Wilmington, Del. (May 25, 2023) – The Delaware Division of the Arts’ Mezzanine Gallery presents 2022 DDOA Individual Artist Fellow Aaron Terry’s exhibition, “Patterns for Saturn,” running June 2-July 28, 2023.  Guests are invited to attend a Meet-the-Artist Reception on Friday, June 2 from 5:00-7:00 p.m.

Aaron Terry, a Wilmington resident and an Assistant Professor in the Department of Art & Design at The University of Delaware, created site-specific work for the Mezzanine Gallery located in the Carvel State Office Building. Terry made a series of screen printed fabric wall hangings that provide a contrast to the hard surfaces and neutral palette of the building.

Aaron Terry’s work dances between sculptural, sonic, and printed materials that present visual allegories of personal politics embedded in the color, flash, and cadence of today’s rapid-fire media parade. Sourcing from personal drawings, recordings, sound bites and news media, the work resurrects new conversations with old ghosts, and questions the potential for a better future. As visual pop and politics synthesize in continuous flux to create an extended detournement; Terry utilizes repetitive sonic and visual elements to reinvigorate progressive ideas nested in music and cultural references that have devolved and diminished through false familiarity over time. His work grapples with finding “truth” in a sea of today’s excessive media.

Patterns for Saturn considers the importance of dreamlife: time spent outside of lived reality. This includes a loose sense of meditation: time spent shaking off contemplation and frustration with today’s crushing sense of political and cultural hooliganism. Abstract patterns and a soundtrack blanket the walls of the gallery, to remove the viewer from the space: the Carvel State Office Building in Wilmington, DE. This is both a respite from and a comment on the architecture and atmosphere of state and governmental buildings in general. The visual patterns and sounds produced in the space are meant to provide a space for escape, contemplation, and meditation.

Terry’s work has been seen in ten solo exhibitions and over 30 group shows, as well as a half-dozen murals and installations. He is a member of Philadelphia’s Vox Populi artist collective. In 2022, Terry received a Delaware Division of the Arts Fellowship in Visual Arts: Works on Paper.

The Mezzanine Gallery, open weekdays from 8:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., is located on the second floor of the Carvel State Office Building, 820 N. French Street, Wilmington. Please note that the Gallery will be closed on June 19 and July 4 in observance of holidays. 

Image: Aaron Terry. “Salad Daze”, Screen Print on Denim. 44”x96”. 2022.

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Contact: Andrew Truscott, Program Officer, Marketing and Communications

302-577-8280, andrew.truscott@delaware.gov

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.

Wilmington, Del. (March 29, 2023) – The Delaware Division of the Arts’ Mezzanine Gallery presents 2022 DDOA Individual Artist Fellow Tad Sare’s exhibition, “Projected Perspectives”, running April 7-28, 2023. Guests are invited to attend a Meet-the-Artist Reception on Friday, April 14 from 5:00-7:00 p.m.

Tad Sare is an experimental animator and artist currently living and working in Wilmington, Delaware. Sare uses the storytelling medium of animation to explore perception and interpretation of juxtaposed and sequential images. He employs hand drawn techniques while collaging/overlapping photographs, live action video, and sound elements digitally. His work borrows ideas, filmic devices and tropes from espionage and thriller literature and cinema to examine the relationship between the perceived and the unknown of visual information.

‘Projected Perspectives’ gives a snapshot of two recent site-specific artworks Sare created using his own eclectic subject matter and animation techniques. ‘Triptych’, originally exhibited at the top of a ladder within an old rice store in Japan, incorporates visual representations of ‘floating’ or ‘soaring’. Viewers are encouraged to watch the video from a vantage point that simulates the experience of climbing to the top of that ladder. ‘Pipes of Perception’ depicts a strange journey in and around water pipes. The exhibition also includes the hand drawn elements that were used to make the animated short films.

Since 2009, Sare has taught art at Delaware College of Art and Design (DCAD), where he currently serves as the Program Chair of Animation. He is also a teaching artist for a mentor program through Cab Calloway School of the Arts. At PAFA, his alma mater, he continues to teach in the Summer Arts Academy. In 2022, Sare was awarded a Delaware Division of the Arts Established Fellowship in Media Arts:Video/Film.

The Mezzanine Gallery, open weekdays from 8:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., is located on the second floor of the Carvel State Office Building, 820 N. French Street, Wilmington.

View the artists’s website here: www.tadsare.com

View the artists Instagram here: https://www.instagram.com/tad_sare

Image: “Kitchen Windowsill (Triptych Background Element),” 2022, graphite on paper, 14” x 18″

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Contact: Andrew Truscott, Program Officer, Marketing and Communications

302-577-8280, andrew.truscott@delaware.gov

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.

More than 200 state employees and their family members have registered to show artwork at Delaware State University Art Center/Gallery

Dover, Del. (February 22, 2023) – The Delaware Division of the Arts is hosting the 12th annual Delaware State Employee Art Exhibition. The free exhibition will be open to the public from February 21 to March 12, 2023 at the Art Center/Gallery at Delaware State University, Dover. This year, more than 200 State of Delaware employees and their family members submitted artwork and will be competing for awards and cash prizes.

“From photographs to paintings and woodwork to sculpture, It’s impressive to see so much creativity and talent come together in one amazing exhibition”, says Deputy Director Kristin Pleasanton.

Visitors are invited to join Division and Art Center/Gallery staff for a special, weekend-long celebration of all this year’s participants and to see the winning artwork during the exhibition’s final weekend, Saturday, March 11 and Sunday, March 12 from 12-4 p.m. There will be activities, snacks, and giveaways for Gallery visitors.

Full visitor information can be found here. The exhibition at the Arts Center/Gallery can be viewed during these hours:

• Monday: Closed to the public
• Tuesday: 10 a.m.-4 p.m.
• Wednesday: 10 a.m.-6 p.m.
• Thursday, Friday: 10 a.m.-4 p.m.
• Saturdays, March 4 and March 11: 12-4 p.m.
• Sunday, March 12: 12-4 p.m.

Prizes to be awarded include:

• Adult, Amateur, Intermediate and Professional: First Place Awards of $350; Second Place Awards of $250; and Third Place Awards of $150
• Youth / Teen: First Place Awards of $150; Second Place Awards of $100; and Third Place Awards of $50
• A Best of Show Award of $400
• An Art Education Award of $200 for reimbursement for arts instruction and materials
• People’s Choice Award, Facebook and in-person ballot
• Additional awards including Honorable Mentions will be awarded at the discretion of the judges
• Awards are limited to one cash award per artist per classification

Sponsored by the National Arts Program in support and cooperation with the State of Delaware and the Delaware Division of the Arts, the exhibit is judged by professional artists and visual art professionals. The Delaware State Employee Art Exhibition is designed to give artists at all skill levels a unique opportunity to exhibit their creative work and to compete for cash prizes.

Participants must be a current employee or immediate family member of a current employee of the State of Delaware. All entries must be the original work of the applicant and completed within the last three years. 

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Contact: Andrew Truscott, Program Officer, Marketing and Communications

302-577-8280, andrew.truscott@delaware.gov

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 from February 3-23, 2023

Wilmington, Del. (January 25, 2023) – The Delaware Division of the Arts’ Mezzanine Gallery presents 2022 DDOA Individual Artist Fellow Roger Matsumoto’s exhibition, “Printing with Palladium”, running February 3-24, 2023. Guests are invited to attend a Meet-the-Artist Reception on Friday, February 3 from 5:00-7:00 p.m.

Roger Matsumoto has been involved with photography since he learned the basics during his junior high school days. The photographer for his school newspaper, Matsumoto also did astrophotography using an 8-inch telescope that he made. But “I did not consider what I was doing to be any form of art.” It was only later – on a climbing trip to Yosemite during college – that he “purchased a small booklet of Ansel Adams photographs that made me see what photography was capable of.”

He then began to study seriously, taking a photography class at the University of Utah. After exploring silver printing and some “alternative” processes during the 1970s (including Cibachrome color work), Matsumoto discovered printing with palladium, now his primary process. Since he began exhibiting in 1982, his work has been seen in over 200 shows, including at the Fleischer Art Memorial (Philadelphia), Foundry Art Center (St. Louis, MO), Delaware Art Museum (Wilmington), and the London (England) Camera Club, where his print won first prize. Matsumoto also has prints in the collections of the Free Library of Philadelphia, Utah Museum of Fine Art, and Philadelphia Museum of Art (three prints).

Though Ansel Adams’ photographs were the pivotal inspiration for his work and his artistic practice, Matsumoto was also influenced by the work of Karl Blossfeldt and Brett Weston. His current process “extends the purely photographic image with brushed lines or areas” applied at the same time as the palladium coating, making each print a “distinct realization of the negative” – a monoprint. Matsumoto is also exploring a new series called “Stereo Pair” that mimics the stereo cards popular at the end of the 19th century.

The Newark resident was born in Honolulu, Hawaii. His father was in the Army, and (with his mother and sister) Matsumoto lived in Tokyo for three years as a child in a U.S. military housing base. The family eventually relocated to the Pacific Northwest, and Matsumoto lived in the Seattle region until after graduate school. He then moved to Salt Lake City. He came to Delaware from Salt Lake City and has lived here since 1988, “the longest I’ve been in one place.”

Matsumoto’s palladium images are almost exclusively of botanical subjects. He can make negatives at any time during the year, but “I print in palladium only in the winter when the humidity is low.” This means that often months elapse between creating the negative and printing it. The pandemic, “while not actually a complete re-set of my past practice,” allowed him to try out new films. But there’s been a recent spike in the cost of palladium (and all art supplies), and Matsumoto is also challenged by the “changes made in the materials I use.” However, he’s looking forward to exhibiting again. “These prints need to be seen in person, not only on a monitor or cell phone screen.”

The Mezzanine Gallery, open weekdays from 8:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., is located on the second floor of the Carvel State Office Building, 820 N. French Street, Wilmington.

Image: “16-13a”. Palladium Monoprint. 12″x20″. 2016.

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Contact: Andrew Truscott, Program Officer, Marketing and Communications

302-577-8280, andrew.truscott@delaware.gov

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 from December 2-30, 2022

Wilmington, Del. (November 29, 2022) – The Delaware Division of the Arts’ Mezzanine Gallery presents 2022 DDOA Individual Artist Fellow t.a. hahn’s exhibition, “Peace Taking Flight”, running December 2-30, 2022. Guests are invited to attend a Meet-the-Artist Reception on Friday, December 2. from 5:00-7:00 p.m.

After a four-decade career as a senior art and design director in marketing and advertising, t. a. hahn (of Middletown) has returned full-time to his lifelong passion – creating fine art. An alumnus of Philadelphia’s University of the Arts, hahn studied both fine arts and graphic design and chose design as a career path. He always “enjoyed the problem-solving aspect of design” – and still does – but his renewed studio practice has led to the work that garnered a Division Fellowship.

Titled Peace Taking Flight, the artist has created a series that has “taken flight.” The collection was first inspired by a single bird, “a cedar waxing that visits the trees just outside our windows for only a few weeks each summer.” Each of hahn’s avian-inspired pieces – whether small or large – combines wood (some found, some sourced, some rustic, some refined) and oil painting (generally on gesso board), often elevated by subtle LED lighting.

Early in the series, hahn used live-edge slabs, but he has recently introduced driftwood and is also exploring salvage from a 200-year-old building near his Middletown home. Born in Mississippi, the artist grew up in a family of six (parents and three siblings) in South Jersey, where he continued to live and work for much of his career. Five years ago, hahn and his wife (photographer Barb Scalzi) moved to Delaware, a locale from which he can readily source his wood statewide or on Maryland’s Chesapeake Bay shores.

Not surprisingly, hahn was influenced early on by Jasper Johns (“a graphic designer in his early years!”) and major American modernists like Alexander Calder and Mark Rothko. He also studies the works of contemporary sculptors, realist and abstract. Working in abstraction himself, hahn notes that “abstract art can be difficult for the general public,” but he believes they need to know only two things – whether they like or dislike it and that they don’t have to understand or explain their reaction, having “simply the freedom to enjoy (or not) what they are viewing.”

The artist has affiliations with the Delaware Contemporary, Philadelphia Sculptors, Noyes Museum (at New Jersey’s Stockton University), the International Sculpture Center, and the Gilbert W. Perry, Jr. Center for the Arts (aka “The Gibby”) in his hometown. His works have been widely exhibited (locally, regionally, and nationally) in over 60 solo and group shows at scores of venues, including Philadelphia Sculptors and Grounds for Sculpture (in New Jersey).

He constantly explores “the harmony of nature and the essence of the wild birds” to inform and inspire his works – finding driftwood, visiting mills, and researching avian color and beauty. His art “has always generated a sense of peace for me,” and hahn is rewarded when he completes a satisfying piece. “Icing on the cake is when others enjoy your work.”

This exhibit in the Mezzanine Gallery will display the full range of works in this series – small & large free-standing sculptures along with wall-reliefs, live-edge and dimensional woods, ‘found’ driftwood natural woods, and some use LED lighting for a subtle presence. Each piece hopefully will shine a little peace for the viewer’s experience.

The Mezzanine Gallery, open weekdays from 8:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., is located on the second floor of the Carvel State Office Building, 820 N. French Street, Wilmington.

Image: “Violet-green Swallow,” 2019, Oil on gessobord, tasmainian blackwood, green LED lighting, 25.5″w x 72.5″h x 2″d

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Contact: Andrew Truscott, Program Officer, Marketing and Communications

302-577-8280, andrew.truscott@delaware.gov

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.