Virtual First Friday

Join us on Friday, November 6, 2020 at 6:30pm on the Custom House Museum YouTube Channel (click the icon in the footer) for our continuing series: Virtual First Friday! This month’s Virtual First Friday will feature Ship model builder Rob Napier. In his talk, he will be sharing his decades of career experience both as a craftsman, and regarding the conservation work that he does for cultural organizations and private collectors on historical ship models. This event will be an opportunity for viewers to interact directly with Rob, and ask questions in order to learn about the process of maintaining and preserving these types of beautiful maritime artifacts.

About the Presenter:

The ship modeling world called to Rob Napier when he was a boy, and he turned to it into a career when he was 27. It has occupied him professionally ever since. He has worked with private and public model collections including the Forbes Collection, the Kennedy Library, the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, the New York Yacht Club, the Art Gallery of Ontario, and the Custom House Maritime Museum here in Newburyport.

Rob also creates original models, which are grounded in historical, photographic, and artistic documentation. His work has won awards at both national and regional competitions, and he has judged numerous ship modeling events himself. He also has experience with small boat building and commercial fishing, and is an avid sailor.

Rob Napier shares his experiences and views by lecturing and by contributing frequently to publications that feature ship modeling and maritime history, including editing the Nautical Research Journal for five years in the 1990s. He also served as a US Navy journalist during two late-1960s combat cruises to Southeast Asia.

Published Works:

Legacy of a Ship Model: Examining HMS Princess Royal 1773 (2010)

Reconditioning an Eighteenth-century Ship Model Valkenisse: Retourschip of 1717 (2008)