Wilmington’s Eunice LaFate is the featured artist at a brand-new festival.
LaFate was all in when the Brandywine Holiday Festival of the Arts organizers asked her to show at its event this month.
"It means the world to me; it really is so humbling. I was in it," LaFate said. "I said ‘Book me in’ and I signed up right away and I may have been one of the first ones. I’m excited about this and I want to showcase work that features local landscapes."
In the 1980s, LaFate was enjoying an established career as an artist in her homeland Jamaica when a chance visit to Wilmington turned her world upside down. She met Robert LaFate at a dinner party.
"So it was love, I always say it was love that brought me here," LaFate said. "I didn’t come here to better myself, I was doing pretty well in Jamaica. I was always on the front page of the newspaper with my art. Yeah, I had a background prior to coming here."
Throughout her life, LaFate has worked an array of careers, including banker, writer, and teacher, all while continuing her art.
LaFate says her art focuses on local landmarks, and accents themes of diversity, equity, and inclusion.
She has her own gallery on Market Street, and headlines the roster of 150 regional artists and artisans at the first Brandywine Holiday Festival of the Arts at the Chase Center on the Riverfront December 16 and 17.
Delaware Public Media' s arts coverage is made possible, in part, by support 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.
