Summer at the Delaware Center for the Contemporary Arts

Hi everyone! I'm Laura and my summer home away from home will be at the Delaware Center for the Contemporary Arts (DCCA). My internship at the DCCA will allow me to see what goes on behind the scenes at an art gallery. There is a lot of preparation that goes on before an exhibition can go up in one of the seven galleries housed at the DCCA. So far my job has consisted of contacting artists, helping to create informational materials that are on display during the exhibitions, and researching various topics related to upcoming or potential exhibitions.

The highlights of my first week evolved around Wilmington’s Art on the Town, held on the first Friday of every month. During Art on the Town the galleries at the DCCA are open late and many of the exhibiting artists attend and give gallery talks in which they discuss their current work. Another feature of Art on the Town are the open studios at the DCCA. It was great to get to see not just the works in the galleries but also explore the work and practices of the artist’s who keep studios at the DCCA.

During my second week at the DCCA I sat in on a staff meeting, which was great because I was able to hear everyone talk about their responsibilities and what was coming up in their respective areas. I have also been doing a lot of work centering around an upcoming satellite show the DCCA is organizing called Young Country. Young Country, an exhibition devoted to rural themes in contemporary American art, will open at the Rosenwald-Wolf Gallery, University of the Arts on July 6, 2011 and will run until July 28, 2011. For this show I have been helping Maiza Hixson, Gretchen Hupfel Curator of Contemporary Art, at the DCCA prepare the exhibition catalogue for publication. It has been a really eye-opening experience seeing what goes into putting together an exhibition, from initially contacting artists to hanging the final show.

My Bird's Nest

Hello everyone, Retz here!

I cannot believe that summer is already underway. I am excited to have started my internship at the Auburn Heights Preserve. At Auburn Heights, I am primarily working in the National Vulcanized Fibre mill (NVF) and am currently sifting through their records.

NVF was the product of the Marshall family and stayed under the direct operation of the Marshall family until 1953. The company created vulcanized fibre, a laminated plastic made of paper. By 2007, the company filed for bankruptcy and closed for good. Now under the management of the Delaware State Parks, the site is slated to become a museum where the paper making process and the story of NVF will be highlighted. My job is to explore the treasure trove of material and help Auburn Heights tell the story of the mill from the archival material left behind.

After completing my first week, working with archival material in an unprocessed state and in an old building is proving to be quite an adventure. In a world of cabinets, drawers, files, and folders, who knew I would discover an actual bird’s nest. Unfortunately or fortunately, no birds accompanied the nest. It is amazing what one can find in the world of archives. The mill is not a glamorous place and there is the occasional fly, wasp, and stinkbug, however a treasure waits in the telling the story of the mill. Like the literal bird’s nest I discovered, the NVF mill is my nest for the summer.

Bird's Nest

NVF Mill

The Archives

My Current Summer Home: The Amstel House

Happy June Everyone!

This is Jesse at the New Castle Historical Society, and like Amy I am also finishing up my first week of my GIDAC internship here in New Castle. And what a busy week it has been!

NCHS has preserved New Castle's history for over 75 years and was established in 1934 to save the Amstel House, which is the current business office for the Society. The Society currently operates three historic buildings available for guided tours for both individuals and groups: the Amstel House (1730), the Dutch House (possibly late 17th century) and the Old Library Museum where new exhibits are housed. If you are interested, follow the NCHS on Facebook!!

New Castle, the colonial capital of the first state is quite honestly an adorable town located right on the Delaware River. Designated a National Historic District, the 135 acre district is made up of 572 historic sites, including over 500 historic buildings!!

As an intern for the GIDAC program, my project is to research, write, and hopefully, if time permits, to record an audio walking tour of the town for the historical society under the direction of Executive Director Mike Connolly. While I had a vague notion of the history of New Castle, I quickly learned that what I knew barely scratched the surface. As such, this past week has mainly entailed lots of reading and walking around town to become acclimated to this beautiful town and its complicated history.

So stay tuned for updates, and if you are looking for something to do this weekend, consider stopping by Historic New Castle for Separation Day this Saturday, Delaware's 235th "birthday" to celebrate Delaware's separation from England and Pennsylvania and the formation of the State of Delaware. There will be parades, all-day music, vendors, activites, and most importantly Fireworks!! at 9:30pm.

Here are some photos from my strolls around town.....

The Amstel House

Kensey Johns House

The Academy

Delaware Wharf

Stay tuned....

Odds, Ends, and Introductions to the Newark Arts Alliance

Hello all!

Amy here, writing to you from the Newark Arts Alliance. I am just finishing up my first week here at the NAA and I wanted to share some pictures from my first week and information about events we have coming up.

Before I give you a recap of what I've been doing this first week, I wanted to mention that the Newark Arts Alliance keeps its website quite up to date and all event details and information about the organization can be found there. Check it out! http://www.newarkartsalliance.org/

The Alliance is supported by members as well as grants from the Delaware Division of the Arts. They house two different galleries, the contents of which, are shuffled monthly to incorporate new displays and artworks submitted by artists. In the first gallery (the one you walk into immediately upon entering), all of the art is for sale, and all of the artwork is submitted by members only. The second gallery houses jurored displays usually following a certain theme. Currently, the theme is "The Child in Art," juried by artist Debbie Hegedus. Here are a few select pieces which have been photographed for your viewing pleasure:

The Children Green and Golden by Jen Mrozek


Her Kind also by Jen Mrozek (this is by far my favorite piece in the show)

Boy Sleeping -- and embroidered piece by Karen Schueler


Two Creations by Rowena Macleod

The photos really do not do justice to the fine textual details of these works and their various media. Stop by 276 Main Street (we're the place with the murals lining the doorways) to see the awesome originals!

On June 3rd, we had a reception for the artists--of which I was privileged to be a part--and I was afforded the chance to meet and discuss the art with the artists. Although most of my job here at the Alliance is to research grants and help to set up various organizational systems so that other people's jobs are easier, much of what I do deals with artists and the public. During the Artists' Reception, I even received some tips and encouragement from them about pursuing my own photography. Here are a couple shots that I took at the reception (they give you a good idea of what the Alliance looks like from the inside!):

Having a spirited discussion over art!








Artist Karen Berstler's daugher (also the subject of her current work in "The Child in Art") admiring artist Karin Lang's boxes












Karin Lang's boxes, entitled, Boxed Memories of our Childhood, contain real pieces of ephemera from her and her brother's childhood in Germany. On the left is her brother's box, and below is her own.










As you can see, there are many exciting things happening around here! This weekend will be the Garden Tour around Newark--you can find information about it here. Like us on Facebook!

My continuing work this summer will be mostly in organization, general operation, and grant writing. And, I suppose I titled this post "Odds, Ends, and Introductions" because it has a lot of introductory info but also touches on the tidbits of different jobs I hold under the umbrella term of "intern." Executive Director Terry Foreman has really helped bring me into the fold of the plethora of events and activities happening daily so I feel that in the future I will have many more varied things to blog about. Last, I have began to research and collect information on possible grants, so stay tuned for more updates each week!

-Amy

(Photos of artwork are courtesy of the Newark Arts Alliance and I, myself, took all the other shots! Good as the photography might be...you should really come in and see the art for yourself... : ) )

2011 GIDAC Interns!

The recipients of the 2011 Graduate Internship in Delaware Arts & Culture have been named, and they are as follows:
Jesse Gagnon, Department of History, New Castle Historical Society
Amy Powis, Department of English, Newark Arts Alliance
Laura Cox, Department of Art, Delaware Center for Contemporary Arts
Retz Monroe, Department of History, Auburn Heights Preserve

Stay tuned as they blog their internship experiences!

Update from Melanie Scriptunas at DHF

DIHI was featured in a recent News Journal article!

Greetings from the Delaware Humanities Forum

As summer intern at the Delaware Humanities Forum, my primary duty is to help publicize and develop a consortium for our Delaware Industrial History Initiative in the Digital Humanities (DIHI). With support from the "We the People" program of the National Endowment for the Humanities, DHF has made grants available to nonprofit organizations for digitization projects related to Delaware's industrial past. We are currently working to construct a federated search engine that will allow researchers and educators to access the collections of participating organizations via a central platform. Our request for a second round of DIHI funding from NEH has just been approved, so we are also in the process of recruiting potential grant applicants and inviting them to join our consortium. We have DIHI planning meetings scheduled in each of Delaware’s three counties during the month of September. Consortium members from New Castle County will meet in the Community Service Building in Wilmington to discuss how the digital platform might benefit their repositories. Similar meetings will occur in Kent County at the Delaware Public Archives and in Sussex County at the Milton Historical Society. The purpose of the meetings is to ensure that the digital platform best serves the needs of nonprofit organizations featuring humanities content. More information about the Delaware Industrial History Initiative is available at the DHF website.

In addition to assisting with DIHI, I have taken on the task of digitizing our own collections. DHF houses a variety of materials related to programs and events that we have sponsored since our founding in 1973. Among these materials are: photographs from the release of If You Lived Here You Would Be Home Now, a film about Delaware artist Jack Lewis and his longtime residence, Bridgeville; photographs from several Annual Chautauqua Tent Shows, when they were hosted by DHF; 18 mm reels of films on Pennsylvania German art and rural life, sturgeon fishing on the Delaware, the town of Lewes, and the Chesapeake Bay; slides of the Felton, Houston, and Leipsic Heritage Programs; cassette tape recordings of the Art Furniture Symposium at the Delaware Art Museum; and dozens of VHS tapes of DHF-funded films. These items need to be properly stored and preserved in digital formats.

When I am not working on either of these projects, I am helping with the planning and execution of other DHF programs and events. We recently hosted a Grant Application Writing Workshop at the Kirkwood Library, where representatives from various nonprofit agencies gathered to learn more about our current grant programs and how to apply for them. Agents from nearly thirty organizations—including Winterthur, Hagley, the Delaware Art Museum, WHYY, the Newark and Port Penn Historical Societies, and UD’s Museum Studies and Department of English—turned out for this event. The workshop explained the mission of the Delaware Humanities Forum, answered questions about our application process, and provided a unique networking opportunity for Delaware’s nonprofit and academic communities. DHF holds workshops like this one periodically throughout the year.

Another DHF public program is our Annual Lecture. I am excited to report that we recently confirmed the details of our lecture for 2010. National Endowment for the Humanities Chairman Jim Leach will visit the campus of Delaware State University on Tuesday, November 9th. The festivities will include an 11 a.m. lecture and meet-and-greet opportunities. Chairman Leach will visit Delaware as part of his 50-state “American Civility Tour,” a nationwide initiative to promote awareness of the need for civility in public discourse. "Civilization requires civility," Leach maintains. “Words matter. Polarizing attitudes can jeopardize social cohesion.” Leach began his four-year term as NEH chairman in August 2009 after serving for 30 years as a congressman representing southeastern Iowa, where he founded and co-chaired the Congressional Humanities Caucus.

For up-to-date information about DHF programs and events, find us on Facebook, and visit our homepage to sign up for our e-news.

Melanie Scriptunas
English Department
University of Delaware