S12 E31: Delaware State of the Arts - Rehoboth Art League

Let's paint a vibrant picture with Sara Ganter, the Executive Director of the Rehoboth Art League. As we traverse through the storied 85-year history of this unique organization, you'll gain a deep appreciation for its journey from humble beginnings in 1938 to its current status as a celebrated arts hub. Sara intricately details how the league, formed as a congregation and exhibition space for artists, now offers an impressive array of over 150 classes and 20 annual exhibitions. You'll hear about the league's mission to weave arts into the fabric of people's lives and learn about the breathtaking facilities nestled near Rehoboth Beach.

The narrative continues as we explore the league's dynamic community outreach, particularly their exceptional work with the Delaware Division of the Arts' Equity and Innovation Incubator program. Sara shares how this venture has facilitated the league's expansion to underserved communities in Sussex, ensuring that their influence isn't confined to the coast. In a testament to the power of unity, we also delve into the league's thriving collaborations with other arts organizations, demonstrating how creative thinking and synergy can enrich Delaware's quality of life. Stay tuned for an artifact of a local artist's journey, the upcoming solo show by Rebecca Raubacher, and an insightful discussion into the transformative role of art in the community.

The Delaware Division of the Arts, a branch of the Delaware Department of State, is committed to supporting the arts and cultivating creativity to enhance the quality of life in Delaware. Together with its advisory body, the Delaware State Arts Council, the Division administers grants and programs that support arts programming, educate the public, increase awareness of the arts, and integrate the arts into all facets of Delaware life. Learn more at Arts.Delaware.Gov.

Delaware State of the Arts is a weekly podcast that presents interviews with arts organizations and leaders who contribute to the cultural vibrancy of communities throughout Delaware. Delaware State of the Arts is provided as a service of the Division of the Arts, in partnership with NEWSRADIO 1450 WILM and 1410 WDOV.

Transcript

Andy Truscott: 0:24

Delaware State of the Arts is a weekly podcast that presents interviews with arts organizations and leaders who contribute to the cultural vibrancy of communities throughout Delaware. State of the Arts is provided as a service of Delaware Division Division of the Arts in partnership with News Radio 1450 WILM and 1410 WDOV. Delaware State State of the Arts. I'm Andy Truscott. The Rehoboth Art League was formed in 1938 in Henlopen Acres, Delaware, as a place where artists could gather, teach and exhibit their work. Now, in 2023, it boasts over 1,000 artists members. Each year. It offers more than 150 classes for students of all ages and skill levels, teaching topics such as drawing, painting, pottery and art theory. About 20 exhibitions make their way through the Art League annually, along with several community events such as art festivals and gallery talks. Right now, visitors can view the work of Rebecca Raubacher and Jim Rehack and ceramics created in the Art League's own pottery studio. Today, you'll be hearing from Sara Ganter, the Executive Director of the Rehoboth Art League, about the organization's rich 85-year history and bright future.

Sara Ganter: 2:37

The Art League is a membership-based nonprofit organization that promotes arts as an important part of people's entire life cycle. So we were founded in 1938. We have five buildings on three and a half acres and we're just off of the busy Rehoboth Beach downtown, so we're Coastal Deloer. We were founded as a sort of summer artist retreat, an early example of one of the arts colonies in the United States. Since then we have really expanded. The traffic down here is no longer just summer, it's a year-round community. So we have year-round exhibition calendars, we offer classes almost every day of the week, we have open studios for members, we offer several different major events for the community over the course of the year to expose people to different artists and ways of thinking, and we also have a collection where one of the few Delaware nonprofits that collects fine art.

Andy Truscott: 3:40

For those who aren't so familiar, tell us a little bit more about what art colonies are.

Sara Ganter: 3:45

So Louise Corquine is our founder. She moved here in the 30s from New Jersey with her husband. His plan was to develop the town we now live in. So he was an architect and engineer and developed the town and her passion was for the arts. So she worked early with the Village Improvement Association, which is a local women's service organization. So they did a lot of community projects. But she was involved heavily with their annual art show and finally decided that the area needed an official fine arts organization. So really it was to gather artists or creative thinkers during the summer months to learn from each other, have people teach and have a place to exhibit work. So it was really a community hub. And when the town was founded by her husband they were very empathetic that the art lead act as a sort of arts and cultural center for the area and wanted to make sure everyone that was a new resident in the town supported the arts.

Andy Truscott: 4:49

You mentioned a myriad of activities and exhibitions going on at the Rehoboth Art League. Do your exhibitions have a specific theme, like focusing on local artists, or is there a wider reach and topic?

Sara Ganter: 5:01

So when the art league was founded it really had a sort of local, regional draw. A lot of artists from Wilmington and sort of Brandywine tradition would come here, also from Washington DC, just because it's sort of a close vacation area. So I would say in the early years it was pretty local. We've now expanded. We really have a national reach. We attract artists from all over. We still have a heavy sort of mid-Atlantic presence, I would say, but we do have exhibitions of artists that come from Texas or Florida. We just wrapped up our major summer event that we had artists from California. I mean there was an artist that came from Germany this year. So we've really expanded the footprint beyond just the local.

Andy Truscott: 5:51

What does the Rehoboth Art League have on display right now?

Sara Ganter: 5:55

So right now we're in the exciting summer season we have two sort of traditional shows that we do every summer. So the first one is the members flying craft exhibition and that closed recently. But that is a member show. If you're a member here you're eligible to put work in. So it really showcases a wide spectrum of things from the person that's exhibiting for the first time to try it out to really season the crafters. So in that exhibition we showed things like a lot of pottery break, quilts, fiber art, hooked rugs, metal work, woodwork. That's a really wide variety. Class work is in there. So that closed recently. But we are now in the members fine art exhibition and this year is the 85th annual for that. So that's also open to all members eligible to put work in. So it's mostly a more traditional fine art, mostly wall, so drawing, painting, pastel photography also. There's a lot there but it's really interesting to see all the different work and mediums.

Andy Truscott: 7:04

Sarah, why do you think it's important to give local artists the opportunity to put their work on display?

Sara Ganter: 7:10

Everybody needs to start somewhere. I've watched a lot of people come through here since I've been working here. I can think of one mosaic artist who started as a student taking a class here. She sort of enjoyed the medium so much and got pretty good at it so she started showing her work in the gallery and selling it and she's now teaching mosaic classes to help others enjoy that form of art. So I've seen her come through. She was very nervous to put her work in the gallery at first, but it's fun to watch the artists grow and be more confident and watch their artwork develop.

Andy Truscott: 7:48

Thank you so much for sharing that. It's such an amazing story. What exhibitions do you have coming up in the fall?

Sara Ganter: 7:55

The next exhibition we have coming up is one it's a solo show Rebecca Roebacher, and she's actually another really good example of an artist who's sort of gone through a whole life cycle here. She started decades ago. She was one of the artists that participated in our outdoor show, so it's a big summer event I just mentioned, but it's where the artists are juried in. They set up their booths around campus and sell their work. So she started in that, really giving it a go to sell her artwork. She's gone on to recently. She's had work put into the collections of the Delaware Art Museum, the Bates Museum of Art and Dover, and we recently acquired a piece of hers. This is sort of a big show for her. She's really made a name for herself through her involvement here over the years. I think she's a really great example of the way the art lead can help sort of want someone's artistic career and see them succeed.

Andy Truscott: 8:54

And are there any other exhibitions that you're particularly excited about?

Sara Ganter: 8:59

That's a good one. She does really large work and does a great job of showing it, so that one's always really nice. Next year we have a couple great things I should mention. This is our 85th anniversary year, so we've been doing a lot of exhibitions that sort of highlight our history. We've done a series that highlight the open studios for members. So we've had we just wrapped up a one that highlighted our photography group. That has been sort of a relationship with photography groups here since the early 50s. So we've had a group that's like a figure drawing group that meets here weekly. They've been meeting for probably 50 years or something like that. And then the next step we're focusing on the pottery studio. We also have a members open studio for that. So that's called form and function and highlights some member artwork for that. So that'll be a new show Next year we're really looking forward to.

Sara Ganter: 9:53

We're kicking off the year with a solo show from Edward Loper Jr. So he'll be sort of a notable Delaware artist for us. I think he's 88 now, so this really will be a look back at a whole career as an artist, so that one will be great and I always look forward to. Next year will be the Biennial. That's a big exhibition we have every other year and it has a lot of prize money attached to it. So it's gotten a lot of publicity and it usually draws some more contemporary artists from Baltimore, dc, philly, new York, so that one's always interesting. It sort of pushes us beyond traditional fine arts, I would say. So I always look forward to that one.

Andy Truscott: 10:36

Their home with Art League is 85 years old. Were you able to keep any of the art that originated from the early days? It's so interesting to hear about how the Rehoboth Art League has grown and how different mediums have been adopted by artists there over that time.

Sara Ganter: 10:51

Yeah, we have a collection. It's now in excess of 800 pieces of fine art, so we're responsible for stewarding that and caring for it and conserving it. As far as sort of original pieces of artwork, I can think of a couple immediately In our main gallery space there are two shell mosaics that are sort of over the one over the front doorway and one over the doorway to sort of another gallery, but those are made by our founder and those sort of still grace the building. But then we go all the way up to 2015,. We renovated the building that our collection now lives in. It was formerly the horse stables for the property and now it's a museum grade facility to store artwork and on the front of that we had a muralist paint a Trump Roy. It looks like a horse stable still, but that piece is also part of our collection. So there's sort of a big span of early years. We have pieces from late 1800s up to, you know, contemporary work. So it's a wide range.

Andy Truscott: 11:56

Thinking back on the Rehoboth Art League's 85 years of history and, frankly, being able to look at it through the lens of art is such a unique treasure. For the first date, switching gears here, the Rehoboth Art League is participating in the Delaware Division of the Arts's Equity and Innovation Incubator program. Where is the Rehoboth Art League in that process right now?

Sara Ganter: 12:18

That was a really interesting process for our leadership team to go through and the staff. So right now we're at the point where we're starting to implement some of the programs that developed out of that. So I just mentioned some of the things we have in our collection and I was going to mention one more thing, and I will now. But it also includes sort of other antiques and objects. And one of the objects that got a little bit of focus last year through the Incubator program was we have a collection of Native American water and pestles that have been on the property for ages. They've been here as long as the Art League has been in existence, so we're not really sure where they came from. But that object in our collection helped create a dialogue with the Nanocoque Indian tribe here. So we've been talking to them a lot and doing some program that focuses on their land stewardship before the Art League is existed. So that's been interesting.

Sara Ganter: 13:17

We're also working on some new outreach programs. We developed a relationship with Habitat for Humanity to provide an original piece of artwork to each new homeowner that they dedicate a house to. I was just at that dedication a couple weeks ago. They two new homeowners, you know it was the first day in their new home and I was able to present them with a piece of horn of painting they picked out and the other homeowner a photograph. So it's nice to sort of highlight the importance of art in everything home.

Sara Ganter: 13:50

So we're expanding our outreach program, which is our teachers go into Sussex communities mostly underserved that do not have great access to arts education. In a couple weeks we are opening a exhibition for Easter Seals and we do arts education with them adults with developmental disabilities so we're excited to host an exhibition of their artwork. So Incubator Project, I think, allowed us to think a little bit differently about our role or what it could be, and to expand some really good programs we've had in existence for a while but just needed some more push. So it's been really a good thing for us.

Andy Truscott: 14:32

I believe you touched on this a little earlier. But what need are you trying to meet at the Rehoboth Art League that this grant will help out with?

Sara Ganter: 14:39

So through the Incubator process, I think we really it's clear that the community really loves our campus and feels a connection to the property and the buildings and the history and sort of take inspiration from that. But I think we need to recognize and remember that not everyone has an opportunity to come here to be inspired and that we need to work a little harder to get off campus and sort of take inspiration to places that don't have as much access. So that's really the drive is to get off campus more and reach communities that might not be able to fight the traffic in the summer months, which is when we're very busy or might not have transportation to get here, but we have the resources to be able to get out there a little more. So that's what our goal is through the project.

Andy Truscott: 15:32

Sarah, what does success for the Rehoboth Art League look like right here, right now?

Sara Ganter: 15:39

Oh, that's a big one, I think you know it's easy to say well, we're celebrating our 85th anniversary. We're clearly a success in Southern Delaware, but I think if we can sort of push ourselves a little bit to make sure we're reaching as many communities as possible, that will be more of a success for us. I think we have a great foundation here. We're very lucky to have a beautiful campus and five buildings and classrooms. But I think if we can think outside the box to reach people differently, with new experiences or things we might not have done here before, that'll be a win for us.

Andy Truscott: 16:21

And, in your opinion, what makes the arts with a capital A so important to communities in Delaware?

Sara Ganter: 16:29

It's really a way of life. The first thing I'm thinking about when you say why is? Why are the arts important to Delaware? We just wrapped up our big summer event, the Outdoor Show. So we had 132 artists juried in. They came from all over the country but we had almost 7,000 people come to that event and I think it shows the quality of the artists that we bring in. It's also, you know, we host live music and we have food trucks and there's auctions and raffles and opportunities to sort of bid on art or win art. You know it's an opportunity to interface with people that think creatively and do things you would never imagine or think about doing. So, you know, facilitating that is a big source of pride that we can do that for the community and it's really the highlight of the summer around here for the community to come to that. So it makes us feel good about what we're doing.

Andy Truscott: 17:29

Grant, you love that. The Rehoboth Art League is one of the only major arts organizations in Sussex County and it sounds like you understand that and you're focusing strongly on connecting with all of the communities in that area. What has that been like and how, over time, have you been able to extend your reach beyond the coastal area of the county where your organization is located?

Sara Ganter: 17:54

I think that your Rehoboth Art League were sort of the oldest and I guess the sort of legacy fine arts organization downstate. But there are a lot of really good small arts nonprofits that have crapped up over the years and I think each one plays a different role for different communities. There's Milford. It has a really great gallery and class education program. One has an art skill. Milford has one that is coming and going. Dover is trying to be revived.

Sara Ganter: 18:30

Right around the corner we have developing artist collaborations. So they're very close to us but I think play a different event role for people. So I think each organization is sort of finding its niche and its sort of geographic footprint. But I do see a lot of overlap in artists working, either teaching or showing at these all the different art leagues or art whatever you want to call them, arts groups. They want opportunities and if they can get them they're going to try everything they can. So it's to our benefit to try to collaborate with all the arts organizations in the area. There's so much overlap between what we're doing, the people we're serving, the teachers we're bringing in the different shows. So partnering with everything around here is a win.

Andy Truscott: 19:24

And finally, as we wrap up here, why do you think artists and arts organizations are so willing to collaborate within this field and beyond?

Sara Ganter: 19:34

Maybe it's arts organizations can sort of think creatively and outside of the box. I think some of the creative thinking portion is just a way to envision partnerships that might not be real, apparent, sort of like the habitat thing. You know they're building houses and we're showing artwork, but I think there was a thread there to make a connection. We have lots of other partner organizations like First Aid. Community Action Agency is a poverty fighting organization but through their after school program we're able to provide the arts education component to the kids that they're sort of shepherding after school to make sure they have their homework done and they're focusing on schoolwork and they're kept busy. So yeah, I think just thinking creatively about points of connection or even the communities you serve can be a starting point for figuring out how can we work together.

Andy Truscott: 20:43

The Delaware Division of the Arts, a branch of the Delaware Department of State, is committed to supporting the arts and cultivating creativity to enhance the quality of life in Delaware. Together with its advisory body, the Delaware State Arts Council, the Division administers grants and programs that support arts programming, educate the public, increase awareness of the arts and integrate the arts into all facets of Delaware life. To find out more about the division, visit artsdellawaregov.