Photography Brings a Community Together

Photography is something most of us engage in. We take pictures of our friends, family and pets. We’re all artists, to some degree: find the subject, check the lighting, focus the camera (or phone) and snap---Instant art! Something everyone can relate to and almost anyone can do.

To paraphrase Calvary Community Series program director Kathryn Jakabcin: this series aims to find a common place with religion, art and humanity. The Photography Contest & Exhibit, now in its 4^th year, is described as “an opportunity to share our creativity and spend and afternoon viewing our photographs”. And that is exactly what happened. In the intimate space where the works were displayed, it was impossible not to strike up conversations with the other viewers and participants. We marveled at the close-up shots of tiny woodpeckers, the capture of motion or the interesting angles and patterns the artists had found.

The contest had six categories: Action, Architecture, Landscape, Nature, People and Still Life. Contest judge Helen Gerstein, whose own award-winning work was displayed along the walls of the room, evaluated more than 75 entries according to composition, lighting, originality and overall beauty. Her comments were specific, and probably quite helpful to the photographers. For example, she commented on how the shadow of a kitten slightly obscured the face of the subject, or how a seed tray with plant labels showed busy-ness, but seemed to lack a central focus. Gerstein’s analytical comments were spot on, and her own work, including several portraits, was stunning in its beauty, simplicity and clean lines.

Some of my favorite shots were those of scenes from the Nemours mansion, Longwood, Bombay Hook or even our recent blizzard. It reminds me---and others---not only of the artistry we have here in our state, but also of the stunning vistas that are waiting to be photographed.

Next up in the Series on March 14 at 2:00 pm: Happy Birthday Chopin, featuring faculty artists from the Music School of Delaware.

(Photograph credit: Kathryn Jakabcin's Bombay Heron-First Prize, Nature Category)

See www.calvaryhillcrest.org/pages/CommunitySeries.htm.

To learn more about Helen Gerstein: http://www.delawarephotographicsociety.org/gallery/helen_gerstein/gallery

Newark Symphony Chamber Series - Baroque Masters

Mounds of snow did not keep more than 150 people from bundling into the United Methodist Church of Newark on Saturday, February 13 to hear the chamber ensemble of the Newark Symphony Orchestra play Baroque masterpieces, but the snow did rob them of some players who were also in Wilmington Community Orchestra’s concert rescheduled for the same evening. Oh, winter weather woes!


The ensemble found their verve on the Marc-Antoine Charpentier Noëls sur les instruments, adopting the dancing lilt of the notes inégales, which music director Nicole Aldrich explained were part of Charpentier’s instructions – to vary the rhythm according to good taste.


Aldrich also noted that the word Baroque was more of an insult than a compliment, coming from the Portuguese word barocco, which meant a bulbous pearl. In their day, people spoke of songful music and the new Baroque. So, Aldrich quipped, calling something Baroque was like saying ‘What’s with young people’s music these days?’


Hard to imagine that Bach’s audience could have felt that way when you hear the Magnificat, with the fine Newark Symphony Chorus’ on-cue attacks and enunciation. And the five young soloists from the University of Maryland were lively and strong singers as well.


The chamber ensemble also shone in the Bach – from Sue Ritter’s oboe duo with second soprano Katherine Sanford to the excellent bass lines played by Jennifer Hugh on bassoon, Leon Daniels on cello and Felix Cohen on double bass.


The next performance of the Newark Symphony Orchestra will be Sunday, March 7, at 3 p.m. at the Independence School.


See www.newarksymphony.org

Dinotopia is Dinotastic!

Picture at right: The Excursion, from Dinotopia: The World Beneath. James Gurney (born 1958). Oil on board mounted to plywood, 28 x 42 inches. Collection of the artist. © 1995 James Gurney. All rights reserved.

The drawings showed people and dinosaurs living side by side, but of course this was an impossibility…

Not so at the Delaware Art Museum’s newest exhibit, Dinotopia: The Fantastical Art of James Gurney, on view now through May 16.

Gurney’s drawings from his Dinotopia book series tell the tale of explorer Arthur Denison and his son, who stumble upon a world where dinos and humans dwell peacefully together: A stunning, color- and texture-rich depiction of a culturally integrated, socially responsible, incredible utopia. The concept as a whole truly spoke to me, with a powerful message easily translatable in today’s world. Gurney’s stories are equally appealing to children and adults, and feature an artistically and architecturally rich land, varying in ethnic groups (and species) and historical eras---all living in harmony.

Each piece exhibits amazing details in color and shadow; the dinos’ bodies are stippled with texture and striking hues. Gurney’s influence from both the pre-Raphaelites and artist Howard Pyle is strongly evident. Gurney uses many fascinating techniques in his work: Rembrandt’s “dark against light, light against dark”, to draw the eye’s focus and provide three-dimensional depth to his work; and a technique he calls “spokewheeling”, in which he employs the use of lines to direct the viewer’s eye to a particular area of the piece, as in the piece Stormy Sea.

Gurney intended his works to both stand alone and tell the story, and as such, the exhibit includes several intriguing additions, such as a “photograph” of Arthur Denison and his son, as well as a model of their expedition “journal”.

A few of my favorite pieces: Up High, a vivid portrayal of resident children riding on the backs of Brachiosaurs in celebration of their “hatchdays”; Waterfall City, an expansive piece showing the “great learning center” of Dinotopia; and Clean Teeth, a whimsical drawing, highlighting some “everyday activity” in the world of human and dino.

There’s no better reason to head to the Delaware Art Museum with your children, nieces, nephews, or simply solo…This exhibit will make you gasp, smile, giggle and contemplate the implausible: A peaceful coexistence between seemingly improbable worlds.

Gurney will be on hand at the museum on Sunday, February 7, with a lecture at 2pm and a book signing at 4pm. He is also slated to present demonstrations for six regional schools at the museum next week; hopefully, your child’s is on the list!

BONUS: On my way out, I ran into guest curator Judith Schwab, who is putting together the Outlooks exhibit, Women Collared for Work, which will open (hopefully) for this Friday’s Art on the Town. Back from 5 years in Florida, Schwab (who turns 75 this month) has lovingly constructed this exhibit, with folk-art flair and a broad range of media, with a very personal touch. “I wanted to create a show that puts everything in my life together through art,” Schwab noted. And what better way to do that than look to those she admires---her artist friends. “All the women in this show have work that has impacted mine,” she says. Brave the weather and see this exhibit, on view through March 21.

See http://www.delart.org/.