Delaware Division of the Arts and The Biggs Museum of American Art Open Award Winners XXIV Exhibition

Twenty Delaware artists receive significant award from the Delaware Division of the Arts

Dover, Del. (April 22, 2024) – The Biggs Museum of American Art has opened the exhibition, Award Winners XXIV, marking the 24^th consecutive year of hosting this exhibition in partnership with the Delaware Division of the Arts. Showcasing the exceptional work of Delaware’s Individual Artist Fellowship recipients, the exhibition is on view from April 18 to July 28, 2024. An opening reception, awards ceremony, and public performances were held on April 18 in partnership with Delaware State University at the Schwartz Center for the Arts, a short walk from the Museum.

Each year, the Delaware Division of the Arts recognizes outstanding artists through its Individual Artist Fellowships, offering monetary awards and public recognition. The fellows are selected based on the exceptional quality of their work, creativity, and skill in various art forms. This year, the Division received applications from 149 talented artists across disciplines such as choreography, composition, writing, visual arts, and more. Their work samples were reviewed by out-of-state arts professionals.

“We are thrilled to host our 24^th Award Winners XXIV exhibition at The Biggs. This year, we have decided to incorporate works by Visual Arts, Folk Art, and Literature fellows on the first and second floors of our museum, interspersed among our permanent collection, to showcase works by contemporary makers in dialogue with museum objects. It is remarkable to see how artists approach similar themes and techniques across generations.,” said the Biggs Museum Curator, Laura Fravel. “Participating in this annual exhibit allows us to connect with the incredibly talented local artists in our community. This year, we also are fortunate that one of the fellowship recipients, Rebecca Raubacher, has a solo exhibition at The Biggs that coincides with Award Winners XXIV and our visitors will be able to explore her work in greater depth.” Rebecca Raubacher: Horses & Other Creatures opened on March 14 and remains on view on the museum’s third floor through July 7.

Award Winners XXIV features the work from artists from across the state, including fellowship recipients from Arden, Dover, Lewes, Long Neck, Newark, Rehoboth Beach, and Wilmington. This year, one fellow was selected in the Masters category, ten in the Established category, and nine in the Emerging category. Their diverse creative expressions will be showcased in this group exhibition, which emphasizes the exceptional talent and artistic vibrancy within the Delaware arts community.

“Each year, the Award Winners exhibition showcases the remarkable talent of Delaware’s Individual Artist Fellowship recipients, offering a vibrant tapestry of creativity and skill across various art forms,” said Jessica Ball, Director of the Delaware Division of the Arts. “It’s inspiring to witness the diverse expressions of our local artists in dialogue with the museum’s permanent collection, highlighting the enduring relevance of art across generations.”

The exhibition will premiere at the Biggs Museum of American Art and subsequently travel to CAMP Rehoboth and the Cab Calloway School of the Arts, creating various opportunities for the public to engage with and appreciate these remarkable works.

The museum is open Thursday through Sunday from 10 AM – 5 PM. For more information, please visit the Biggs Museum website www.theBiggsMuseum.org or contact the museum at 302-674-2111.

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Interviews with The Biggs, DDOA or Individual Artists available upon request.

DDOA 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.

Biggs Museum of American Art Contact: Kerri Lacey, Director of Marketing & PR, 302.760.5305, kerri.lacey@thebiggsmuseum.org

The Biggs Museum of American Art, located in Dover, Delaware, celebrates the rich artistic heritage of the United States through its outstanding collection of American fine and decorative arts. With rotating exhibitions, educational programs, and community collaborations, the Museum aims to inspire a deeper appreciation and understanding of American art. For more information visit: www.theBiggsMuseum.org

Animator Tad Sare brings his work to The Mezzanine Gallery – Opening April 7

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

Summer of Opportunity

By Delaware Education Secretary Mark A. Holodick, Ed.D.

Education has seen many challenges over the past two years. Students and families have had to deal with interrupted learning due to the pandemic as well as limited access to summer programming. According to independent studies and student achievement data, this has resulted in notable learning deficits among many of our youth. Some people call those deficits learning loss. Some call it unfinished learning. Regardless, the effects are evident, and we, as a state, are working diligently to do something about it. The Department of Education has been working in tandem with individual school districts and charter schools to ensure that summer learning plans are in place throughout the state.

Recognizing that all students, especially disadvantaged students, have been adversely affected by the pandemic, these plans are in place to provide opportunities for robust learning to continue to occur at scale throughout the summer. We at the department have coined this summer, the Summer of Opportunity. We want students to continue to stay involved with one another and supported by skilled individuals, so that they continue to grow and thrive while waiting for the 2022-2023 academic year to begin. This means, regardless of a child’s zip code, all students will have the opportunity to participate in a summer program that is interesting, exciting, and helps them grow academically, socially, and emotionally. This year’s summer programs, as always, will focus on literacy and mathematics but there will also be various opportunities for students to experience activities that they may not have had access to previously. Those activities may include drama, the playing of an instrument, art classes, dance, and more. They may also include the use of local resources such as our state and national parks where there are opportunities for hiking, biking, fishing, and swimming. As a state, we hope to effectively address students’ academic and social and emotional learning in an authentic manner, allowing for as much flexibility as possible regarding pace, selection of material, content, topics, and student voice and decision-making around what interests and inspires them. And we have all come to realize that kids being engaged and involved is not only good for personal growth but also mental health and well-being.

Measuring student progress is challenging, especially during the summer months when children are accessing different programs and activities. For some students and families, a half day program works better than a full day program and vice versa. Some students will attend summer programs that exposes them to a lot of different content, topics, materials, and experiences while other may choose to focus on a particular topic, subject, or skill. Providing children and families with many options is a good thing. However, the greater the differential in programing the more challenging it is to measure growth. Thus, the Department of Education is working with partners to measure growth in specific summer programs using both qualitative and quantitative data. In doing so, we can determine what programs had not only the high participation rates but also produced the strongest results.

While planning for The Summer of Opportunity, we heard from our districts and charter schools as well as our community-based organizations (CBOs) and faith-based organizations that their greatest hurdle is staffing. Finding committed and well-trained staff to work with young people is a real challenge right now. We brought this challenge to the Governor’s Family Services Cabinet Council and brainstormed ways in which this could be addressed. The answer is the creation of the Governor’s Summer Fellowship program. High school students, especially those who are currently enrolled in the state’s Teacher Academy Pathway, are being identified and trained to support these summer programs in paid positions. The Workforce Support Team at the Department of Education, the Governor’s Office, the United Way, other community partners, and our schools and districts have worked collaboratively to launch this initiative in short time. In fact, we have already had more than 100 high school students in our three counties apply to take part. All selected students will go through a full week of training in preparation for placement into summer programs in their communities.

While we all want for the upcoming summer to be back to normal and resemble the summers of the past, we must also recognize the opportunity that sits before us: an opportunity for our state to provide as many meaningful and exciting opportunities for growth as possible for our young learners, especially those who have historically been left out in the past. A focused effort steeped in a lens of equity and access is exactly what’s needed as we move from pandemic to endemic and prepare for what will be a strong and more productive 2022-23 school year.

Find a searchable database of school and community-based partner summer offerings at de.gov/summerlearning.

Media contact: Alison May, alison.may@doe.k12.de.us, 302-735-4006

Delaware Heritage Commission’s Book of the Week remembers WWI

During the past decade, the world has mourned the 100th anniversary of the outbreak of World War I as well as celebrated the 100th anniversary of its conclusion. It was a conflict that would change the world forever and consume the lives of millions of people. Francis A. Ianni, a retired Major General in the Delaware National Guard and a current member of the Delaware Heritage Commission, brings us an account of the First World War through the lens of the works of art that have been created to immortalize the heroism and sacrifice of those who served.

“World War I Remembered”
– by Francis A. Ianni

You can view and/or download a PDF version of this book here.

Find out more about the Delaware Heritage Commission here.

The Mezzanine Gallery to Exhibit “On Display II” by Shari Dierkes

On view from February 4-25, 2022

Wilmington, Del. (January 31, 2022) – The Delaware Division of the Arts’ Mezzanine Gallery is pleased to present artist Shari Dierkes’ exhibition, On Display II, from February 4 through February 25, 2022. Dierkes was named a 2021 Emerging Artist Fellow in the category of Crafts by the Delaware Division of the Arts. The artist will host a free opening reception on Friday, February 4 from 5-7 p.m. The opening reception will also be a stop on Art Loop Wilmington, the monthly self-guided tour of art exhibits in and around the city.

On Display II is a visual storytelling of Dierkes’ artistic journey that includes some of her previous work; her Artist Fellowship application collection; and new works created as a result of the Fellowship. She chose the title, she says, to play on the vulnerability she has experienced displaying her art — the graphic embodiment of her inner thoughts — in a public forum.

“My curiosity about the realities of human life include a deep dive into behavior, psychology, and relationships, and the conversations these elements have with each other,” she notes. “My hope is that viewers get a sense of how the parts of our existence work together, even if not always in harmony. We are imperfect systems.”

Dierkes’ work often uses plants as a metaphor for her experiences in the human condition. Her material choices are often driven by natural resources with malleable properties, such as wood, metal, and gemstones.

Dierkes says the act of creating art, for her, is like the need to eat. “I need to do some form of it to survive. Even more, though, it’s like eating a favorite meal. I not only need to create art, but I also thoroughly enjoy creating it.”

Learn more about Dierkes and her upcoming exhibition with our YouTube Meet the Artist video series.

Image in banner: The Glorification of Motherhood (detail), 2021, mixed media, 7″ x 7″ x 7″

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. All visitors are required to wear face coverings and maintain 3 feet distance from other individuals not in their household.

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Contact: Kaitlin Ammon, Program Officer, Marketing and Communications
302-577-8280, kaitlin.ammon@delaware.gov