Chris V.
Norwegian Gem
First, I was greeted by someone in the management staff by the name of Asanda. We got to talk about how my favorite artist was Ramiro Brito since I grew up living in Miami and how my eye had been drawn to the multiple pieces that they had in the gallery from him and even up until that point, just having friendly conversation, in the back of my head I was just waiting for it…the hard sale. But to my surprise it never came. It just seems like a genuine conversation, between two people about an artist that they shared commonalities an interest with. She insisted that I come to an art auction that they were gonna be having later in the cruise. I hesitantly took the paper, thinking again that artwork at this level is not for people like me nonetheless I took the flyer and told her I would be there.(not even believing the words as they were coming out of my own mouth.) The next day I woke up and I looked at the schedule for the ship, and I saw that the art gallery was having a a seminar on Thomas Kincaid. The name didn’t ring a bell, but I told myself that she was really friendly and that I was gonna be on this ship for 12 days so why not. I made my way to the gallery, sat down and met the auctioneer named Sal. We started looking at some of Thomas Kincaid‘s works that were displayed up on the wall and he went into explicit detail of a particular piece that really drew me in. He talked about the old cars, Normal Rockwell (whose name sounded familiar to me) and and how he was regularly featured in his works as well as Chuck Norris of all people. This particular painting also features Kinkaide in his own work, painting a Kinkaid, with the Kinkaid family outside of a Kinkaid studio. We then looked at another one with a Gazebo and stream that just struck my husband to which Sal then went into further narrative about that piece of work. Sale wasn’t just telling a story, he was bringing this piece of art to life for us both. After that seminar and watching that slideshow about Thomas Kincaid, I can honestly say that I learned so much and saw how it tied into his artwork so many different ways that I fell in love. The way Sal just evoked emotion in me and brought it to life on the canvas just instantly changed everything for me. I WANTED MORE. I WANTED MORE KNOWLEDGE. I WANTED TO LEARN MORE ABOUT OTHERS…so I came again the next day. They were having a scavenger hunt and in this moment I had a chance to interact with the other staff there. (Sine, Shivam, Carmen, and Enoch.) It was such a sigh of relief to find out that it wasn’t just a fluke finding someone so friendly and knowledgeable in Sal and Asanda, but with each and every one of them. Over the next 10 days on that cruise I can honestly say that I spend more time in that art gallery that I did in the buffet or even in my own bed. From from learning about The Devine Comedy series from Dali, to the Color palette of Peter Max and how significant of a role he played in the city I was born, New York, to Kre8 who I found out was half Puerto Rican just like me, to Jim Warrens ability to evoke so much emotion, to Godards sense of quirkiness, I just wanted more. This team jelled so well with each other and made me feel so much like family that on the last day, I purposely made my appointment after the auction to close out my invoice as the last one of the night. I personally wanted to thank one of them for changing my life forever.