Peninsula Gallery goes big with new exhibit opening May 4
Peninsula Gallery will present Larger than Life, a new exhibit showcasing oversized paintings 36-by-48-inches and larger that will be on display from Saturday, May 4 to Sunday, May 26.
Gallery patrons can immerse themselves in towering artwork, measuring 12 square feet or bigger, that explodes with color and detail. This exhibit provides the perfect showcase for clients looking to fill an empty wall in their homes, offices or businesses. These vast canvases are from Frank DePietro, Laura Hickman, Barry Koplowitz and Steve Rogers.
An artist reception will be held from 5 to 6:30 p.m., Saturday, May 4, and is free and open to the public. Attendees will have the opportunity to mingle with some of the artists during the evening. Call 302-645-0551 or email peninsulagallery1@gmail.com for further details.
Originally from Scranton, Pa., Frank DePietro graduated from Bloomsburg University in 1997 with a bachelor of arts degree, later earning a post-baccalaureate degree in art education from Moore College of Art and Design. In 2010, following several years of painting and teaching, DePietro took up residence at the world-renowned Longwood Gardens in Kennett Square, Pa., where he lived on the property until 2021. The submergence into this surrounding nature quickly became the primary source of inspiration for his painting and continues to form the subject of much of his work today. He currently resides in Landenberg, Pa., teaching classes and workshops at Longwood Gardens, Delaware Art Museum and the Center for Creative Arts. In Larger than Life, DePietro exhibits his large-scale florals, which make the viewer feel minuscule compared to the macro petals. His pieces provide a unique perspective on lotus flowers, water lilies and magnolia blossoms, engulfing observers in the fine details of each leaf and vine.
Laura Hickman was born in Milford and grew up on Fifth Street in Bethany Beach. She is profoundly influenced by her life at the beach, which is evident in her artwork. She attended Hood College in Frederick, Md., graduating with a BA in art, and received an MFA from the University of Delaware in printmaking and painting and drawing. She taught for several years at the University of Maryland Eastern Shore and then at the Savannah College of Art and Design. Hickman’s hometown beckoned for her return in 1988, when she realized her dream of becoming a full-time artist. For this exhibit, Hickman has strayed from her usual pastel medium and instead features four oil paintings. Three of the pieces capture wistful sunrises and sunsets that employ swaths of color to evoke the feeling of the day's beginning and ending. The fourth work uses shadow and light to represent the arrival of spring.
Born in Brooklyn, N.Y., Barry Koplowitz grew up within walking distance of a beach. He spent more time walking the rocks and sand in winter than in summer, and was deeply influenced by how the beach is constantly changing. He studied under Lester Polakov at the New York Studio and Forum of Stage Design in New York City's Greenwich Village district, where he learned the art of painting theater and film scenery. Since then, Koplowitz has moved on to murals, studio painting, plein air and teaching, and he is now located in southern Delaware. For Larger than Life, Koplowitz returns to his original inspiration, the beach, depicting the various moods and lights of local sandy shores. From tangerine dawns and twilights to stormy days and cotton candy afternoons, his beaches are a flood of colors and shapes that elicit the smell of salty air and the feeling of rushing water.
Steve Rogers, a Lewes resident, has loved boats and water all his life, centering his art career around them. He works in acrylics to paint traditional working boats in precise realism. Rogers’ boats are not pampered fiberglass yachts, but rather hard-bitten and overworked oystermen, crabbers and menhaden steamers. His paintings capture the toughness and durability of everyday working boats, and the beauty and terror of the weather in which they travel. His depictions are incredibly accurate, down to the materials and construction of each particular type of vessel. His palette is rich with natural tones of ochre, umber and rust set off by shadows in cool blues and stark blacks. His subjects glow with an ethereal aura, beckoning the shipmen back to shore.
Works from the show can be previewed at peninsula-gallery.com and are available for presale.
The Peninsula Gallery is open from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., Tuesday to Saturday and 11 a.m. to 3 p.m., Sunday, in the Shops at the Beacon, 520 East Savannah Road, Lewes.
