OTHER PASTURES
Kiara Florez, Heidi Leitzke, Annette Monnier
Art Loop Date: September 8

Imagination defies all bounds. The act of imagining can absorb us for a fleeting moment or capture an entire world through its physical creation. It is the critical ingredient of innovation, allowing for new possibilities and progression. We imagine because we are hopeful. We dream because we are eager. Other Pastures highlights four artists who are engaged in manifesting their imaginations based on their realities. These worlds reflect aspects of the artists themselves, allowing us insight into their individual practices. 

MINING THE FORM
Stass Shpanin
Art Loop Date: October 6

Our relationship to the digital world has become increasingly complex. Decades of information learning has created systems that improve our lives while simultaneously escalating our reliance on its existence. But what does it mean to have a dialog with the programs themselves? Although humans created technology, its functions and focus offer revelations that are uniquely machine-based. Both Stass Shpanin and Ben Snell have worked alongside computers to create artworks that utilize the mining of human-made forms as a means of process, revealing the computers’ capacity as creative through their understanding of us. 

ENTER THE SUBCONSCIOUS
Mickayel Thurin
Art Loop Date: November 3
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As we physically move through life, our mind tracks our experiences, transforming them into emotions. The conscious mind controls our everyday existence, while our subconscious passively absorbs and records memories. Although a universal human trait, this psychological function harbors many mysteries that are utterly individual. 

UNDERCURRENTS
Sara Dittrich and Raúl Romero
Art Loop Date: December 1
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Scientific theories confirm much of our understanding about how energy transmits and is transformed. Whether that be within our own atmosphere, between various organisms, or even within our own bodies. However, so much of these interactions go unseen and are rarely acknowledged as anything other than a certainty of life. By way of exploration, both Sara Dittrich and Raúl Romero have constructed installations that feature the nuances of energy transmission. Each artistic practice is a unique undertaking of examining certain vessels by which these synergies take place, while further acknowledging their subtle existence through interaction. 

RADIUS
Group Exhibitions
Art Loop Date: August 4
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“Radius” defines a circular region from a center point of origin. For our upcoming summer exhibition season, The Delaware Contemporary serves as the center point of origin, with a radius encompassing the 250 miles surrounding our Riverfront Wilmington home. We present our first exhibition season which is entirely dedicated to showcasing artists who live and work within our radius.

ARTIFACT
Group Exhibition
Air Date: February 22
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An “artifact” is something human-made and is characteristic of, or resulting from, a particular period in time, trend, or individual. Without documentation or a physical reference – how does one revisit that moment in time once it is gone? How is it shared and remembered within communities and generations?

DOUBLE SKY
Zoe Scruggs
Air Date: March 8
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Double Sky features original mixed media paintings on wood panel, works on paper, and a new sound score by multidisciplinary artist Zoe Scruggs. From the traditional art-making forms of figurative portraiture and landscape painting, to the less traditional such as sound composition, music production, experimental new media and performance, Scruggs’ work defies easy categorization. Born and raised in southern Delaware, the artist’s expansive practice brings to life urgent issues that spur from Black ecological and Black feminist frameworks.

SETTING THE TABLE
Dana Sherwood and Beth Galton
Air Date: March 22
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Beth Galton is represented by twelve images, marking four, unique series of lush color photography. Her approach is suggestive of documentary-style work, but upon closer inspection, she asks viewers to really consider “what do we put on the table?”

Dana Sherwood’s films and paintings examine “who” the table is set for. Her work draws attention to how the efforts of providing a caring display of beautifully arranged items drive the boundaries of our relationships, intentional or not.

PLASTIC REEF
Federico Uribe
Air Date: April 5
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Miami-based artist, Federico Uribe, has been inspired by the overwhelming amount of plastic, utilizing it as an artistic medium. Due to his proximity to the coast, Uribe has personally witnessed the increasing tons of plastic that persist in the oceans and harm aquatic ecosystems. Uribe uses these everyday items such as forks, bottles, cartons, and even flip flops to build the grand-scale project; individual gestures of an ambitious installation that is both bright and beautiful. Uribe works to carefully collect, cut, and arrange hundreds of plastic pieces to playfully visualize an underwater world, while confronting the fragility of it. 

MORE THAN A WOMAN?
Group Exhibition
Air Date: May 10
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Artists address the “female form”, referencing the biologically-sexed female body, while simultaneously abstracting it to dismantle Westernized ideals of female roles. These cultural constructs have historically defined women; categorizing them within tropes related to sexual reproduction, domestic partnerships, and employment. 

THROUGH A GLASS, DARKLY
BODY
Key Artist, Bohyun Yoon
Air Date: September 28
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Bohyun Yoon’s work exists at the intersection of glass craft, music, performance art, video art, and experimental participatory theatre. A core concern for Yoon is to unravel the nature of communication. Yoon takes on the defined societal categories of race, gender, class, and age and reshapes our preconceived notions of the self and other through light, reflection, sound, the body, and technology. The result is a unique utopian vision, one open to interpretation, however, undeniably generous to the spirit and universally relatable. Bohyun Yoon is an Associate Professor of Art at Virginia Commonwealth University. He is the recipient of many international awards, fellowships, and residencies, and his work collected by prominent institutions, including the Corning Museum of Glass, the Smithsonian American Art Museum, and the West Collection.

THROUGH A GLASS, DARKLY
END-OF-DAYS
Key Artist, Kristin Neville Taylor
Air Date: October 26
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Kristen Neville Taylor is a Philadelphia artist whose diverse practice combines drawing, sculpture, and glass which converge playfully in installation style environments. Her work considers the impact of the stories we tell about nature, calling attention to the systems and events that establish definitions and shape public perception of the environment. She is a co-founder of The Green Sun, a multifaceted project focused on the intersection of art and policy as they relate to the history of energy, energy democracy and possible energy futures.

THROUGH A GLASS, DARKLY
ANCESTRY
Key Artist, Helen Lee
Air Date: November 30
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Helen Lee is an artist, designer, and educator. She holds an MFA in Glass from RISD and a BSAD in Architecture from MIT. Her work uses glass to think about language and identity. Recent exhibitions include: Translucency, the Tallinn Applied Art Triennial at the Kai Art Center in Estonia; Momentum | Intersection at Toledo Museum of Art; New Glass Now at Corning Museum of Glass; and the 2019 Burke Prize Exhibition at Museum of Art and Design. Lee is an Associate Professor and Head of Glass at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and serves as the Director of GEEX, the Glass Education Exchange.

THROUGH A GLASS, DARKLY
Key Artist, David King
Air Date: December 21
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David King earned an MFA from Tyler School of Art and Architecture in Philadelphia, PA in 2011. King’s work has been exhibited at a number of museums, and he has extensive teaching experience. He is a founding member of the artist collective, Flock the Optic, along with Liesl Schubel and Abram Deslauriers. King is currently a Visiting Assistant Professor at the Ohio State University in Columbus, OH.

REMEMBRANCES, RECOLLECTIONS & RETROSPECT
Han Cao, Rosa Leff, Daisy Patton, Pallavi Padukone, Mark Tennant, and Kate VanVliet
Air Date: February 9
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The feeling of nostalgia is universal; an innate human quality that employs our senses to recall comfort, love, or pain, but always invariably the past. Nostalgia distills memories within the impact of a moment in time, an often indescribable experience that is wholly personal and uniquely individual. To capture the feeling of nostalgia is almost impossible — it can be fleeting through various senses while we are left grasping at the threads of the memory. Although reminiscences are imperceptible at times, memories can be intentionally collected, and in doing so, act as our entrance into a nostalgic experience.

REMEMBRANCES, RECOLLECTIONS & RETROSPECT
Linda Dubin Garfield
Air Date: February 16
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VIRUS AND VIRTUAL: PANDEMIC DREAMS
Hugh Atkins and Creative Arts Club students
Air date: February 23
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Virus and Virtual: Pandemic Dreams explores our collective memories from the past two years and the ways in which our personal self-awareness, our purpose, and the passage of time have all changed. These concepts are multifaceted in nature, and have altered us individually, while spanning into our greater communities. In order to fully examine a variety of perspectives, mixed-media artist Hugh Atkins worked with The Delaware Contemporary’s Creative Arts Club’s high school students from Freire Charter School in Wilmington.

CLOSE TO HOME
W.A.S. Hatch
Air Date: March 9
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The intimacy of domestic life mixed with elements of the natural world readily emerge in W.A.S. Hatch’s work. Imagined landscapes and spaces are inviting, yet magically foreign. Although the scenes are sometimes familiar, their distortion is revealed through impossible colors and bold brushstrokes.

NATURA
Donna Usher
Air Date: March 23
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Internationally exhibited and locally-based painter, Donna Usher, considers natural forms of synergy through abstracted compositions of brightly colored and endlessly variegated circular shapes. This visual vocabulary has been core to the development and examinations done by Usher throughout her career. The Natura series features Usher’s most recent body of work and furthers her investigation of the organic phenomena of our world and the subsequent patterns found in these essential elements and events. Inspired by subject matter such as microscopic cells, flowing wind and water patterns, and the kinetic movement of starling murmurations, Usher visualizes the grander designs and their interconnected relationships of the natural world.

GALLERY TAKE-OVER
2021 Creatives-in-Residence Shakira Hunt and 7God
Air Date: April 13
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2021 Creatives-in-Residence Shakira Hunt and 7God have organized 19 visual and performing artists to take over The Delaware Contemporary’s Dupont II Gallery with a dynamic presentation of their collective works.

THE PLATFORM GALLERY
Karyn Olivier
Air Date: May 11
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Tousled reeds, diagonal sheets of water, and horizontal flows of river and trees are echoed by accumulations of fibers and cloth in Karyn Olivier’s photographic banners. As the artist balances references to natural and human-made worlds, she seems to respond to The Delaware Contemporary’s setting: a relatively recently developed commercial, residential, and entertainment district along the Christina River.

TRACES
Cheryl Goldsleger
Air Date: October 13
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How might visual art invoke both personal and public space? What are the visible and invisible connections that are present? Through both two-dimensional and three-dimensional work, this solo exhibition explores Cheryl Goldsleger’s career-spanning examination of space and location. The selected body of work constructs a comprehensive perspective that prompts viewers to reconsider their individual space, while examining what connects them within public realms. Goldsleger’s work illuminates the complex networks and webs of unseen information that is both emotionally felt and visually seen.

BALLAD OF SPREAD
Michal Gavish
Air Date: October 27
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As a trained scientist and artist, Michal Gavish works at the intersection of art and biology. Inspired by the colors and shapes produced by genetic DNA and viral sequencing research, Gavish adopts these visual languages to construct immersive environments. Gavish works with microscopic imagery to inform the resulting large translucent paintings that are thinly layered to create her environments. As visitors interact within the space, these fragile works shift and react, immersing the visitors in both the complexity and vitality of the microscopic structures.

VEILS
Catharine Fichtner
Air Date: November 17
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Inspired by the schematic structures behind patterns, abstract painter Catharine Fichtner composes dynamic acrylic works that utilize both formal painterly practices while considering her own subconscious narratives. The foundation of the practice is rooted in Fichtner’s Pennsylvania Dutch ancestry, in which quilting and clothing production were a close family tradition. Fichtner’s stunning compositions utilize rich color and shape in order to piece together fragmented personal histories.

FIELDS AND FORMATIONS
A Group Exhibition Exploring Mid-Atlantic Abstraction
Air Date: December 8
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Organized by The Delaware Contemporary’s inaugural Curator-in-Residence Kristen Hileman, Fields and Formations brings together approximately 70 works by 12 distinguished women and non-binary artists from the Mid-Atlantic region who infuse abstract paintings, drawings, prints, and sculpture with emotional and metaphorical content. The artists, who span five decades in age, share interests in luminous color, repeated forms, the power of materials, and the meditative aspects of making labor-intensive works.

UNAPOLOGETIC CONVERSATIONS OF HAIR & NONCONFORMITY
Robyn Phillips, Shannon Woodloe, and Stephanie Richardson
Air Date: June 9
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Unapologetic Conversations of Hair & Nonconformity brings attention to the past discriminatory practices that have threatened to remove people of color from professional opportunities. Systemic prejudices have historically limited access to opportunities due to nonconformity to cultural standards that promote discriminatory practices towards natural and true, authentic selves. Through personal narrative and artistic practice, the ten artists showcased here promote conversations around identity, access, discrimination, and conformity through the celebration of authenticity and pride in one’s natural being.

UNAPOLOGETIC CONVERSATIONS OF HAIR & NONCONFORMITY
Michael Dika, Liz Miller, Stephanie Richardson, and Robyn Phillps-Pendleton
Air Date: June 23
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Unapologetic Conversations of Hair & Nonconformity brings attention to the past discriminatory practices that have threatened to remove people of color from professional opportunities. Systemic prejudices have historically limited access to opportunities due to nonconformity to cultural standards that promote discriminatory practices towards natural and true, authentic selves. Through personal narrative and artistic practice, the ten artists showcased here promote conversations around identity, access, discrimination, and conformity through the celebration of authenticity and pride in one’s natural being.

GIVE ME MY FLOWERS
Shakira Hunt
Air Date: July 14
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Shakira Hunt discusses how she presents “masculinity” through many different lenses in her exhibition Give Me My Flowers. Hunt challenges the stereotyped idea of masculinity, how it is perceived as being void of emotional sensitivity and vulnerability, and how it is often displayed through a tough exterior. This series embodies creative storytelling, bold and intentional imagery, and subtle connections to create a relatable experience that recognizes and honors black and afro indigenous men, both straight and individuals of the LGBTQ+ community.

ON ART SPECIAL EDITION
GIVE ME MY FLOWERS
ONSITE Panel Discussion
July 28 | 5 - 8 PM
VIDEO COMING SOON

The Delaware Contemporary presents an in-person panel discussion for the exhibition, Give Me My Flowers by artist, Shakira Hunt. Panelists will examine “masculinity” through a variety of lenses and challenge stereotypes through dialogue that explores their own unique and personal experiences. This edition of ON ART is an in-person event with video access available after the event.

THE AMERICANS
Yukui Coy Gu
Air Date: August 11
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The Americans represents an autobiographical exploration of the artist Yikui (Coy) Gu, his wife, and their immigrant Chinese-German marriage. As the central theme throughout the work, Gu injects the viewer directly into their personal narrative, revealing intimate moments and essential truths. The layering of visual information through paint, stock imagery, and everyday objects creates a rich depth of provocative storytelling. Gu’s playful incorporation of popular culture, political reference, and personal experience allows for both immediate relevance and cultural commentary.

FAMILY HISTORY
Yapci Ramos,
Air Date: August 18
WATCH VIDEO with Yapci Ramos

Chad Cortez Everett and Chau Nguyen
Air Date: August 25
WATCH VIDEO with Chau Nguyen & Chad Cortez Everett

Our family history goes beyond the names and dates we find in our family tree. It’s about what makes us who we are, and the people with whom we can form deep connections. Our history gives us a sense of identity, enables cultural connections, and promotes tradition. It’s about the resilience of people who have lived and breathed and suffered and triumphed before us. Our family history informs our medical and mental health. It inspires compassion, greater understanding, and empathy for others. Family history asks us to question our position within society. It affects our progress and growth, and explores how we alter our identity to conform and assimilate within cultural constructs. Family history asks us to decide what is family?

APPEARANCES
Max Levenson, Diva Baby, Joe del Tufo and Chloe McEldowney
Aired March 17 at 6 PM
WATCH VIDEO with Max Levenson, Diva Baby
WATCH VIDEO with Joe del Tufo and Chloe McEldowney

Participating artists from Appearances will discuss their adaptations of Lauren E. Peters’ 2016 piece self-portrait (orange).

Studio artist Lauren E. Peters collaborated with a selected group of artists to reimagine her signature body of self-portrait work. Peters describes painting self-portraits as an isolating experience with an imagined audience. "I've always encouraged the viewer to attempt to see themselves and each other differently, but in the moment it's hard to look past all the images of a single person using a singular style of painting."

RIDEM
Gene Hracho
Aired March 31 at 6 PM
WATCH VIDEO with Gene Hracho

Ridem by Gene Hracho presents itself as a scale replica of a military helicopter, carefully clad in metal and outfitted with munitions. Upon closer inspection, the viewer sees a clever assemblage of metal parts, gauges, fixtures and fasteners - all replacements for real aircraft features. The artist delights in these ingenious substitutions.

ROUND ABOUT: RECONSIDERING THE OBJECT IN SPACE
Monroe Isenberg, Hannah Vogel and Mike Benevenia
Air Date: April 14
WATCH VIDEO with Mike Benevenia and Hanna Vogel
WATCH VIDEO with Monroe Isenberg

Round About: Reconsidering the Object in Space presents perceptions and layers of experience that inform and expand our notions of sculpture. Employing different and non-traditional approaches, these three multi-media artists guide viewers to deepen their personal connection as well as emotional and intellectual associations with the media.

INTANGIBLE ECONOMIES OF DESIRE
Anna K.E. and Curator Kristen Hileman
Air Date: April 28
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Anna K.E.’s large-scale banners draws upon her own body and background as a former dancer to imagine the appearance and function of the human body in the future. K.E. creates artworks across many media, including drawing, sculpture, and performances captured on video, to investigate the beauty, absurdities, and shifts in perception that can occur when the body interacts with different materials and architectural contexts.

DEFINITIVE WORK
Jasmine L. Combs
Air Date: May 12
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Spoken word artist Jasmine L. Combs explores the theme of “object” and “objectification” in Definitive Work. Jasmine’s work focuses on the personal as universal and the intersecting relationships between Blackness, womanhood, girlhood, mental illness, love, and home. She has competed in poetry slams both locally and nationally, winning the grand slam championship at Philly’s Grand Slam Finals 2015, College Union Poetry Slam Invitational (CUPSI) 2016, and was a semi-finalist at the 2015 National Poetry Slam.