Wilmington, Del. (October 25, 2017) – Owing to Circumstances is a participatory site specific installation that will be on view in the Mezzanine Gallery from November 3-22, 2017. An opening reception to meet the artist will be held on Friday, November 3 from 5-7 p.m. Borders received a 2017 Emerging Fellowship in Sculpture.

Borders designed this installation specifically for the Mezzanine Gallery after multiple visits and meetings with staff. The exhibition was inspired by her own family’s immigration story and the stories from a previous installation in which Borders asked visitors to sit and write in a notebook about their family’s history and why they came to the United States. The artist transcribed these responses in the handwriting of each author into drawings that will be suspended from the ceiling in the Gallery. Visitors will have the opportunity to add their own family’s history to her notebook. With this work, Borders hopes to “stimulate conversations about where we have come from, our current places in this country, and in this world.”

Borders will donate all proceeds to Refugee Integration Support Effort (RISE) of the Jewish Family Services of Delaware.

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

Learn more about Borders with our YouTube Meet the Artist video series.

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Contact: Leeann Wallett, Program Officer, Communications and Marketing
302-577-8280, leeann.wallett@delaware.gov

The Delaware Division of the Arts Mezzanine Gallery is pleased to present Bent, an exhibition of new work by 2015 Individual Artist Fellow in Sculpture Robert M. Bickey. The exhibition will be on view from December 4, 2015 through January 22, 2016. The opening reception for the artist will be held on Friday, December 4, from 5 to 7 p.m. The Gallery, open weekdays from 8:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., is located in the Carvel State Office Building, 820 N. French Street, Wilmington.

Bickey produced site specific work for this exhibition. His work incorporates found objects and constructed sculptural pieces that take advantage of the soaring space in the gallery. Light and sound play an important role in the work. “The Mezzanine Gallery show gave me the opportunity to be visually and artistically experimental,” said Bickey. “My intention is to question the visitor’s ideas of art and beauty, time and place, and what society deems ‘precious.’”

Robert M. Bickey lives in Wilmington and has taught art at Delaware School of Art & Design, University of Delaware, Clemson University, Central Carolina Community College, and Tower Hill School.