The Next Wilmington Art Loop Opens This Friday April 14
April 12, 2023
Wilmington Mayor Mike Purzycki, City Cultural Affairs Director Tina Betz, and Jerry duPhily of Out & About Magazine invite City residents and art lovers from around the region to the next Art Loop Wilmington of 2023 this Friday, April 14. The popular FREE art exhibition, now in its 35th year, is a partnership between the Mayor’s Office of Cultural Affairs and Out & About. Galleries in and around Wilmington will participate in this month’s Art Loop. A complete list can be found in the April issue of Out and About.
Patrons are encouraged to take advantage of the Art Loop shuttle provided by the City of Wilmington Parks & Recreation Department. The shuttle will leave the parking lot of The Delaware Contemporary, located at 200 South Madison Street, at 5:45 p.m. In addition to the featured venues, shuttle riders vote for their choice of galleries to visit.
Wilmington’s Redding Gallery, located at 800 North French Street, continues to display Cheryl Gross’s “Commit to Memory: The Precipice of Exhibition.” This exhibition is a multi-platform, three-tier social commentary addressing the shifting and eventual disappearance of our culture using animals on the endangered species list as the metaphor. The Redding Gallery will host an Art Loop reception on Friday, April 14 from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. featuring light refreshments, live music, and a talk by the artist.
The other featured establishments in April include The Delaware Division of the Arts Mezzanine Gallery, The Creative Vision Factory, Over the Border Tacos, and the Delaware Center for Horticulture.
The Delaware Division of the Arts Mezzanine Gallery, located on the second floor of the Carvel State Office Building at 820 North French Street, proudly presents 2022 DDOA Individual Artist Fellow Tad Sare’s exhibition, “Projected Perspectives”, running April 7-28, 2023. Tad Sare, an experimental animator and artist currently living and working in Wilmington, uses the storytelling medium of animation to explore the perception and interpretation of juxtaposed and sequential images. He employs hand-drawn techniques while collaging/overlapping photographs, live-action videos, and sound elements digitally. Sare’s work borrows ideas, filmic devices, and tropes from espionage and thriller literature and cinema to examine the relationship between the perceived and the unknown of visual information. Patrons are invited to an Art Loop reception on Friday from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m.
The Creative Vision Factory, at 617 North Shipley Street, welcomes guests to an Open House and Group Exhibition as CVF enters the final months at its Shipley Street location. Patrons are invited to explore the artwork and stories collected over the course of 11 years in Downtown Wilmington. Featured artists include Knicoma Frederick , Geraldo Gonzalez [arts.delaware.gov], Lauren Pulliam, George Thomas, Ken Segal [delaware.gov], and many others. The public is invited to attend the Art Loop reception on Friday from 5: 30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. The exhibit ends on May 31, 2023.
Over the Border Tacos, at 125 North Market Street, is pleased to present the work of artist Bruce Gulick. Born in 1972 straddling the Mason-Dixon line, Bruce began drawing right after Star Wars debuted. He started tattooing after he left the Coast Guard in 1994 and spent ten years painting in the Sonora Desert before coming back to his artistic and spiritual home in the Brandywine Valley. Currently associated with Bellefonte Arts and Jester Art Space, Gulick teaches gouache and digital painting. Patrons are Invited to a Friday Art Loop reception from 5:30 p.m. to 8: 30 p.m. with margarita and beer specials and Taco Tuesday pricing during Art Loop!
The Delaware Center for Horticulture [thedch.org], at 1810 North Dupont Street, is proud to present “The Beauty of Nature,” by the Philadelphia Society of Botanical Illustrators [thedch.org], who return to DCH with this exhibition featuring original botanical illustrations of plants, trees, and flowers by regional artists. Each artist chose their subjects for their natural beauty and captured that beauty, while at the same time illustrating the plant scientifically. Frequently roots, bulbs, seeds, fruits, and other features are included in botanical illustrations to provide a more complete record of the plant. The artists may also include the pollinators if it pertains to a significant step in the plant’s life cycle. Patrons are invited to an opening night reception on Friday, April 14 from 5:30 p.m. to 8 p.m., which will feature a special unveiling of a donated painting by the artist Bayard Taylor Berndt (1908-1987) at 7 p.m. The exhibit continues until Friday, April 28, 2023.
COVID GUIDELINES
All visitors are expected to confirm and follow COVID guidelines as determined by individual galleries.
Patrons are reminded that the Art Loop shuttle will leave the parking lot of The Delaware Contemporary, located at 200 South Madison Street, at 5:45 p.m. The shuttle provides round-trip transportation to Art Loop venues and is a convenient way to meet other art lovers. The shuttle driver can answer questions and help art enthusiasts navigate the many offerings of Art Loop Wilmington. Reservations are NOT required.
The Wilmington Art Loop is a self-guided exhibition of visual art displayed at galleries, studios, museums, and alternative spaces in and around Wilmington. The FREE event draws local and regional art lovers to the Downtown District and greater Wilmington area on the first Friday of the month except for Independence Day Weekend in July. Many venues offer opportunities to meet the featured artists while patrons enjoy refreshments, and, in some cases, live entertainment is scheduled.
Art Loop Wilmington’s website – a hand-held guide to the Loop that is easily navigable by gallery location, artist, or type of venue – is mobile-friendly and features the monthly lineup at least two weeks prior to the start of each Art Loop. People can join the conversation on social media by using #ArtLoopWilm or visiting the Facebook Page [facebook.com]. The next Art Loop will take place on Friday, May 5, 2023.