Rehoboth Art League to host opening May 8 for three shows
The Rehoboth Art League will hold an opening for three new exhibitions from 5 to 7 p.m., Friday, May 8, at its Henlopen Acres location. They are The Sensible Forest by Alice Valenti, Reflecting Light by Cathy Leaycraft, and In the Abstract, a juried exhibition of abstract works created by RAL member artists. The shows run through Monday, June 14.
The Sensible Forest, a collection of mixed-media works, will be exhibited in the Corkran Gallery. Valenti explains that the title of this exhibition refers to the definition of the word “sensible” as it relates to knowledge obtained through perception. Her works imagine and mimic the impulses arising from perceptual memories. Inspired by photographs, memories and imagined places, Valenti’s small landscape-based works draw the viewer in close to spend time discovering what is unusual about each one. These images play with the tension between illusion and abstraction, motion and stillness, control and disorder. Valenti received her BFA from the Maryland Institute College of Art and her MA in art therapy from Drexel University.
In Reflecting Light, on display at the Tubbs Gallery, Leaycraft pushes photography into the realm of abstraction by using reflections in glass to create layered images of landscape. By manipulating light and reflection before it reaches the camera she is able to capture vivid colors and unusual abstract views of her subjects. Her images have a dreamlike quality and evoke a sense of timelessness. Leaycraft received her education at The Maryland Institute College of Art, the University of Delaware and Drexel University. Her works are in the collections of the Baltimore Museum of Art, the Getty Center Library, and both the Tate Gallery and the Victoria and Albert Museum in London.
In the Abstract, on display at the Rehoboth Art League’s historic Homestead, will also offer a departure from reality in the depiction of imagery. In this juried members’ show, abstraction is explored through a variety of mediums. The 15 works in this exhibition were selected from over 140 submitted for review. “Abstraction is not restricted to two-dimensional mediums,” said exhibition director Jay Pastore. "This year we asked artists who work in a variety of mediums to participate in each show. In addition to a variety of styles of painting, In the Abstract will also contain watercolor works, monoprints, photographs and sculptures."
The opening reception is free and open to the public. Hobos and Dogfish Head are sponsors for the reception. Gallery hours are 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., Monday through Saturday and noon to 4 p.m., Sundays. For more information go to www.rehobothartleague.org.
