When Anthony and I were in Mystic earlier this month, we were planning on seeing old ships, eating some seafood and grabbing a slice of pizza. What we didn’t expect to find, especially at the seaport, was anything much in the way of fine arts or design.

What a wonderful surprise to have found both in artist Laura Vila’s leaded glass works (from top to bottom): Chasing the Whale; Reading the Solar Azimuth; The Sounding Line; and Celestial Translations. Her leaded glass designs and the work of about a dozen other artists were on display as part of “Restoring a Past, Charting a Future: An Artistic Discovery of America’s Whaling Legacy by Dalvero Academy,” a collaboration between Mystic Seaport and artists from the New York-based academy. Awesome find.

Mary Maru