Voyage

The Story Behind The Artwork

Every journey begins with a decision. At some point, someone has to leave the shore. Voyage is an artwork about that moment.

The Mayflower sits at the heart of the composition, her sails raised and her course set towards the open Atlantic. Behind her, the compass provides direction, while the small historical cartouche connects the voyage to its two defining points:

Plymouth → Cape Cod

It is a simple visual journey, but one that changed history. In 1620, the Mayflower carried her passengers away from England and across the Atlantic towards a future they could not see. The people aboard the ship knew where they were trying to go. They could not know what they would find when they arrived. They could not know how difficult the journey would become. And they certainly could not know how significant their voyage would eventually become in the history of North America. They simply had to set sail.

That idea is at the heart of Mike Hicks' artwork.

The Moment Of Departure

There is something particularly powerful about the moment a sailing ship leaves the shore. Before departure, everything is familiar. The harbour. The land. The people left behind. The world you know. Then the sails rise. The ship moves away. And suddenly the horizon becomes the destination.

Mike has chosen that moment as the focus of Voyage. Rather than depicting the Mayflower as a static historical object, the artwork presents her as a vessel in motion. She is going somewhere. The sails are filled. The sea is beneath her. The compass is above. And the route ahead is waiting.

The Compass

The compass in the upper portion of the artwork provides more than a navigational reference.

It represents direction and purpose. For sailors crossing an ocean, knowing which way to travel was fundamental. But a compass can only tell you your direction. It cannot tell you what awaits at the end of the journey. That distinction is important. The Mayflower could follow a course. Her passengers could prepare for the voyage. But the future remained beyond their view. The compass therefore becomes a symbol of the balance between certainty and uncertainty.

You can know which way you are going without knowing exactly where the journey will take you.

Plymouth To Cape Cod

The small decorative panel within the artwork records the journey in a wonderfully simple way:

Plymouth
Cape Cod

Those two locations define the beginning and destination of the Mayflower's 1620 voyage across the Atlantic. For Spike the Art, the connection to Plymouth is particularly meaningful. Mike Hicks creates this work from Plymouth itself — a city whose history remains closely connected with the story of the Mayflower. Four centuries separate the voyage from the artwork. Yet the sea remains. The horizon remains. And the idea of a ship leaving Plymouth for an unknown future remains just as compelling.

1620 — 2020

The dates incorporated into the artwork mark the four-hundredth anniversary of the Mayflower voyage.

1620–2020.

They place the artwork within a specific moment of remembrance — four hundred years after the original journey. But they also create a bridge between past and present. The Mayflower sailed four centuries ago. Mike is looking back at that voyage from the same city from which the story began. That distance in time is part of what makes the subject so fascinating. History can sometimes feel remote. A date in a textbook. A name on a map. A story told so many times that its human reality becomes difficult to imagine. Artwork can bring some of that distance back into focus.

• A ship.
• A compass.
• A course.
• A horizon.

And suddenly the idea of the journey becomes tangible again.

A Unique Piece Of The Story

There is another reason Voyage occupies a special place within the collection. It is unique. The other works in the collection are available as limited editions. Voyage is different. There is one original piece.

Once it has been purchased, that particular artwork belongs to its owner. There will be no second edition. No additional copies. No reproduction of the artwork offered as another original. The person who acquires Voyage isn't simply buying an image inspired by the Mayflower. They are acquiring this particular piece of Mike Hicks' work. A single artwork connected to a story that began four hundred years ago. And once it has found its home, that chapter of its journey is complete.

Voyage

Ultimately, this artwork is about a very simple human idea. Leaving. Leaving the familiar. Choosing a direction. Accepting uncertainty. And moving towards whatever lies beyond the horizon.

The passengers of the Mayflower made that decision in 1620. Four hundred years later, Mike Hicks has interpreted that moment through the language of nautical art and historical illustration. The result is Voyage — an artwork about the Mayflower, Plymouth and the beginning of a journey. But perhaps it is also about every journey. Because before every new horizon, there is a moment when someone has to make the same decision: Set the course. Raise the sails. And go.

Artwork Details

Title: Voyage
Artist: Mike Hicks — Spike the Art
Location: Plymouth, Devon, England
Theme: The Mayflower • Plymouth • Cape Cod • 1620–2020 • Navigation • The Atlantic Voyage
Edition: Unique one-off original artwork
Copies: No other copies will exist
Authentication: Individually registered and authenticated through WooSerialiZe.