Rehoboth Art League to host receptions May 6

The Rehoboth Art League will display four original exhibitions throughout the month of May for patrons to enjoy. It will host receptions for all the exhibitions from 5 to 7 p.m., Friday, May 6.

Love Art: Music on Canvas, Anachronism, Every Image Tells a Story, and Deciphering Stratums: A View Beyond the Surface will hang in the Corkran, Tubbs, and Ventures galleries from May 6 to Sunday, June 5. 

Sharing the Corkran walls will be original works from Yvonne Frankis and Gary Schwartz. 

Love Art: Music on Canvas, Frankis’ solo exhibit, showcases her monochrome landscapes inspired by classic rock songs. Though her art does not directly depict images of musicians or instruments, she is able to translate the emotion of one art form to another by listening to certain songs while creating a piece. Her subtle palette gives the viewer sensations of calm stillness and whimsical mystery. Frankis’ balance of natural elements arranged in minimalistic compositions attracts admirers of both contemporary and traditional styles.

Schwartz, a pop-inspired social realist painter, brings a new collection of acrylics to the Corkran for Anachronism, an exhibition exploring the theme of anachronistic imagery through Dutch Golden Age style. His work transports characters and objects depicted by Dutch masters like Vermeer, Rembrandt and Hals to mid-20th century Coney Island, N.Y., making his pieces uncanny because of their lack of solid time and space. Schwartz grew up in Coney Island in the 1960s and ‘70s, often returning to the city’s gritty landscape as an influence for his contemporary work.

The Coastal Camera Club and Rehoboth Beach Writers’ Guild teamed for the Every Image Tells a Story exhibition in the Tubbs Gallery. This show brings together two art forms – photography and creative writing – with participating photographers creating images that reveal something about themselves or convey a message, and writers selecting one of the works that inspired them to craft a story of 300 words or less.

Finally, works from Moritz Kellerman and Katiana Jarbath Smith will be on display in the Ventures gallery. Now more than ever, people are understanding that seeing others is not a simple matter of color or gender or any other visual descriptor, but of taking the time to see their experiences. People are more than their surface appearance.

Deciphering Stratums: A View Beyond the Surface features two-dimensional paintings by Nicaragua-born Jewish American painter Moritz Kellerman and first-generation Haitian American painter Katiana Jarbath-Smith. Moritz’s abstract stratums of color invite viewers to question their thoughts and feelings provoked by the title of the artwork in terms of the lived experience of its subject. The works in this show welcome audiences to interpret the history of a people, social constructs, and even nations, reminding viewers of the value of exploring the complexity of individual and collective history.

Works from the art league’s collection will be on display in the Homestead for RAL Through the Seasons. Since the league’s beginnings in 1938, its grounds have been a source of inspiration for many artists. The formal gardens and wooded pathways, the historic Peter Marsh Homestead, the Paynter Studio, and the numerous art events and educational programs are depicted throughout the seasons and years in renderings of all types of media, from pastel to oil painting, woodblock prints and photographs. ​​Guests can enjoy these selected works from the art league’s collections for a look back at how the campus has been interpreted by artists over the years. Visitors also can wander outside to experience the campus through their own eyes.

The exhibitions are free and open to everyone during the regular gallery hours of 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., Monday through Saturday, and noon to 4 p.m., Sunday.. The Rehoboth Art League will continue to follow all CDC and local COVID safety guidelines for operating.