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Our guy takes a spin on Wilmington's revitalized Art Loop, boogies at YWCA's Evening of Style and mixes it up for the Fund for Women.
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Wilmington’s Art On The Town has been redrawn, revitalized, revisited and refreshed. Wilmington director of cultural affairs Tina Betz and project manager Jeni Barton have resuscitated “The Loop” by providing a full-color gallery guide that includes an artist and curator of the month, as well as an easy-to-use map. The city offers two free shuttles. Then there’s the party…
We didn’t plan a photo-focused Loop, but it developed that way. First stop, at the Loop’s farthest reaches, was Hardcastle Gallery in Centreville, where director Allison Weer greeted us warmly before walking us through the show for the Pulitzer-nominated Jim Graham, his fourth in six years at Hardcastle. Jim brought back an impressive collection of ethereal landscapes taken during a trip to Iceland last summer. It seems Mr. Graham’s interest in art was ignited when a substitute art teacher, a Mr. Jamie Wyeth, made occasional appearances at his Chadds Ford elementary school. We also chatted with Betsy DeMarino, a longtime Graham fan, as well as a friend of Unionville, Pennsylvania, sculptor Marjorie Torrey, who, as Betsy told us, had been invited to show six of her life-sized bronzes in an important Los Angeles group show. Betsy said the two Torrey foxes that flank her fireplace look so real “the hunting dogs bark at them.”
Always on the hunt for good art, Sadie Somerville of Somerville Manning Gallery in Greenville was congratulated on her appearance on WHYY’s “Delaware Experience” the night before. Sadie and gallery partner Victoria Manning were preparing for their March show, “Artists of the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts.”
Next stop was downtown’s Colourworks photography lab-gallery on Superfine lane for the “Shapeshifter” solo show of Sarah Davenport’s large prints. Capturing mostly details of plant life and architecture, the images explored the geometry of organic and synthetic objects.
Sarah and her husband, sometimes-model Kevin Davenport, said 20 percent of the prints’ sales would be donated to the charity of the purchaser’s choice. Between bites of sweet sushi, we met and chatted with Callye Morrissey, aka Dotti Horror of the Philly Roller Girl roller derby team. Davenport’s next show at the Delaware Women’s Art Conference will feature action shots of Ms. Horror and other PRG members.
Photographer Peter Kaplan of Hockessin, known around the world for shooting from amazing heights, attended with his new assistant, Leah Beach, an Alabama import. Kaplan’s most famous image is of four iron workers on the former World Trades Center’s antenna tower, 1,600 feet above the street, with one of the workers playfully dropping trou. The name of the work? “Moon Over Manhattan.”
Also awe-inspiring was the immense quantity and quality of paintings, drawings, sculptural models, graphics, and more on display at the Delaware College of Art and Design’s annual student show. The always upbeat Valerie Jermusyk, DCAD’s director of development, introduced us to many of the students, who we later spied at the Loop’s re:Fresh after-party at the Delaware Center for the Contemporary Arts. Holding court there was Ms. Barton herself, with city shakers Michelle Kramer-Fitzgerald of City Theater Co., Julie Anne Cross of Cross-Pro productions and DJ Skinny White. We all discussed art, drank and danced to DJ Zip’s spins well past the 11 p.m. end time. Time to end this one.
Page 2: An Evening of High Style
