ART Around

The works, all of which are available for purchase, were selected to compliment the colorful and whimsical atmosphere of Dos Locos, which moved to its new location this spring. The art ranges from a large oil on canvas piece depicting a field of sunflowers inspired by Fisher’s Rehoboth Beach flower garden, to a series of four smaller abstracts displayed in pinks, yellows and purples, described by Fisher as his "beach tones."

In addition to displaying his art at Dos Locos, Fisher decorated one of the dolphin sculptures now on display at locations throughout downtown Rehoboth Beach as part of the "Dolphins Around Town" project. Fisher’s "Libber D. Olphin" will be on display through June near the bandstand, at Rehoboth Avenue and the boardwalk.

Gary Fisher started painting as a hobby more than 20 years ago and quickly captured the attention of friends and business colleagues with his daring use of color. Having retired from the U.S. Justice Department where he was an environmental enforcement attorney, Fisher now paints full time in Rehoboth Beach, and Washington, D.C., with much of his work consisting of commissioned pieces. Most of Gary’s abstracts, as well as his fanciful paintings of fruit and garden flowers, are displayed in striking purples, yellows and blues. For more information and to view Fisher’s works, visit http://www.fishergallery.com/.

Cloud 9 to Exhibit Sonia Hunt Artwork
Artist Sonia Hunt will have her watercolors on display at Cloud 9 beginning June 14.

The Lewes artist and world traveler is originally from London, England, and recently retired from a career with Mobil Oil. Between her career and her husband’s, the couple traveled and lived all over the world.

Currently, Sonia’s favorite subject is her adopted hometown of Lewes. "People who visit this area and love it here want to take a piece of the shore home with them," she says. Luckily they can, because her work has been seen at shows in Milford, Bethany and Rehoboth among other places. Sonia paints scenes of the Lewes Canal, historic homes and other recognizable local landscapes. She will also be showing some of her Tuscany scenes.

"They say you can never go back," she says, "but that’s not true." Sonia visited Tuscany to paint recently and found it just as beautiful and inspiring as she remembered.

Peninsula Exhibits Collages, Sculpture by Mills and Marino
The works of Lee Wayne Mills and Marti Marino that are on exhibit at the Peninsula Gallery have something in common in that they reflect the use of found or recycled materials. Mills tends to assemble these materials to create his collages, while Marino employs the subtractive process of carving wood and stone, though sometimes she will combine her sculptural material with found objects in an abstract way.

Lee Wayne Mills studied at Ripon, Wisconsin. His work is generally considered to be based on abstract expressionism. In his collages on canvas, Mills finds a way to juxtapose the structural and painterly elements. In the same way that words juxtaposed create phrases, his assemblages create a kind of painterly literature. In addition to these mixed media and assemblage works on paper and canvas, Mills is also showing a number of very three dimensional wall reliefs. Although these pieces may not look alike, what they share is an aesthetic process that allows them to behave similarly. "It is this tossing together of so many disparate elements that fosters fabulous associations for me personally and allows me the freedom to discover and invent and forge the connections in my work," says Mills.

Marti Marino was always somewhat dissatisfied by her two dimensional work, so decided to take sculptural classes at the Corcoran School of Art. After experimenting with woodworking, clay and welding, she settled on wood and stone. "I loved seeing the shapes evolve, and creating change in a resistant medium," says Marino. Much of her work is done with compressor driven air hammers or a flexible shaft tool with carving burs. "But", she says, "my favorite parts of the process are the quiet end stages when I can work with hand tools: sharpening edges, tightening curves etc. I develop an intense relationship with each piece I’m working on, thinking of it almost as a living thing that is allowing me to reveal its innermost self."

"We are particularly excited by this exhibit," says gallery owner Tony Boyd-Heron. "It represents a first for us in mixing two and three dimensional abstract work with sculpture."