCT PARIS EXPRESS Thursday
OT STAR JAVA Thursday