Wilmington’s Art on the Town loop has a new stop.
A group of Delaware community artists have banded together, creating new exclusive works for ALIVE, a show debuting Friday in the Chris White Gallery at Shipley Artist Lofts downtown.
Photographer David Norbut helped organize ALIVE. He says his inspiration for the show came during a trip to New York City where he began to wonder why Delaware lacked outlets for community artists to show their work.
ALIVE artists discuss the concept behind their show.
ALIVE artists discuss the concept behind their show.
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He was also influenced by a recent visit to New Orleans, where the streets are filled with the music of buskers and works of folk art, all on display for the general public. Norbut recalls being disappointed that Wilmington doesn't offer a similar experience, but adds he sees attempts to build an arts and culture identity in Wilmington, and wanted to contribute.
“I see that they are starting to build stuff up, and I just wanted to help; bring what I wanted to see to town,” Norbut said. “I went out and reached out to some of my friends and gave them the idea of having a collective show with live music, something for the community, something that was unique to this area, and everybody jumped on board.”
The group that developed ALIVE includes fellow graduates of the Delaware College of Art and Design. But the different styles and media they work in that set them and the show apart. Sculpture installations and colorful paintings sit side-by-side in the gallery’s brightly lit, street level floor. While downstairs, the darker incandescent basement and exposed mortar and stone enclose the works of two photographers with vastly different styles.
The execution of the show was a group concept, and from start to finish, all six artists had some kind of hand in its development. From promotion to funding, the artists have given everything of themselves to the endeavor.
As part of Wilmington’s Art on the Town loop, ALIVE certainly stands out as unique. But the artists feel it is their strong ties to Wilmington that make what they are doing a natural fit for the loop.
“I think this area drives us, because this is where we’re from,” Norbut said. “Dave tattoos down the street, Danielle lives a couple blocks down the street. Bonaia lives not far from here. I’m not far from here. We all went to school here.”
“This is kind of the small hub of things being rebuilt; this is where all the galleries are this is where the art walk is. We wanted to be a part of that but we wanted to bring our own flavor to it,” he added.
Painter and Norbut’s fellow DCAD graduate Bonaia Rosado feels that the show is an opportunity for exposure.
“I just want to show off what Delaware’s got to offer; and it’s a lot, it’s just hidden. So we just try to showcase it here,” said Rosado.
“It’s nice to be able to show off what people are doing in Wilmington that’s different and unique and each artist has a different feel to them,” said photographer and designer Danielle Quigley.
Indeed the group is more than just like-minded artists; several of them have been close friends for years. It is exactly that bond that convinces painter Dave Mele that the show is worth the effort.
“The best part for me is to be with all my friends doing something cool. Regardless, I’m going to be doing this, so it’s cool to have somewhere to show it.”
Painter Joe Breitenbach agrees.
“We all make things all the time and we don’t necessarily show them that often,” he says. “I have a basement full of stuff that I just don’t necessarily show people. But it was cool to get it organized and show people in a cool setting.”
ALIVE is located at the Chris White Gallery and Shipley Artist Lofts, at 701 North Shipley Streets. The Wilmington Art on the Town loop begins Friday at 5:00 PM.
This piece is made possible, in part, by a grant from the Delaware Division of the Arts, a state agency dedicated to nurturing and supporting the arts in Delaware, in partnership with the National Endowment for the Arts.
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