Artists exhibit work at Inland Bays Garden Center

The Inland Bays Garden Center has announced its current exhibiting artists.

Art is the perfect way to capture coastal life and keep it alive all year long. Dot Truitt, Carol Gentes and Margie Samero have done just that using ceramic flowers, unique garden stepping stones and pigments of the imagination.

“Growing up on the shore, we were very isolated. If the hardware store or Sears did not have what you wanted, you made it! My favorite shamrocks would get leggy in the winter, so I began making them from clay on bamboo sticks,” said Truitt. At 86, her ceramic flowers make a perfect bouquet.

Pigment of the Imagination owner Gentes’ dotted art pieces are very popular. Some say they look bejeweled, because the drops of paint create a unique textural quality to the finished artwork. Each dot is carefully applied to the canvas or wood surface with a metal needle or the flat end of a drill bit. The painted rocks are created with outdoor paint and varnish, perfect for a fun accent in the garden.

Samero’s stepping stones began in 2000 when a close friend gave her a big bucket of stained glass scraps and said maybe she could make something with them. Samero quickly fell in love with all the beautiful glass made by a Pennsylvania art glass manufacturer called Youghiogheny. The easiest thing she could think of was to stick the glass into concrete and make a garden decoration, and her stepping stones were born. She begins the process with a big sheet of stained glass and traces her original pattern onto the glass, then cuts it by hand. Next she hand-mixes a special type of concrete, pours it into a mold and places glass on top. Every stone gets a glass border, and each border is unique, making every stone one of a kind.  

Inland Bays Garden Center is open from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday to Saturday and 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., Sunday, at 38320 Muddy Neck Road, Frankford.

For more information, call 302-539-1839 or go to inlandbaysgardencenter.com.