Welcome to The Delaware Contemporary's Newsroom. If you are a journalist, editor, or blogger and would like receive press releases and information about our programming, please contact:
Shefon N. Taylor
Communications and Design
staylor@decontemporary.org
UDAILY
“I wanted to capture photos of crisis, but I also wanted to capture the smiles that existed despite the suffering,” Kharoti said. “I wanted to capture the stories of these brave Afghan children.”
By Margo McDonough | December 12, 2023
Kharoti, an Artist Protection Fund Fellow in residence at the University of Delaware and The Delaware Contemporary museum, photographed these images in August 2021, days and weeks after his home country of Afghanistan fell to the Taliban. An initiative of the Institute of International Education, the Artist Protection Fund provides support for artists to work at host institutions in safe countries where they can continue their artwork and plan for their futures.
TRAVELLENS
Think about a place where art comes to life, where creativity is the heartbeat, and where every visit is a fresh experience. That’s The Delaware Contemporary for you.
By Blake Walsh | September 17, 2023
It is a perfect blend of socializing and celebrating art, with drinks, hors d'oeuvres, and beautiful artwork to add to the charm. Every visit to the museum has been a joyous journey. The exhibits are aesthetically pleasing, showcasing the talents of both seasoned and emerging artists. Not just a passive viewer, you get to engage with the art. There's always something new and exciting to experience, whether you're browsing the gallery or attending an event. What truly makes this museum a gem is the opportunity to meet and interact with the artists in residence. You get to witness them actively creating, hear them explain their vision, and engage in insightful conversations.
GREENPHILLY
“Plastic Reef” uses art as trash to help us reconsider our plastic addiction
By Leslie Hudson | May 10, 2023
At first glance, the whimsical sea life in the Plastic Reef, created by Miami-based artist Federico Uribe, looks like colorful sculptures. Once inside the immersive exhibit at the Delaware Contemporary, visitors come face-to-face with milk jug fish, colorful coral of spoons and wires, seagrass out of straws and plastic bags, and sculptures made from any plastic garage that Uribe could find.
“I make objects out of objects, and I create beautiful objects that make people see that things can be seen in a different way,” explained Uribe.
VISITWILMINGTONDE
The Delaware Contemporary, Where Modern Art and Artists Meet You!
By Gail Obenreder | April 27, 2023
The current exhibitions and upcoming 2023 offerings reflect the museum’s immense diversity and scope. And one of its bedrock programs continues to thrive – managing and maintaining the all-important artist’s studios, located in a self-contained wing that encompasses nearly one-third of the museum’s space. A wide range of artists continue to work there, and the museum hosts regular open houses where the public can visit the artists in their studios. This summer, a special exhibition will feature the museum’s 2023 Artists in Residence, showcasing their work.
ARTBLOG
Nourish, a deep dive into the nuances of sustenance and all its forms at the Delaware Contemporary
By Susan Isaacs | April 12, 2023
The Delaware Contemporary (DC) has organized their winter/spring exhibitions in seven different galleries under the umbrella of Nourish, with a wide variety of programs that are intended to extend our understanding of the topic. My focus here will be on three of the exhibitions, including The Saints Step in Kongo Time (2023), by Adrian L. Burrell, More Than a Woman?, a three person show including Orly Cogan, Lauren Galban, and Johanna Goodman, and Federico Uribe, Plastic Reef.
URBAN GLASS
Issue 170, Editor's Letter
BY ANDREW PAGE | Spring, 2023
“We take a look at a major exhibition at the Delaware Contemporary Center for Art in Wilmington, Delaware, where 33 contemporary artists were given a venue. Their often large-scale multimedia works are rarely afforded a museum-level installation in a high-ceiling, white-walled museum space, much less the opportunity to be seen in relation to colleagues working with similar ambition, and in related thematic directions. The curators—Kristin Deady, Jenna Lucente, and Alexander Rosenberg—are all artists themselves, and brought a sensitivity and understanding to their endeavor to elevate this work, provide a quality presentation, and to survey new directions in the medium.”
ARTBLOG
Craft exhibits shine at the Renwick Gallery, Delaware Contemporary and Towson University Center for the Arts
By Susan Isaacs | November 21, 2022
While the Renwick presents many different craft media, other institutions are focused on specific media, especially glass this year, as the United Nations General Assembly has declared 2022 the International Year of Glass. The Delaware Contemporary in Wilmington has devoted the lobby and six galleries to it. “Through a Glass Darkly,” curated by a team of three artists/educators, Kristin Deady, Jenna Lucente, and Alexander Rosenberg, concentrates on conceptual approaches. Rosenberg explained in an email that they were all colleagues at Salem Community College when they began working on the project.
DELAWARE ONLINE
Open Call: Delaware Contemporary builds relationships, thought-provoking arts programming
Tatiana Michels, Guest columnist | July 31, 2022
As we emerge from the rubble of COVID together, The Delaware Contemporary has strived to unite with community organizations and regional institutions to provide new opportunities for engagement with the arts.
Embedded in our mission is the power of art to facilitate civic dialogue, bind communities and improve quality of life. As the impacts of COVID still linger, forging relationships and sharing resources is vital to a positive, collective future.
WHYY
"3D artist Stephanie Boateng’s new exhibit features vibrant painted portraits of happy Black women"
By Cherri Gregg | July 8, 2022
"'Smile' is an exhibition of three-dimensional, larger-than-life artwork featured at Delaware Contemporary in Wilmington, Delaware. The oversized canvases feature vibrantly painted portraits of happy Black women with diverse features and elements. Stephanie Boateng uses color and texture to bring the women to life, showcasing unique facial features, headpieces, and the diversity of hues of the fictional subjects of her artwork."
BmoreArt
Sitting in Uncertainty
Review of 'Fields and Formations: A Survey of Mid-Atlantic Abstraction' at the Katzen Arts Center
Words: Katie Hartley | May 18, 2022
White waves of paper arch and twist. Neon ropes stretch like muscles. Empty pages inhale. The materials around us are alive with meaning if we stop to look. What happens to a hundred-year-old story when we cut out its pages? Or to a map when we paint over its colors and borders? As objects around us evolve, they offer the opportunity to challenge our expectations, open our minds, and see changes in ourselves.
Curated by Kristen Hileman and organized by the Delaware Contemporary, Fields and Formations at American University’s Katzen Arts Center invites viewers to consider color, form, and shape as tools for transformation. As the introductory wall text states, the work of twelve women and nonbinary artists based in the Mid-Atlantic region offer “balance and resolution in a contemporary world that can feel chaotic and divisive.” But these artists don’t present an escape from chaos—rather, they ask us to look, listen, and sit inside it.
CITYLIFE.ORG
“The Smithsonian’s National Portrait Gallery has announced Tiffany E. Barber, Ph.D., assistant professor of Africana studies and art history at the University of Delaware, as the winner of the 2022 Director’s Essay Prize. Her essay “Narcissister, a Truly Kinky Artist,” published in Art Journal’s spring 2020 issue, was chosen for its interdisciplinary contributions to the fields of American art, biography, history and cultural identity.
Founded in 2019, the Director’s Essay Prize fosters leading research in the field of visual biography and American portraiture. The 2022 Director’s Essay Prize was juried by PORTAL, the Portrait Gallery’s scholarly center. Its advisors include John Stauffer, Ph.D., Harvard University; Rebecca VanDiver, Ph.D., Vanderbilt University; and ShiPu Wang, Ph.D., University of California, Merced.”
DELAWARE NEWS
State of Delaware Invests in Inclusion, Diversity, Equity and Access in the Arts
Kaitlin Ammon | January 26, 2022
“Five arts organizations are participating in the pilot program including the Delaware Art Museum, Choir School of Delaware, The Delaware Contemporary, The Freeman Arts Pavilion and Clear Space Theatre Company. This cohort will receive support and guidance from a team of consultants including Caitlin Butler, Amy Sadao, and Sunanda Ghosh. Butler, Sadao, and Ghosh bring experience leading arts organizations to be more equitable, accessible, and responsive; and through that, more durable and fiscally resilient. The consultants will evaluate current financial, governance, and programmatic practices at each organization. Based on this assessment, they will collaborate to develop custom strategies for sustainable practices and programming that integrate the principles of IDEA into all aspects of each organization’s operations.”
The 302 on MeTV2
The 302 #30 (Season 4)
The 302 checks out Fields and Formations a new exhibit.
Jaccii Farris | November 16, 2021
The 302 is a community interest talk show focused on the Wilmington Delaware area. We aim to tell people about all the great things there are to do and see in the area along with uplifting things that are happening in the community.
DELAWARE TODAY
The Influencers
Mindy Toran | November 2021 Issue
“It’s important for the next generation [of administrators] to have a path ready for them to assume leadership roles.” - Leslie Shaffer, Director of The Delaware Contemporary
Shaffer, who came to lead The Delaware Contemporary in August of 2019 after initially joining the institution in the programs and public engagement department in 2017, says she always wanted to be an artist, but realized she was more of an art history person early in her career.
DELAWARE TODAY
This Wilmington Artist Paints in Color at The Delaware Contemporary
by Ashley Breeding | September 20, 2021
“Amid a vast collection of fine works, Delaware artist Samara Weaver leaves a vibrant paper trail with her macramé hangings and paperscapes.
In a 245-square-foot rented studio space on The Delaware Contemporary’s second floor, multimedia artist Samara Weaver rolls out 5 or so feet of architectural trace paper across a wooden worktable stained with watercolor, ink and rings from a coffee mug. Through treetops and three massive windows at the east side, the morning sun shifts light around the room. With a flat paintbrush, she sweeps watered-down turquoise and sap-green pigments back and forth across its surface until the strokes culminate in a hue as deep as the Malvinas Current.”
CHADDS FORD LIVE
Art Live: Openings
by Constance McBride | June 15, 2021
“The theme this summer at The Delaware Contemporary (TDC) is Identify. From the press release, “This summer, The Delaware Contemporary serves as a space for cultural conversation through the presentation of exhibitions that construct a community-based dialog. Each exhibition examines the versatility of the human condition while speaking to the cultural framework that either enables or hinders the expression of this condition. Through this lens, the overall works speak to either autobiographical material or personal exploration into the contemporary systems and structures that shape individual identities.” The galleries are filled with works by a variety of artists including Meleko Mokgosi whose work consists of three banners created for TDC. In them he brings together references to Southern Africa and expressions of Pan-Africanism in the United States."
HYPERALLERGIC
Yikui (Coy) Gu’s Tour of the US
There is nothing subtle about Gu’s work: it is in your face because the racism he encounters is always there.
by John Yau | June 12, 2021
WILMINGTON, Delaware — “I first saw the exhibition Yikui (Coy) Gu: Saying The Quiet Parts Out Loud at Gallery 456 in New York, which is sponsored by the Chinese American Arts Council. It was Gu’s first solo exhibition in New York. I went a few days before the exhibition closed, on May 21, 2021, but learned that it was going to reopen, with three added works, as Yikui (Coy) Gu: The Americans at the Delaware Contemporary (June 4–August 21, 2021), the artist’s first museum show. "
The 302 on MeTV2
The 302 #13 (Season 4): Challenging Notions of Art | Full Show
The 302 visits the Delaware Contemporary to check out art that defies the imagination.
Jaccii Farris | May 13, 2021
The 302 is a community interest talk show focused on the Wilmington Delaware area. We aim to tell people about all the great things there are to do and see in the area along with uplifting things that are happening in the community.
Baltimore
The Little State That Could
Delaware becomes a worthy destination—and not just because of Joe Biden.
By Lydia Woolever | March 2021
“Perhaps the neighborhood’s best-kept secret, though, is the Delaware Contemporary, a leading visual arts museum, which recently exhibited large-scale works by Baltimore’s own Theresa Chromati.”
Chadds Ford Live
Art Live: Inspired by nature
Posted by Constance McBride | February 2nd, 2021
The Delaware Contemporary (TDC) is planning events for several new shows on First Friday, February 5th including the group exhibitions “Appearances” and “Round About: Reconsidering the Object in Space”. For “Appearances”, TDC studio artist Lauren E. Peters asked a group of artists she admires, to create their interpretation of her 2016 piece “self-portrait (orange)”, using the painting itself for inspiration and/or the source photo.
Delaware Public Media
Arts Playlist: The Delaware Contemporary’s ‘Objectifying the Object’
By TOM BYRNE • JAN 22, 2021
The Delaware Contemporary - like many art institutions – closed for a good part of 2020 because of the coronavirus pandemic.
Now, with a new year comes new life, starting with a Winter/Spring Season Series called “Objectifying the Object.”
In this week’s Arts Playlist, the Delaware Contemporary’s executive director Leslie Schaffer joins us to discuss the series and its efforts to present arts during the pandemic.
