Celebrating Black History Month with Programs & Exhibit at DHS

Information for this post was provided by a press release from The Delaware Historical Society...

The Delaware Historical Society (DHS) celebrates Black History Month with special public programs and an exhibit.

LECTURE: Littleton P. Mitchell Fighting for Equality in the Civil Rights Era
Thursday, February 4, 6:00pm
Delaware History Museum
Dr. Leland Ware, the Louis L. Redding Chair and Professor of Law and Public Policy at the University of Delaware, will highlight Delaware civil rights leader Littleton P. Mitchell’s contributions to advancing the cause of equality. Mitchell, president of the Delaware NAACP for 30 years, is known locally and nationally for his personal courage during the Civil Rights Movement. He was also was a member of the famed Tuskegee Airmen during World War II, for which he was awarded the Congressional Medal.

PERFORMANCE: The Folk Music of Africans Americans with Devonna B. Rowe
Tuesday, February 9, 12:30pm | Delaware History Museum
Award-winning performing artist and educator, Devonna B. Rowe, will take the audience on an interactive musical journey through the history of the African American people, exploring traditional African songs and influences on modern American culture. A Delaware Historical Society program with funding support from The Black Heritage Educational/Theater Group.

FAMILY PROGRAM: The Underground Railroad in Delaware
Sunday, February 28, 1:00pm | Old Town Hall & the Quaker Hill Historic District
Join DHS and Quaker Hill Historic Preservation Foundation for a family event highlighting the Underground Railroad in Delaware. Walk in the footsteps of freedom seekers who passed through Wilmington on their journey to freedom and participate in activities exploring the difficult decisions made by people at that time. The first half of the program takes place in the Quaker Hill Historic District followed by a visit to Old Town Hall at the Delaware Historical Society. There will be family activities at both locations.

EXHIBIT: Dream Quilts The Dream Quilts are on display through the end of February at the Central YMCA in Wilmington, the Walnut Street YMCA in Wilmington and the Dover Public Library. The project was first launched 2012 to inspire a new generation with Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s powerful message from his 'I Have a Dream' speech. After learning about Dr. King’s legacy, school children decorated quilt squares that were later stitched into quilts by A Stitch in Time, an African American quilting group in Dover. In 2014, two of the quilts were exhibited in Vice President Biden’s home at the Naval Observatory during Black History Month.

All programs are free and open to the public, but reservations are requested at deinfo@dehistory.org or 302.655.7161.  The Delaware Historical Society owns and operates the Delaware History Museum; a nationally recognized Research Library; Old Town Hall; Willingtown Square, four 18th Century houses surrounding a picturesque urban courtyard located in Wilmington; as well as the Read House & Gardens located in historic New Castle, recognized as an “American Treasure” by the National Trust for Historic Preservation and the National Park Service; and the Center for African American Heritage, which will be included as part of the expansion of the Delaware History Museum, expected to reopen in spring of 2016.

See www.dehistory.org.

All I Wanna Do Is Have Some...Delaware Fun-A-Day!

Who isn't in the mood for some fun, especially in the midst of a DelMarVa winter? Delaware Fun-A-Day has your winter-blues remedy Friday, February 5, 2016 from 5:00-9:00pm at The Delaware Contemporary (formerly The Delaware Center for the Contemporary Arts [DCCA]). It promises to be an evening to fill you with art, music, food, comedy and — of course — plenty of F-U-N!

In the past few years, The Delaware Contemporary has successfully positioned itself as the go-to place for all manner of art "events" and cool happenings. It seems the perfect setting for a project like this.

Delaware Fun-A-Day is a multimedia, all-ages, all-inclusive, non-juried art project, which is actually part of a nationwide project. The fifth annual artistic exhibition was launched by local organizers and entries have grown each year. The event is modeled after Philadelphia's Art Clash Collective, which debuted 11 years ago.

The idea is simple: Make something each day in January (with a self-determined theme) and present it in a show during February's Art Loop. Past projects have run the gamut from sculpture to painting to photography to poetry to knitting to song to beading. The Fun-A-Day crew reports a record number of participants this year — with the youngest participant in First Grade.

Friday will deliver the exhibits of 100+ Delaware artists — drone photography, mythical creatures, dogs of Delaware, mandalas, timed abstract paintings, fairies doing yoga, cross-stitched labyrinths and more — but also music by DJ Skinny White; improv comedy from City Theater Company's Fearless Improv (shows at 6:00pm & 8:00pm); and plenty of nosh from the Contemporary's new caterer/food truck partners Plum Bistro by The Plum Pit. The Contemporary's current gallery exhibitions will also be open: Lynda Schmid's Listening to Horses, Amy Stevens' Letting Go and a joint exhibition by studio artists Dan Jackson and Ken Mabrey. In-house artists' studios will also be open for tours.

See you for the FUN! See www.delawarefunaday.com.

The Coastal Camera Club: A Juried Exhibition

By Guest Blogger, Stan Divorski Stan Divorski is an artist and avid art and photography collector who lives in Lewes, Delaware. He has a PhD in Psychology from Northwestern University, a Certificate in Painting and Drawing from the Corcoran College of Art and Design in Washington DC and has studied modern art curating at the Chelsea College of Arts in London.

All art or photography lovers must see this joint exhibition of the Rehoboth Art League and the Coastal Camera Club, showing the work of photographers who are members in both organizations.

The artists display a creative — and at times playful — willingness to explore what the medium has to offer. Each artist shows a willingness to experiment with ground, presentation, image manipulation and staging to create uniquely effective images. The curators, Jay Pastore and Lee Mills, are to be congratulated for putting together a captivating demonstration of this diversity.

A few examples from this abundance of worthy images are in order. Dick Snyder’s “Florentine Ceiling” sets the tone by challenging the viewer to make sense of his black and white abstraction of a cathedral ceiling. Dizzying perspective, rich pattern, narrow tonal range and frameless canvas support simultaneously suggest M.C. Escher, a medieval tapestry and a Southeast Asia temple wall painting. 

Linda Rosenbluth’s “Out on the Town” at first appears to be an art deco poster of the 1930s, due to saturated neutral colors, rectilinear composition and flat light. Closer examination confirms a photo of a modern urban scene. 

Robin Harrison’s “At Rest” depicts a flamingo without the curved neck and stick legs that dominate most images of the bird. Harrison has selected a pose that abstracts the essence of the bird, highlighting its shyness and the textural richness and subtle color variation of its plumage. 

"Reflection" by Brooke Hedge

Brooke Hedge’s “Reflection” exemplifies how to capture mystery with only minimal editing of a photograph. Traditionally framed and matted, this black and white view of a young woman’s sun dappled reflection could well have been titled “Narcissus” after Ovid’s boy of that name. Its subject is Pre-Raphaelite, and its texture is that of Monet’s brush strokes. The image symbolizes innocent purity, the fleeting nature of beauty and the uncertainty of perception. 

Adjacent to Hedge’s work, Leslie Sinclair’s “Woodland Tea Party” takes a less purist approach. The frameless, aluminum mounted image of a tea table in a forest is a light painting (composed of multiple individually lit layers combined to form the final image). Reminiscent of Gregory Crewdson’s large scale, staged cinematic tableau, this smaller work is carefully arranged, conjuring Alice in Wonderland as interpreted by David Lynch.

If this exhibit is representative, The Coastal Camera Club may be more than a club, but rather the beginnings of a school of photography with a vision unique to the Delaware shore.

The Rehoboth Art League, with 1800 members, is Sussex County's first organized cultural arts center. Located on a historic plantation, it encourages artists and arts education and sponsors exhibits and programs.

The Coastal Camera Club, with more than 200 members, serves the Delaware seashore. It encourages and promotes interest in all phases of photography, encourages education in photography, holds contests and presents awards, and promotes the photographic efforts of its membership. 

See www.rehobothartleague.org and http://coastalcameraclub.com.