Peninsula Gallery to host Art of Storytelling reception Feb. 10

Bringing together fine art with illustrations crafting visual narratives, Peninsula Gallery’s upcoming exhibition, The Art of Storytelling, will run from Saturday, Feb. 10 to Saturday, March 30, with an artists’ reception set from 5 to 6:30 p.m., Feb. 10

Illustration paintings are featured from five artists who use their art to tell visual narratives. This exhibition includes nearly 40 original illustrative works from Huilin Gui, Jennifer Hudson, Alexi Natchev, Laurence Schwinger and Lynnette Shelley.  

While traditional painting and drawing simply shows a scene or object for what it is, storytelling illustration intentionally imposes characters, settings and actions into an image, encouraging viewers to ask who or what the subjects are, how they are tied to their environment, and what may happen next within this constructed world. Viewers are invited to look at the work of each artist and create a narrative that speaks to them, using the artwork to spark their imaginations.

Gui is a New York-based illustrator from China. She combines various mediums in her creative process, taking inspiration from everyday moments, nature, memories and everything that brings nostalgia. She doesn’t work in one specific medium, but rather selects the mediums based on the project’s need, finishing each piece with digital enhancements. For The Art of Storytelling, Huilin illustrates a day in the life of a young Asian girl. The story’s protagonist spends the day with her grandmother, running errands at the local farmers market and experiencing the togetherness of her neighborhood’s community. Huilin’s charming and warm-hearted images are rudimentary in design and evoke the style of artists like L.S. Lowry and Helen Layfield Bradley. 

Hudson is a Maryland-based cut-paper artist and painter. She graduated from the Baltimore School for the Arts in 2014 in painting, but soon after was introduced to the world of contemporary paper art. Hudson uses various-sized knives to hand-cut each fantasy-inspired image, crafting a delicate work of art. Her three-dimensional work is achieved by combining several layers of cut paper to create movement, texture and dimension. Hudson’s pieces feature various woodland animals such as foxes, wolves and sea birds placed in lush natural environments. Her work summons a child-like wonderment and brings to mind fairytale stories. 

Alexi Natchev was born and educated in Sofia, Bulgaria, and is currently the illustration area coordinator at Delaware College of Art and Design in Wilmington. He works in the field of children’s book illustration, printmaking and drawing. Since moving to the U.S. in 1990, he has published more than 15 books with major publishing houses like Penguin and Random House. For The Art of Storytelling, Natchev is showcasing four tarot card illustrations that mimic the ancient design of the historic activity. His scenes feature images of the macabre – reaping skeletons, aggressive wild animals and mystical creatures – and grand figures from the Middle Ages. 

Schwinger received a bachelor of fine arts degree from Philadelphia College of Art with a major in illustration and a master of fine arts in illustration from Marywood University in Pennsylvania. In addition to being a freelance illustrator for 30 years, Schwinger has worked in advertising and is an instructor at the Art Institute of Philadelphia. Equal parts medieval, Arabian and dystopian, Schwinger’s oil paintings evoke historical imagery and actions. While some of the scenes are grounded in reality, others embrace elements from ancient legends, bringing mortal combats and adventure lores to life.  

Originally from Delaware, Shelley is an award-winning artist specializing in contemporary mixed media animal and nature paintings. Her highly detailed and complex compositions are created using a buildup of multiple layers of ink and acrylic, and incorporate techniques in both drawing and painting, from crosshatching and mark-making to ink splatter and linear painting. On display in The Art of Storytelling are Shelley’s acrylic and ink whimsical animal paintings. She crafts a narrative through the placement of the creatures, showcasing how the different breeds interact with each other in nature. Some of the featured pieces use her unique technique of collage made from hand-colored and -cut watercolor paper that is placed on the image to resemble mosaic tile.

Works from the show can be previewed at peninsula-gallery.com. 

The gallery is open from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., Tuesday to Saturday, and 11 a.m. to 3 p.m., Sunday, in the Village Shoppes at the Beacon Inn, 520 East Savannah Road, Lewes.