Ellen Rice Gallery to host stained-glass art demo July 11
The Ellen Rice Gallery in Ocean View will host a special exhibit of the sea-themed stained-glass creations of Chiara Reading from 10 a.m. to noon and 1 to 6 p.m., Wednesday, July 11, with the artist demonstrating her techniques throughout the day.
The public is invited to meet Reading, explore her colorful, multifaceted works of art and have the opportunity to purchase from a wide variety of her creations. Light refreshments will be served in the morning and early afternoon, with the addition of wine and cheese from 3 to 6 p.m. All are welcome.
Reading says she discovered her passion for designing stained glass in 2009 during a class she and her husband took as part of a date night they do every month or so to try out new things.
“I didn’t know I had an artistic bone in my body until I was 40 years old, but the first time I scored a piece of glass and it broke the way I wanted it to, something clicked and I was hooked,” she said. “I loved all of the amazing textures and hues of glass. I loved how I could bring a piece to life based on the glass I chose. I was addicted.”
Within three years of that class, Reading left the corporate world where she’d been an executive recruiter for many years and took the leap to become a full-time artist. She calls her variety of sea-themed stained glass My Wildest Dreams, because what she found herself doing was beyond her wildest dreams.
Her nautical theme started with another passion shared with her husband: scuba diving. Mermaids and mermen, seahorses, Paua and Nautilus shells all find their way into her creations. She’ll have a wide variety of pieces, large and small, on display and for sale.
Reading is one of more than 100 local and regional artisans represented by local, internationally collected painter Ellen Rice in her Ocean View gallery.
Ellen Rice Gallery is 2.2 miles west of Bethany Beach’s wooden totem at 111 Atlantic Ave. (Route 26), Ocean View, in Coastal Plaza on the north side of the road across from Lord Baltimore Elementary School. The gallery has bright-red shutters, yellow benches and flowerpots.
For more information, call 302-539-3405 or go to www.ellenrice.gallery.
