NEW YORK— Leendert van der Pool was named the 2025 George Gray Award for Artistic Excellence winner at the Coast Guard Art Program (COGAP) annual art acceptance ceremony Thursday. The award-winning artwork, "Daring Rescue" oil on canvas was selected from 34 artworks in the 2025 collection.
These 34 works are on exhibit at the Salmagundi Club, a New York art and cultural center located at 47 Fifth Ave., through July 29. An additional 24 works from previous years’ collections are also on display. This year’s collection includes works depicting dramatic search and rescues and patrols and inspections—work that makes the Coast Guard Semper Paratus—Always Ready.
The exhibition is free and open to the public and can be seen Monday through Friday from 1 p.m. to 6 p.m. and on Saturday and Sunday from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. Following the exhibition at the Salmagundi Club, the 34 works of the 2025 collection will be on display for two months at the Federal Hall National Memorial in lower Manhattan. This display will begin August 4.
COGAP uses fine art to educate audiences about the service’s missions and this year marks the program’s 43rd anniversary. Art from the program is exhibited at museums, members of Congress' offices, Cabinet secretaries' offices and Coast Guard facilities nationwide. COGAP artists donate their work to the program, which now comprises more than 2,200 works depicting the missions performed by the service’s active-duty members. To learn more about COGAP visit www.uscg.mil/Community/Art-Program/, the Salmagundi Club visit www.salmagundi.org/, and Federal Hall National Memorial visit www.nps.gov/feha/.