Seth Tane

Those of you who've known me for a long time are well aware that I have a deep connection to the water. I was in my twenties back in 1979 when my small boat fascination became a little bigger after buying an oil tanker in the Brooklyn Navy Yard, and towing it over to Jersey City to begin a dream of a live-aboard mobile studio. Years followed in the rebuilding and re-configuring the ship for purposes a bit far afield of my original intention (photos on my about page). I continued to paint and photograph, but increasingly I worked in all manner of marine trades. I did salvage, towing, diving, launch service, line handling, bonded customs deliveries and eventually manufacturing of patented plug-and-play deck structures for research vessels, tugs and marine equipment. I also spent a few years serving as the federal court appointed monitor in a maritime pollution case, sailing on supertankers to and from Valdez AK, Puget Sound and San Francisco Bay.

Eventually I sold the ship and moved ashore, building a steel home on wooded property in Oregon using many of the same tools and techniques common to ship building and marine fabrication, and I finally got back to making art full time. But I still enjoy my days on the water and continue to navigate them in a fleet of small craft, mainly kayaks and hybrid sail boats and a 10 foot/10HP outboard skiff. I use them to get close to ships and waterfront scenes to make paintings.

While on another NYC trip this summer, one of our sons who lives in Brooklyn and I put together another addition to the fleet, a nice little 10' Avon inflatable boat with an 8HP outboard motor to mess around in. He'd been interested in getting out on the water there for awhile, and over a very hot week we inserted our project into a community of ships clustered in a remote backwater tributary of one of the now industrialized creeks that make up the 6th borough. Outboards are a pain to work on, but we got the Honda running after an infusion of parts and sweat, and refurbished the inflatable on the astro-turfed tiki-lounge on the upper deck of an old ferry before tossing it into the funky waters below and rigging it for a great summer of explorations on the rivers around the city.

Those are not easy or placid waters to learn to navigate on, with fast ferries and tug-barge traffic, swift currents, submerged hazards and debris, all heavily policed by security vessels on high alert, making the challenge formidable. Optional for many operators are proper radio protocall (for those who bother to use one at all), correct navigational lighting, and following the maritime rules of the road. I was glad I was able to give our son the short course based on my extensive experience, and fortunately he was a quick study. As it turned out, I got a little more deeply invloved with the crowd on that backwater than I intended when I first eyed it as a likely place to put a boat in the water. I became the marine-therapist-ship-whisperer to the hipster navy...hired to coordinate the wreck removal of a 29' twin diesel flybridge cruiser and consulting on the fate of one of the ships. And then one of the owners decided I should buy their little ferry, since no one else they'd met knew so much about her construction and equipment. I got very close to making the plunge until I did a thorough bilge crawl. Rust never sleeps, and I decided to back away from another project of that scale and get back to painting.

My wonderful gallery representation: LewAllen Galleries, Santa Fe, NM
And as always, you can also contact me directly by email: info@sethtane.com and follow my occasional photo posts on: Instagram