Summer at the Rehoboth Art League is in full swing with the 52nd Annual Members’ Fine Craft Exhibition returning to the league from June 13 to July 13. Showing alongside the fine craft showcase will be two exhibitions from RAL’s Fine Art Collection: “Inside the Studio of Ethel PB Leach” in the DeWitt Gallery and “Feathered and Fancy: Avian Interpretations from the RAL Collections” in the Homestead.
On the evening of June 13th from 5-7 pm, the art league will host an opening reception for its exhibitions, inviting anyone interested to visit the Corkran, Tubbs, Ventures, and Homestead galleries to see these new shows.
The Members’ Fine Craft Exhibition is a signature summer show for the league and contains works created by member artists in a wide variety of media, including baskets, ceramics, fiber, glass, jewelry, leather, metal, mixed media, wood, and others. The show will take over the Corkran and Tubbs galleries, with awards given to distinguished pieces.
Artists, members, and the public are invited to hear from the judge of this year’s Fine Craft Exhibition, Jinsoon Oh, during a free Gallery Talk on Saturday, June 14, at 10 am in the Corkran Gallery. A Salisbury-based artist and poet, Jinsoon Oh was born in Seoul, South Korea, where she earned a Bachelor of Fine Art in painting. Since coming to the United States in 2016, she has actively participated in regional, national, and international art exhibitions. She has been expanding her studio practices in the ceramics and sculpture programs at Salisbury University and has trained as an art teacher, specializing in secondary and high school art education. Her recent series of works, “The Soundless Poem,” was showcased at RAL last fall.
The Ventures Gallery will become an extension of the Members’ Sales Gallery, showcasing an eclectic collection of fine art and craft by RAL Member Artists. Throughout the summer season, browse everything from watercolor paintings to wearable fiber art, ceramics, and fine art photography. Each purchase supports a practicing artist, as well as the mission of the Rehoboth Art League.
RAL will display two exhibitions featuring work from their Fine Art Collection from June 13. The DeWitt Gallery will display “Inside the Studio of Ethel PB Leach,” curated by Collections Committee member, Ellen Roney Hughes through July 27. Ethel Pennewill Brown Leach was known as a leader of women painters in Delaware for the first half of the twentieth century and was a founding member of the Rehoboth Art League. The league has an extensive collection of Leach’s work, which includes oil paintings, etchings, illustrations, drawings, and personal diaries. In 2024, RAL was gifted a collection of Ethel’s studio equipment such as her easel, camera, woodblock cutting tools, and many of her sketches and illustrations. With these pieces on display surrounded by her art, this mini-exhibition gives a glimpse into what Ethel’s studio might have been.
“Feathered and Fancy: Avian Interpretations from the RAL Collections” will be showcased in the Homestead through August 17. Birds inspire us in endless ways through their flight, beauty, and delightful mannerisms. This exhibition celebrates avian wonders through interpretations in original paintings, sculptures, and sketches from the Rehoboth Art League Collection. RAL’s iconic Doors of Fame, which feature the signatures of more than 285 prominent artists, creatives and notable citizens from the art league’s history, are also on display in the Homestead and will remain available to view through October.
RAL invites the public to an opening reception for all three shows on Friday, June 13, from 5-7 pm. The exhibitions are free and open to everyone during the regular gallery hours of Monday through Saturday, 10am to 4pm and Sunday, noon to 4pm.
The Rehoboth Art League is supported, in part, by a grant from the Delaware Division of the Arts, a state agency, in partnership with the National Endowment for the Arts. The Division promotes Delaware arts events on www.DelawareScene.com.
The Rehoboth Art League is a membership-based non-profit arts organization dedicated to teaching, preserving and inspiring the arts in the region. For additional information about the art league, its exhibits, classes, memberships, events and more, please visit its website at RehobothArtLeague.org or call 302.227.8408. You can find them on Facebook and Instagram @RehobothArtLeague.
