Mystic -- Mystic Seaport Museum announced this week that it has received a $735,000 grant from the Henry Luce Foundation.

The finding will allow the museum to curate and develop three new art installations from its extensive collections and related public programming.

The museum stated the grant will allow it to “reimagine the artistic merit and educational potential of its permanent collections of decorative, folk, and self-taught art. These objects – not always considered as works of art and substantially hidden from public view – will be placed on display so they can be appreciated and studied afresh through the eyes of a new generation of scholars, artists, and curators.”

The museum stated the art installations and their associated research and public programs are designed to encourage new scholarship around the themes of “The Sea as Muse,” a window into the world of immigrant craftsmanship and decorative arts; “The Sea as Studio” for folk art such as scrimshaw; and “The Sea as Commons,” through a curatorial investigation by contemporary artist Mary Mattingly.

“The Henry Luce Foundation is pleased to support Mystic Seaport Museum in this effort to expand the scholarship and knowledge around parts of its collections that will benefit from a fresh perspective,” said Teresa A. Carbone, program director for American Art at the Henry Luce Foundation.

“This grant will enable Mystic Seaport Museum to bring rarely-seen collections to light and augment our curatorial capacity. Our staff has expertise largely in maritime history and the humanities. Introducing differing disciplinary perspectives will invite complementary yet distinct presentations and generate new narratives around selected objects. This plan reaffirms the Museum’s commitment to research, in recognition of our role as a nexus for public discourse on the American maritime experience,” said museum president Steve White.

The grant will also support a guest artist and scholar curator positions, students internships and teacher fellowships. The latter will adapt the exhibit content into “resource sets” that will be archived and made available for museum and classroom teachers. The content is designed to encourage their students to dig deeper into the stories of the objects and their creators and make connections to their own lives.

The three installations are scheduled to open on the museum’s McGraw Gallery Quadrangle in 2019 and 2020.