Art in the AM set in Rehoboth March 1
Three local artists, nine writers and a musician will present a unique collaborative performance, Art in the AM, from 10 to 11:15 a.m., Wednesday, March 1, in the clubhouse of The Glade in Rehoboth Beach. Hosted by the Rehoboth Beach Writers' Guild, the event is free and open to the public, but RSVPs are required. To reserve a space, email fischer.maribeth@gmail.com.
Rehoboth Beach Writers' Guild Executive Director Maribeth Fischer says, "Think of it as a three-act play with each act featuring one artist. While a painting by artist A is being displayed, three writers will read the short (300 words or fewer) original poem, memoir excerpt or flash fiction that the painting inspired. This will be followed by a live song performed by musician Stuart Vining, who will explain what in the painting prompted his choice of song, and finally, the artist will speak about his or her own inspiration for the work."
The goal is to get people talking and thinking about the different ways people express themselves and to use one art form (writing or music) to talk about another (painting). Can writing about art inspire writers to delve deeper into their imaginations? Does hearing a song inspired by a painting change the way one views that painting? "Each month the writing, art and music intersect in surprising ways," says Cape Gazette columnist Lisa Graff, who will emcee the event and who led the guild's art-inspired Free Writes for four years.
The March artists include Fred Dylla of Lewes, a physicist by training and vocation. Combining a lifelong love of woodworking with a 21st century interest in watercolor painting, Dylla found the white-line woodcut medium to be a perfect blend of his passions. He first encountered these woodcuts in 2001 at a Boston Museum of Fine Arts exhibit of the Provincetown Printers, the group who developed the technique in the early part of the 20th century. Intrigued, he and his wife Linda traveled to Cape Cod and tracked down an artist - Bill Evaul - who had studied with the one of the original pioneers of the medium. Dylla has been traveling to Provincetown to study with Evaul every summer since.
Arlene Matzkin, another Lewes artist, whose work was recently displayed with Fred Dylla's at the Buttery Restaurant, enjoyed a 40-plus-year career as an architect in Philadelphia. When nearing retirement in 2008 - and sidelined by foot surgery - she began painting to fill some of the housebound hours. Matzkin, who continues to do residential architecture, concentrates on local subjects and is often drawn to the animals and people who animate Lewes.
Artist Lee Mills has been painting since he was 9 years old, and he has spent his career as an arts administrator, developing the Kentlands Art Barn for the City of Gaithersburg, Md., and working as director of exhibitions at Maryland Hall in Annapolis and the Montpelier Cultural Art Center in Laurel, Md. Mills has long been associated with the Rehoboth Art League, where he has twice served as interim director and continues to serve on both the exhibitions and permanent collection committees. He is represented by Gallery 50 in Rehoboth Beach, has shown widely in the region and has been included in several national touring exhibitions. Next up, exhibition-wise, he will be included in a drawing exhibition scheduled for The Delaware Art Museum in Wilmington.
"We want this to be casual and fun, igniting conversations and ideas," says Fischer. "Writing and painting are often such solitary activities. Even the reading of literature in public or the viewing of art can seem such serious and solemn endeavors. That's not what this is."
Coffee and pastries will be served. For more information, go to www.rehobothbeachwritersguild.com. For specific questions about Art in the AM or to RSVP, email fischer.maribeth@gmail.com.
