Art IS everywhere in New Castle County, too!!!

Love's Messenger in Brandywine Park

I confess it took us two tries to see all of the pop-up art in New Castle County (a continuation of our Delaware pop-up journey is chronicled in the blog Art is everywhere in Kent and Sussex County), but we had two absolutely gorgeous days in which to view the sights.


The first trip was in the late afternoon – starting from Newark and seeking endlessly on the green (or mall, if you call it that) and discovering John Sloan’s Spring Rain was really on Main Street – mounted on a brick dormitory wall. Not only was it confusing to locate, but I realized that as a Newark resident, I had driven by the outdoor art many times since it was posted.

Then a quick trip to New Castle to see Edward Moran’s Standing Out – a mighty war ship poised in front of the Court House Museum, where you can see the Delaware River flowing just down the street and imagine the ship sailing on it. Right beside the picture, one of our favorite Sunday Coop Market veggie vendors was letting his great display of eggplant, apples and okra lure people in. One of us yielded to the apples.

A trip to Crabby Dick’s let us see Dante Gabriel Rosetti’s Lady Lilith taught me about the first wife of Adam, Lilith. That was not anything I had remembered from Sunday school. Of course, after posing with beautiful Lilith, we just had to have supper at Crabby Dick’s – indoors looking out the window towards Pea Patch Island. Thus endeth our first New Castle County pop-up run.

The second trip was also a beautiful day. We met at the Delaware Center for Contemporary Arts where we had just been to a concert. Walking from the DCCA to the Riverfront took us directly to Howard Pyle’s Attack on a galleon which had itself been attacked – robbed of its sign! We penciled in the proper title for the record and sped off to the Grand Opera House to see Romeo and Juliet by Ford Maddox Brown where we found a young family looking at Tom Maloney’s great statue. We began to stare at the painting and had a great discussion with the family.

Two more stops: the Jasper Crane Rose Garden in Brandywine Park had Love’s Messenger by Marie Spartali Spillman. The painting has a beautiful Pre-Raphaelite model feeding a pigeon and looking towards a river through a window and the Brandywine flowed right behind the picture’s window. Beautiful weather, roses, art, sigh.

When we sought out Howard Pyle’s Marooned, we were surprised that we had to go into the pub and onto their terrace to actually see the work, which is large and quite striking. But somehow, placing a large work between tables and umbrellas on a pub terrace seemed strange.

Milking Time at the Woodside Farm Creamery

Afterwards, we set off for Hockessin to see the very last work on our list: Milking Time by Winslow Homer which was placed on the wall of a barn at the Woodside Creamery. The milkmaid and the farm boy fit in so seamlessly with the cows and barn and fields that one could imagine Mr. Homer painting it after being inspired by Woodside Farm ice cream. We, too, celebrated the completion of our pop-art art tour with a generous serving.

Please do this again, Delaware Art Museum!

 

See www.delart.org.