Expedition Artist Braves Seas Aboard 2600 Year-Old Phoenician Boat

Los Angeles – Expedition Artist Danielle Eubank joins the Phoenicia, a 6th Century B.C. replica Phoenician sailboat made of wood and constructed using ancient techniques and materials. The Phoenicia continues its circumnavigation of Africa, and is currently at the Azores Islands in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean.

Eubank boards the Phoenicia in Gibraltar next month and will set sail on a rare journey that launched from Syria in 2008, rounded the Cape of Good Hope, is in the Atlantic, and will return to the Mediterranean in August. The crew seeks to rewrite history by proving that the ancient Phoenicians were the first people to circumnavigate Africa, as recorded by the world’s first historian, Herodotus. A Phoenician vessel has not embarked on a comparable voyage in 2,500 years and Eubank admits, “Adventure intensifies the experience.”

Unlike many artists who take residency in other countries and set up studio spaces, the sailboat becomes Eubank’s residence and is the catalyst for her studies of water. Aboard the wood vessel Eubank is connected to all aspects of the ocean from its unforgiving rough waters to its miraculous ability to change and uniquely reflect different parts of the world.

A. Moret, writer for Los Angeles Times Magazine observes of Eubank’s work, “Water is deeply a part of us and reflects who we are — fleeting, always changing in time, light, and place. The works of Danielle Eubank are driven by memories of places past. The narrative that we beckon to hear waits patiently beneath reflections of destinations many of us have never seen.”

Eubank is not only an artist on board the Phoenicia but a crewmember as well. Working with expedition originator and captain Philip Beale for over two years, Eubank’s sketches, paintings, and photographs exhibit a rare combination of reportage and artistry.

“It is a tremendous expedition,” reports Eubank. “Painting the interplay of light on water is thrilling and challenging. While on board, I will be working with the rest of the crew to man the ship so that the water becomes not just my artistic subject, but my home 24 hours per day.”

Danielle Eubank’s renderings of the world’s oceans bestride the line between realism and abstraction. Her full collection of Phoenicia paintings will be on display at journey’s end.

To contact Danielle Eubank, please email Danielle@danielleeubank.com. Additional information and photos available upon request.
For more information about the Phoenicia Expedition, please visit www.phoenicia.org.uk