April Wilmington Art Loop: Bellefonte Arts

Written by Marsha of MarshaNealStudio

Just about every month during the year, Wilmington, DE (and other surrounding towns) host an Art Loop, First Friday Art Walk. 

Galleries, artist studios, restaurants, and other venues that exhibit Artists work will open up their spaces for an "Open House" welcoming party over the First Friday of the month, usually during the evening between 5-9pm.

Here are some of our Local Northern DE Art Loops:

Wilmington, DE has a First Friday Art Loop

Dover, DE has First Friday in Downtown Dover

Kennet Square, PA has a First Friday Art Stroll

Philadelphia, PA has First Fridays hosted by Old City Arts Association

Oxford, PA has First Friday Art Stroll

So for April, I made it a point to get out of Hockessin, and head into Wilmington to hit up as many galleries and see as much artwork as I could.

The plan was to start around Trolly Square, hit Augustine cutoff, shoot up to Bellefonte Arts off of Brandywine Blvd, then drive down into center city, park, then hit up a bunch of the Market Street locations.

I was able to easily hop through the great exhibits at The Blue Streak Gallery and Delaware Center for Horticulture.

Because I was on a mission! 

I was going to see as much art as possible in the small window of time I had.

Entrance Gate for the DCH.

Gallery Space at the DCH.

Artist Bob Richey and his awesome pastels.

When I got to Bellefonte Arts, I knew my schedule was going to go way off...

I knew one of the two artists was a fellow Delaware Etsy Street Team member, although we had never chatted or met in person, and I wanted to stop by and say Hi to Kay Martin of Galaxie Gallery.

Kay Martin with some of her large up-cycled art sculptures at Bellefonte Arts.

Kay Martin of Galaxie Gallery

Kay was just so cool to chat with.

We had long discussions about making art and how exciting it is to find that creative place inside of you that you just seem to disappear into when you have time to work.

And that things around you just fall away (time, physical presence, distractions, etc).

She had some awesome up-cycled sculptures and these altered collages and clocks on display.

Kay was telling me about how she will get a box full of discarded items and will go through it and deconstruct, clean, and assemble her art from these unwanted items.

Check out this necklace set:

Necklace Set Flutter by GalaxieGallery on Etsy

 And I met Honeybabe when she was setting up her artwork. She collages and repurposes whimsical found objects what I like to call fairy garden decorations. I think she is a fairy herself and I hope to run into her at Spoutwood! Her art is perfect for hanging out in the garden up in a tree so that the sun can reflect from the mirrors or prisms to create whimsical lighting in the woods. Magical!

And there were other artists that also sell their work at Bellefonte Arts that came out for First Friday!
Arlene Finocchiaro is a very talented Polymer Clay Artist and also a member of the Philadelphia Polymer Clay Guild (so she and I have a lot of common friends in the bead and jewelry world).

Arlene Finocchiaro of The Olive Branch

By the time I looked at my iPhone, it was 8:40. I was just about out of time to run down to Market Street, find a parking spot, then hit up a few more galleries (as most closed at 9pm).

So I hung out and chatted with a bunch of other people until the loop ended.

Across the street from Bellefonte Arts is Bellefonte Cafe - you could hear a live band playing (it is of course Friday night!) which would have made for an awesome end to a fantastic evening...

Being the mom of two little ones (3 & 5 year olds), I made it home to make sure my husband was not ready to eat them alive by bedtime.

Besides, I am one of the two featured artists at Bellefonte Arts for the May 3, 2013 Wilmington Art Loop, and I plan on hanging out with other cool artists and friends that make a trip out to see me and my work that night.

I hope you can make it (if not to Bellefonte Arts, then at least to somewhere local).

And keep an eye out for how the Delaware Etsy Street Team is getting involved with Bellefonte Arts to promote Artists through Brick and Mortar establishments like Bellefonte Arts and through our being an online Artists Team (collective). We are going to meet up this summer to get the ball rolling...