Caitlin McCormack
Origin Story, 2021
Welcome to The Dinner Table. This suite of exhibitions invites you to reflect on one of our most familiar and profound daily practices.
Running from January 17th to May 25th, this season at The Delaware Contemporary reimagines the dinner table as more than a functional object—it becomes a site of memory, connection, and cultural significance.
Through a dynamic collection of paintings, sculptures, installations, and more, these exhibitions explore how this everyday ritual can evoke nostalgia, spark dialogue, and serve as a lens for examining the dynamics of gathering and separation, conversation, and silence.
From reflecting on family meals to contemplating the histories and stories that unfold around shared spaces, the works on view challenge us to consider our relationships and intimate spaces where we meet.
We hope you enjoy this season’s offering and share this powerful exploration of human connection.
ARTIST OPEN HOUSE
Curious About Joining Our Artist Community?
Join us for a FREE Artist Open House at The Delaware Contemporary!
Whether you’re interested in becoming a studio artist or an artist-in-residence, or exploring other programs —this is your chance to explore exciting opportunities and discover how you can grow your practice in a thriving creative environment.
Saturday, February 22
12 — 4 PM
ART AFTER HOURS
Enjoy a social evening of special programming, contemporary art, vendors, and a cash bar at The Delaware Contemporary.
Wednesday, March 12th
6 — 8 PM
ART pARTy 2025!
Join the Party!
You're invited to ART pARTy 25—The Delaware Contemporary’s signature fundraiser event where art, music, and community come together for an unforgettable night!
Saturday, March 22
7 — 10 PM
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VANITAS
DUPONT I AND II GALLERIES
André Schulze, LF89 Bouquet Red
Art history has served as connecter, community builder, and cultural signifier. However, it has also reflected value systems that, just as often, keep individuals and groups isolated, excluded, and left out of the conversation. Genres of painting that have persisted through, and evolved with, artistic movements serve as reflections of the period’s value systems, in the context of Western society. Vanitas explores how today’s artists transform these traditional iconographies to articulate contemporary viewpoints, commentary, and value systems.
TAKE A SEAT
BIEBER HAM GALLERY
Sierra Montoya Barela, Sunday Morning
The dinner table recalls memories of cuisine, traditions, and faces. Many of these memories are not clearly outlined but rather assembled through our experiences' periphery. At the edge are small details such as decor or furniture, all of which complement the feeling and evoke emotion that registers our memories of the moments. The settings themselves often define the sensibility of the dinner table. Working within and beyond these domestic settings, Sierra Montoya Barles, Debra Broz, and Adam Ledford each contribute their distinct techniques to a larger place setting, inviting visitors to reminisce on tables past and present.
PULL UP A CHAIR
LOBBY GALLERY
Mia Fabrizio, Mama Liked the Roses
In these works, Fabrizio explores the power structures and cultural paradigms associated with, “having a seat at the table.” Fabrizio reveals how furniture conventions can grant power to the user. It is the “power to be seen, power to be heard, and power to contribute to the framing of a society” that Fabrizio aims to scrutinize. The chair sculptures become vessels for memories with details that reference labor, gender, and cultural constructs. Her multilayered constructions toggle between tearing apart and memorializing her personal experience. The assembly and material choices subvert the basic understood function of a “seat” and reveal illusions of functional space. She asserts that “these seats are invitations in name only, token representations.”
