On view through April 5-29, 2021
Visit the Gallery in-person or view it online

Wilmington, Del. (April 1, 2021) – Visceral Memory Cache, an exhibition of abstract paintings by Eileen Olson, will be on view in the Mezzanine Gallery from April 5-29, 2021. The paintings are a result of a six-month creative journey around the question, “How much does my own visceral memory impact my art?” Olson is planning to be in the Gallery on Thursday, April 29 from 10 a.m. – 2 p.m. to meet visitors.

Through this journey, Olson discovered that the only limits to her creative process was her imagination. She describes the process as dismantling and rearranging idyllic visions from her cerebral storehouse that she calls her “cache.” To minimize external influences and tap into her memory cache, Olson begins each painting session with a short meditation.

Olson creates visually interesting paintings by using the principles of design in her shape-making and her use of color with differing values. The work may include representational shapes, like birds, and calligraphic strokes. Her goal is to capture the viewer’s interest and create an emotional reaction to the work.

“I paint because it is who I am deep inside my soul. Through a series of catastrophes, my organic marks begin to tell my story. Using many different mediums, layers and textures allows me to achieve a creative approach that helps to express my deep emotions.”

A Bethany Beach resident, Olson conducts workshops, studio tours, and offers demonstrations to art leagues and local social groups all around Delmarva. She is a member of the Rehoboth Art League, the Southeastern Delaware Artists Studio Tour, and the Art League of Ocean City. She has exhibited at galleries and special exhibitions throughout the Mid-Atlantic, been a juror for the National Art Educators Association, and she is also a partner at Gallery One in Ocean View, DE.

Image:  Wanna Touch the Sky (detail), 2020, acrylic on canvas, 24 x 36 inches

The Mezzanine Gallery is open to the public weekdays from 8:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. and is located in the Carvel State Office Building, 820 N. French Street, Wilmington. Visitors must wear face coverings and maintain 6 feet distance from other individuals not in their household.

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The Delaware Division of the Arts, a branch of the Delaware Department of State, is dedicated to cultivating and supporting the arts to enhance the quality of life for all Delawareans. Together with its advisory body, the Delaware State Arts Council, the Division administers grants and programs that support arts programming, educate the public, increase awareness of the arts, and integrate the arts into all facets of Delaware life. For more information about the Delaware Division of the Arts, visit arts.delaware.gov or call 302-577-8278.

On view through March 26, 2021
Visit the Gallery in-person or view it online

Wilmington, Del. (March 8, 2021) – Grids and Arches, an exhibition of paintings by Constance M. Simon, will be on view in the Mezzanine Gallery from March 5-26, 2021. Simon is the recipient of a 2020 Artist Fellowship in Painting from the Delaware Division of the Arts.

The paintings in the exhibition are all done in gouache, an opaque watercolor medium, and come from two series based on geometric shapes and patterns. The works from the Grid series are based on grid structures that Simon uses as a base to play with variations of pattern, light, color, and volume. This series explores her interest in Islamic tile patterns, African kente cloth, and many quilting traditions.

Simon says of her Arch series, “I am drawn to architecture as a source of appealing geometric shapes and patterns. I have been adding arch shapes to my grids as a motif. The arch is by itself a beautiful shape with overtones of history and culture that resonate with me.”

The artist’s career has included 21 solo shows and inclusion in 30 group and 35 juried exhibitions. She’s pursued her practice while working as an art educator all over the United States, most recently at Delaware College of Art and Design before her retirement in 2020.

Image:  Grid Poem “8”, 2019, gouache on paper, 9 x 12 inches

The Mezzanine Gallery is open to the public weekdays from 8:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. and is located in the Carvel State Office Building, 820 N. French Street, Wilmington. Visitors must wear face coverings and maintain 6 feet distance from other individuals not in their household.

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The Delaware Division of the Arts, a branch of the Delaware Department of State, is dedicated to cultivating and supporting the arts to enhance the quality of life for all Delawareans. Together with its advisory body, the Delaware State Arts Council, the Division administers grants and programs that support arts programming, educate the public, increase awareness of the arts, and integrate the arts into all facets of Delaware life. For more information about the Delaware Division of the Arts, visit arts.delaware.gov or call 302-577-8278.

DDOA Invites Public Comment on Its FY2022–FY2025 Strategic Plan

Wilmington, Del. (March 5, 2021) – The Delaware Division of the Arts (DDOA) invites public comment through March 14, 2021 on the final draft of its new four-year strategic plan. Public feedback is critical in finalizing the plan on behalf of constituents across the state. The Division envisions “a future when every person and community in Delaware has access to, and appreciation for, the diversity, richness, and transformative power of the arts.”

Members of the public can access both the draft plan for FY2022-FY2025 and the public comment submission form by visiting https://arts.delaware.gov/strategic-plan/. After reviewing the draft document, members of the public can offer feedback or comments during the public review period, before the Division finalizes the plan for approval by the Delaware State Arts Council.

Since October 2020, the Delaware Division of the Arts, the Delaware State Arts Council, and planning consultants from the Delaware Alliance for Nonprofit Advancement have conducted focus groups, regional meetings, individual interviews, and online surveys. The process engaged more than 400 people representing a wide range of backgrounds to learn more about how the arts can help to enrich Delaware’s communities.

The result is a strategic plan designed to help the Division target its resources in effective and productive ways over the next four years, with a particular focus on expanding its commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion in programming, services, and outreach.

About the Delaware Division of the Arts
The Delaware Division of the Arts is an agency of the State of Delaware. Together with its advisory body, the Delaware State Arts Council, the Division administers grants and programs that support arts programming, educate the public, increase awareness of the arts, and integrate the arts into all facets of Delaware life. Funding for Division programs is provided by annual appropriations from the Delaware General Assembly and grants from the National Endowment for the Arts, a federal agency. For more information about the Delaware Division of the Arts, visit arts.delaware.gov or call 302-577-8278.

On view through February 26, 2021
Visit the Gallery in-person or view it online

Wilmington, Del. (February 3, 2021) –Anamnesis, an exhibition of photography by Bronwen Hazlett, is on view in the Mezzanine Gallery through February 26, 2021. Hazlett, a fine art photographer based in Clayton, is fluent in digital and analog photographic processes. Inspired by an early nomadic journey in life, Hazlett explores concepts of home, place, memory, and self-healing.

Hazlett composes images directly to film to replicate the experience of memory. Memories are stored in disparate parts of our brain and when recalled, the experience is reassembled like a puzzle. Anamnesis is the act of remembrance of the past or recollected ideas which the soul had known in a previous existence.

Hazlett creates this work using film in a 120mm Diana F+ camera, a plastic-bodied toy camera dating to the 1960s. She likes these cameras because she can advance the film as she wishes, and for their artistic effects. Hazlett processes the film in her darkroom and then scans the images and prints them on glossy paper.

“The many layers of memory are reassembled and become vulnerable to change,” Hazlett said. “Our present experiences and emotions perpetually recompose, overlap, and shift our memories as time passes.”

Similarly, her photographs are constructed by shifting and overlapping multiple views of the same image. The photographs are finished with haikus hand-written on the bottom of her images to document her memories associated with an image.

Image: Shallow Roots, 2018, photography (in-camera film photomontage), 26 x 11 inches

Twenty-five Delaware artists to receive recognition

Wilmington, Del. (January 11, 2021) – Twenty-five Delaware artists are being recognized by the Delaware Division of the Arts for the high quality of their artwork. Work samples from 121 Delaware choreographers, composers, musicians, writers, folk and visual artists were reviewed by out-of-state arts professionals, considering demonstrated creativity and skill in their art form. The 25 selected fellows reside throughout Delaware including Arden, Bear, Clayton, Dover, Lewes, Long Neck, Milton, Newark, Rehoboth Beach, Smyrna, and Wilmington.

Awards are given in three categories: $10,000 for the Masters Award, $6,000 for the Established Professional Award, and $3,000 for the Emerging Professional Award. Fellows are required to offer at least one exhibit or performance during the upcoming year, providing an opportunity for the public to experience their work. Additionally, the work of the Fellows will be featured in a group exhibition, Award Winners XXI at the Biggs Museum tentatively set for June 4-July 25, 2021.

“Individual Artist Fellowship grants provide the recognition and exposure that artists need to successfully promote their work,” said Paul Weagraff, director of Delaware Division of the Arts. “The financial award allows them to pursue advanced training, purchase equipment and materials, or fulfill other needs to advance their careers. The Division was pleased to be able to allocate some additional funds to the Fellowship categories this year, thereby enabling the Division to recognize more artists this year.”

The Masters Fellowship is open to different artistic disciplines each year. In Fiscal Year 2021, Masters Fellowship applications were accepted in Dance, Jazz, and Music from artists who had previously received an Established Professional Fellowship. In addition to exemplifying high artistic quality, Masters Fellowship applicants must demonstrate their involvement and commitment to the arts in Delaware and beyond. Listed below are the Delaware Division of the Arts 2021 Individual Artist Fellows.

Jennifer Margaret Barker has been awarded this year’s Master’s Fellowship in Music: Composition. Described as “a composer of profound sensibility”, Barker has received performances of her compositions on six continents. Her compositions have been performed by orchestras such as the Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra, the Detroit Symphony Orchestra, the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra and the Virginia Symphony; chamber and choral ensembles such as Orchestra 2001, Network for New Music, Vocal de Cámara Platense and Bearsden Choir; and an extensive list of international artists including Martin Jones. Recent international festivals in which her music has been featured include Malta’s Victoria International Arts Festival, Brazil’s Festival Internacional Compositores de Hoje, and America’s Festival Mozaic. Her compositions have been broadcast on American public radio (including Performance Today), Canadian radio, Hong Kong radio, Swedish radio, and the BBC. Published by Boosey & Hawkes, Theodore Presser, Southern Percussion, Vanderbeek & Imrie, and McKenna-Keddie, Barker’s compositions have been released on the Naxos, Albany, New World Records, Composers Recordings Inc., Meyer Media, and PnOVA labels.

2021 Individual Artist Fellows

Masters Award ($10,000)

Established Professional Award ($6,000)

Emerging Artist Award ($3,000)

To contact an individual artist, please email or call: Roxanne Stanulis, Program Officer, Artist Programs and Services, Roxanne.Stanulis@delaware.gov or 302-577-8283.

The next deadline for Individual Artist Fellowship applications will be Thursday, August 2, 2021 by 4:30 p.m.

About the Delaware Division of the Arts
The Delaware Division of the Arts is an agency of the State of Delaware. Together with its advisory body, the Delaware State Arts Council, the Division administers grants and programs that support arts programming, educate the public, increase awareness of the arts, and integrate the arts into all facets of Delaware life. Funding for Division programs is provided by annual appropriations from the Delaware General Assembly and grants from the National Endowment for the Arts, a federal agency. For more information about the Delaware Division of the Arts, visit arts.delaware.gov or call 302-577-8278. Image: 2020 Award Winners exhibition at CAMP Rehoboth. Painting (left) by Chloe McEldowney, 2020 Emerging Professional, Visual Arts: Painting; Sculpture (center) by Aaron Paskins, 2020 Established Professional, Visual Arts: Sculpture; and Work on cardboard (right) by Michael Fleishman, 2020 Emerging Professional, Visual Arts: Works on Paper.

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