Letters from Camp Rehoboth

The HEART of the Community

Summer Love Raises Funds for the CAMP Rehoboth Community Center

The 2003 HeART of the Community art project invited participating artists to create a small painting using the theme Summer Love. All the paintings are 12" x 12," and most are framed to 24" x 24." The HeART project was developed both to support and encourage artists in our community and to raise awareness and funds for the development and growth of the CAMP Rehoboth Community Center. All the paintings will be auctioned at the 2003 Black and White (and red all over) Beach Ball on May 31.

Susan Bolivar / Panel of Heart and Flower / Cotton fiber and cotton
Susan interprets summer love by creating a multicolored heart pattern against a tiny flower background. The wall hanging is machine stitched and hand quilted, and its simplicity and traditional materials call to mind forgotten memories of summer vacations and rustic beach houses.

Michael Sprouse / The Locket / Acrylic on canvas
Michael has used a small red heart locket nestled into the corner of his painting as a token of the remembrance of summer love. The piercing eyes of the young man on the beach—both innocent and knowing—seem, like the closed locket, to contain a mystery, a story of summer love left up to the imagination of the viewer.

Steven Klick / Postcards / Ink with color film overlays
Using different postcard images, Steven’s ink drawing illustrates the many possibilities of summer. "I used postcards," he says, "because they share brief statements of bliss and remembrance with loved ones—especially during summer vacations."

Aina Nergaard-Nammack / Let Us Dance / Acrylic
The joy of summer connects the cool blue dancers against the vibrant hot colors of summer. "Reds," Aina says, "...horizontals, quietness in meditation. Dancing between the fish and the birds, the figures emerge from the deep sea and reach the brightness of the sky. Happiness is sent to our hearts."

Rodney Cook / Blue Moon Romeo / Watercolor
Rod’s romantic watercolor tells a personal story of love that is at once recognizable to Rehoboth visitors. Its bright, happy colors and uplifting perspective are a perfect backdrop for the red heart. "I have spent so many evenings eating and drinking at the Blue Moon," he says, "that the theme of summer love for a gay man in Rehoboth had to include the restaurant."

Charles Freeman / Morning Light / Oil on masonite panel
Created as an expression of love for those who have died of AIDS, Charles hopes that his painting will share with the viewer a sense of beauty. "A sense," he says, "that light often holds a mysterious power to heal us, especially when it is shared with the ones we love."

Annette Mosiej / Girlfriends / Watercolor dyes
In her easily recognized, lighthearted style, Mosiej’s Girlfriendsquickly conjure up images of bright boardwalk experiences and summers by the sea. Her charming caricatures make us smile, both in recognition of the familiar characters they represent and with the sense of nostalgia they evoke.

Andrew Criss / Summer Lovers / Oil
With only a few simple brushstrokes, Andrew’s Summer Lovers rest in the warm colors of a lazy, summer afternoon. The clean lines and angular shapes of the painting exist side by side in sharp contrast to the curve of the two human bodies. "Summer," Andrew says, "what better time to fall in love?"

Lee Wayne Mills / Nest of the Gold-Breasted Beach Plunker / Mixed media collage and gold leaf on paper
Using multiple horizons, shifting planes, and changes in size, shape and color, Lee gently makes fun of the annual seashore migration. "The Gold-Breasted Beach Plunker," he says, "is that shore loving critter—be it man or bird—who comes to the beach each year to mark its territory."

Ward Ellinger / Summer Heat / Oil on paper
Condensing the passion of the summer into a single line of bright color and texture, Ward’s Summer Heat burns with an inner fire. "It’s the explosion of hot, bold, summer colors," he says, "fusing together to create the heat of summer love."

Murray Archibald / Summer Love 1: Dancing in the Light of a Clear Blue Morning / Acrylic
Using bold color and simple strokes to carve out the paint, Murray creates energy and motion that emerges in playful contrast to the materials. "This painting is part of a new series called Emergence," he says, "that is both a study of different painting techniques and an exploration of the creative power of love."

Bob Rahamin / Love, Light, and Shadow / Acrylic, gold/silver leaf
Deep texture and muted metallic shades produce an ethereal feeling in Love, Light, and Shadow. Bob describes his paintings as "representations of his own spiritual and metaphysical beliefs," and says that, "the concepts and colors often appear in the ‘dream state’ or through meditation."

Randy Wise / Hibiscus / Watercolor
The simplicity and fast brushwork of Randy’s painting seems at first glance to reduce the flower to abstraction. Quickly, however, the brilliant red (heart) of the bloom comes into focus. "Summer love," Randy says, is the radiance of the hibiscus shining through."

Julie Baxendell / At Dawn Together / Oil
Using the brilliant purples and oranges of the sunrise, Julie creates a classic summer moment. "My painting" she says, "portrays one of those intimate moments when a ‘family’ shares a perfect sunrise on the beach. Love abounds, I’ve been there."

Michael Weinert / L’amor de la Mer / Oil on canvas
Michael has reduced his seascape to simple shapes and unusual color. "Summer is a special time when people renew their love affair with the sea," he says. "The deep red at the waters edge is to symbolize that attraction and passion."

Sondra Arkin / Bits and Pieces of my Heart / Mixed media
Sondra uses pieces of mirrored glass to show the complexities of love and relationship." As we progress through life," she says, "we discover new pearls of intimacy. We give our heart wholly each time, but it is in fractured bits that love is suspended and reflected in our lives. Each summer we just make room for more love."

Barbara Kinney / Love with a Twist / Photograph
Barb uses the flirting twist of a lemon, the dance of rainbow refractions, and a brilliant blue background to make the two martinis sexy. "How many summer loves have evolved from a couple of drinks," she muses, "at a tea dance or happy hour at the Blue Moon?"

Brian Petro / Summer Love=Sun and Heart / Photographic polymer transfer monoprint
Using a light bulb box from Brazil and a page from an 1889 text, Brian blends the elements together to create what he calls, "an urban interpretation of summer love." He goes on to say, "I relish the opportunity to present new messages with castoff items."

For information about the HeART of the Community art project or the CAMP Rehoboth Community Center Founders’ Circle call CAMP Rehoboth at 302-227-5620.

LETTERS From CAMP Rehoboth, Vol. 13, No. 6, May 30, 2003