Featured Visual Artists

Current Art Exhibit


August-October, 2010
Wilmington Branch

Donald E. Storjohann — Photographs. Mr. Storjohann started taking pictures on a Rolleiflex Twin Lens Reflex camera at the age of 12. By the time he completed high school he had a business in wedding and commercial photography. Typical of photography in the 1950s, all of his professional photography was done with either 4”x5” Speed Graphic or a Graphic View camera. After high school he attended Omaha University majoring in physics and later studied at Brooks Institute of Photography in Santa Barbara, California. His early work in high contrast graphic arts photography led to a career in microelectronics and photolithography, which is a type of photography that can only be viewed through a microscope. Since retiring from Rohm and Haas in 2002, he has gone back to pursuing more conventional photography where the results can be greatly enlarged. Mr. Storjohann is also an avid woodworker and makes all of his own frames. The frames in this exhibit are either made from American Black Walnut or stained Red Oak.


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Previous Art Exhibits


Mark Ruiz — Oil paintings. Mr. Ruiz is an artist of many mediums and subject matters. In this exhibit, he includes a recent series of small oil paintings that follow the contemporary art movement of “A Painting a Day.” Other works have been collected from past patrons, and private and personal collections, spanning over the past 13 years. A handful of music-themed works were designed specifically for this exhibit at The Music School of Delaware, most notably the large-scale mural design that represents music education at various stages of life. Though his choice medium is oil painting, he is best known for his large community mural projects throughout Delaware, including murals at Lake Forest Elementary, Townsend Elementary, and the Boys and Girls Clubs of Wilmington and Oak Orchard. Currently in progress is a mural at the Boys and Girls Club of Georgetown (Delaware). Mr. Ruiz is an elementary art teacher at Townsend Elementary (Delaware). He enjoys finding unique ways and methods of bringing various art and cultures to his classroom. Recently, he introduced the ways of Japanese culture and art to his students after traveling to Japan in 2008 on a Fulbright Scholarship. On display June-August 2010.

Olga Nielsen — Works in pastel. Ms. Nielsen’s artwork is inspired by the power and poetry of the human body and face. She works in the traditional, realistic style of figurative art because it best allows her to express her awe and fascination with the beauty of the human form. Most of her sculptures, paintings and drawings focus on the female figure, connecting to her own experiences as a woman. Depicting women—resting, rocking their babies, practicing yoga, bathing, meditating—allows Ms. Nielsen to reflect on everyday moments of our lives, sharing their beauty and their timeless universal meaning and creating a vital connection between the artist and viewer. On display April-June 2010.

Thamer Dawood — Paintings. Thamer Dawood was born in Iraq, the country which invented writing, where signs were converted from voice to a picture and became later the foundation of human thinking. His works contain themes of history, nationality and exile, with reinterpretations of 4,000-year-old Mesopotamian “circular stamps,” prints carved in mud that are loaded with cuneiform writings and secret magical signs. Mr. Dawood converts his inner voices into pictures that integrate and connect different beliefs through a crowded revolution of colors and signs of everyday life. His paintings contain writings in different languages, numbers and color spots that gather at the bottom of the painting and shatter upward into a strange structure of layers like those of history itself. Exhibit presented in conjunction with the February 21 Cultural Crossroads program "Arts of the Middle East and Central Asia." Additional artwork by Betsy Molina Mortenson. On display February-March 2010.

Tanya Bracey — Paintings. Although her works are described as quiet and contemplative, Tanya Bracey's interest in animation is present in many of her works, as her portraits represent engaging characteristics of her subjects. Influenced by 19th-century masters, Ms. Bracey's work reflects a level of realism, representational art and some abstraction, with influences including Michelangelo, Ingres, Gerome, Al Tadema and Gentileschi. She trained at the Delaware College of Art and Design and the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, concentrating on portraits and figures. Exhibit presented in conjunction with the January 15 Cultural Crossroads program "Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., & Black History Month Tribute." On display November 18, 2009, through January 31, 2010.

Pat Crowe — Photography. Mr. Crowe's father biked around Ireland in 1936, and it was those stories as well as his third-generation Irish (County Clare) ancestry that took Mr. Crowe to Ireland 12 times since 1981 to work on his photography project "The People of Ireland." This exhibit is presented in conjunction with the Cultural Crossroads program "An Afternoon of Celtic Music & Art," with paintings by Sara Russell. On display September 16 through November 16, 2009.

Melinda Steffy — Mixed media paintings and metal works. Ms. Steffy’s work pulls in themes of geology, alchemy, entropy, molecular structure and improvisation, addressing broad questions of structure and formlessness, purpose and accident. Her experimental uses of materials create fluid, abstract forms with subtle patterns and unusual textures. Visit www.melindasteffy.com for more information. On display July 13 through September 14, 2009.

Tamara Cimalore — Jewelry and precious metal creations. Ms. Cimalore’s jewelry is prolific, creative and fresh, ranging from the eco-friendly to subtle sophistication. She masters her materials with unparalleled artfulness, combining the eye of an artist, the precision of a skilled jeweler and the imagination of a true creator. On display May 11 through July 11, 2009.

Matiko Mamiladze and Parna Surabischwili — In conjunction with the March 22 Cultural Crossraods program, “Arts of Eastern Europe,” the Music School is exhibiting the artwork of two Georgian artists and their families, with still lifes, narrative oil paintings and comic book character drawings. On display through May 7, 2009.

Milton Downing and students — In conjunction with the Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Tribute Concert, the Music School is exhibiting the artwork of Milton Downing and his students from the Christina Cultural Arts Center. On display January and February 2009.

Andrea J. Turner — Ms. Turner studied art at Moore College of Art and Design and at Howard University. She has shown her work throughout Delaware and Maryland and participated in several craft shows. Her oil paintings of landscapes and home scenes are on display at the Wilmington Branch from November through December 2008.

Latin American Heritage group exhibition — In conjunction with the Cultural Crossroads Latin American Heritage Concert & Workshop, the Music School is exhibiting the artwork of four emerging Latino artists: Alicia Dominguez, Esteban Pilonieta, José Ruiz Ahorrio and Rubén Sánchez. The works, including paintings, drawings and photographs, explore a range of themes related to culture, history, mythology and personal experience. On display from September 2 through November 3, 2008.

Dolores Bartholomew — Ms. Bartholomew presents “Meanings of the Heart”. A series of pictorial expressions exploring what creates a multi-dimensionally-filled heart, full of love and meaning. Showcased are works in pen and ink, and watercolor which display family relationships, especially with children. Included is a whimsical look at romantic love. This show will delight both child and adult.

Tzu-Wen Kwok — Ms. Kwok received B.A. and M.A. degrees in fine art, and has exhibited extensively throughout the region, including a show at the Delaware Art Museum. She combines both Chinese and Western styles in her watercolors and mixed-media "sticheries."

Carol Tippit Woolworth — "The inspiration of these paintings was color and contrast. I created intense little still life paintings, like jewels, which I then set into substantial frames. Some were painted from still lifes set up in the south of France, photographed, then finished at home. Others are more local, fruit gathered from friends' trees and the local grocery stores. They are tiny respites from these stressful times. Something totally frivolous to enjoy and share with others."

Peggy J. O. Schultz — "Each time I step off the plane into the airport at Beijing I forget the last trip and put a finger into an ear to try to ease the pressure, thinking the high altitude of the trans-Pacific trip has impaired my hearing. Everything’s so quiet. But it’s not just the airport. Every place I went was hushed. The 1.3 billion people of the Peoples’ Republic seem bent on keeping still. Maybe it’s stoicism. But whatever it is, I think I saw a strong pride in their eyes that maybe you can see too as you look at these vignettes of Chinese life, documented in what I hope you will agree are pleasant compositions."



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Programs are made possible, in part, by a grant from the Delaware Division of the Arts, a state agency dedicated to nurturing and supporting the arts in Delaware, in partnership with the National Endowment for the Arts.
 
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