Rehoboth Art League to host exhibition receptions Sept. 29

The final month of exhibitions at the Rehoboth Art League for 2023 is fully packed with a variety of shows that embrace unique mediums and techniques.

Four new exhibitions will hang throughout the RAL campus, giving a final send-off to the league’s 85th year.

Jo-Ann Morgan displays her political comforters in “Quilted Chronicles,” while Luc Fielder showcases both sculptures and prints in “Forces of Nature.” “One Water, Native Space, Water?” contains oil paintings from Geo McElroy, and Rosemary Connelly’s “Driven to Abstraction” features new works from the local artist. All exhibitions are on display from Friday, Sept. 29, to Sunday, Oct. 29.

The art league will be hosting receptions for all the new exhibitions from 5 to 7 p.m., Sept. 29, inviting anyone interested to visit the Corkran, Tubbs, Ventures and Homestead galleries to see these exciting displays.

In the Corkran gallery, quilter Jo-Ann Morgan will combine the familiar and approachable everyday comforter with provocative images related to social justice and inequality to create politically-driven art quilts. Despite the unsettling themes, “Quilted Chronicles: Comforters for a Fraught Era” offers a soothing counterpoint to the harsh events of contemporary reality. If there is a message running throughout this work it’s “seeking comfort in a fraught world.” Art can be a way to process events and experiences that are almost too much to bear, and Morgan considers artmaking to be her form of activism.

Morgan will give a free gallery talk to the public at 10 a.m., Saturday, Sept. 30. She will discuss her career as an artist and academic, how she came to create these quilts, and the context behind the themes of each piece.

Luc Fiedler combines sculpture and printmaking in his show “Forces of Nature: Sculptures and Prints” in the Tubbs gallery. Recent works of Fiedler’s explore the relationships between the physical and metaphysical world. Many of the elements within the compositions are either found in nature or have man-made connotations. These suggestive forms are derived from his studies and interests in all sciences, ranging from the microcosm to the macrocosm. They are then realized through various processes such as etching and collagraph printmaking, forging, foundry, and fabrication methods.

The Ventures gallery will house landscape paintings from Geo McElroy in her solo show, “One Water, Native Spaces, Water?” While completing her master’s degree at Salisbury University, McElroy was given an independent study in landscape painting under the tutelage of Dr. Robert Hill and Jinchul Kim. The independent study was the impetus for her foray into painting as a painter in earnest. The pieces produced during this time form the collection of work displayed in this exhibition.

Before the Homestead closes its doors for the winter season, it will display new works from Rosemary Connelly for her show, “Driven to Abstraction.” The show is Connelly’s way of expressing her affinity for design, composition, and color in images that are, what she refers to as, pure design. Her graphic design background is evident in her work, that until recently has been demonstrated by watercolor with pen and ink drawings, on paper and in watercolor journals. This collection is a departure from those images captured from life, but while purely abstract in nature, they also suggest a sense of time and place, and the joy of art creation.

The exhibitions are free and open to everyone during the regular gallery hours of 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., Monday to Saturday, and noon to 4 p.m., Sunday.

The Rehoboth Art League is located at 12 Dodds Lane, Henlopen Acres.

For more information, go to rehobothartleague.org.