Ashely Bowen tabletop design

Phyllis Tracy and Susan Newberg, proprietors of the decoupage-plate-making studio NEptune-1, debut a series of ceramics decorated with images by 18th-century Marblehead seafarer Ashely Bowen, the first American sailor to write an autobiography.

The Seagull Gift Shop will be the first space to introduce the Ashley Bowen journal series of images taken from Bowen’s sketches made in pen and colored ink. Bowen sketched the first image of Marblehead Harbor, according to Tracy and Newberg, who plan to incorporate Bowen’s scripture on the glass plates.

“His illustrations are beautiful, but are sitting in the Museum’s archives,” says Tracy. “They [the Museum] can’t have people touching and feeling them, or they’ll disintegrate.”

The Seagull is hosting an open house on Sunday, February 8, from 4 to 7 pm.

Read more about NEptune-1 (the name is taken from Marblehead's old telephone exchange) and their Jeremiah Lee Mansion series at the Milford Daily News.

Read more about Ashely Bowen in his recently published journals, edited by Daniel Vickers.