Peninsula Gallery sets artists reception Sept. 3

This September, the Peninsula Gallery will welcome an architectural painting show featuring five unique artists. Inside, Outside explores people’s interactions between buildings and spaces, using different artistic styles and mediums.

Some works in this show depict famous locations like the New York City skyline and St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome, but most pay homage to familiar places found in small towns all across the world. From ballet rehearsals to ice cream dates, local diners and nostalgic motel signs, these works will transport viewers to new locations far beyond Lewes.

“While this show does focus on the the geometric design of architecture, the true essence behind each work is the lived-in quality of each space. You can feel, in all the artists’ works, the quality time spent both in and out of these buildings,” said Shelby Cooke, gallery public relations manager.

An opening reception will be held from 5 to 6:30 p.m., Saturday, Sept. 3, with some of the show’s artists in attendance to discuss their works. Call 302-645-0551 or email peninsulagallery1@gmail.com for details.

Born and raised in the New York City metropolitan area, John Aquilino has been a working artist for 20 years. His work has earned many accolades, including five grants, four awards from the Maryland State Arts Council’s Individual Artist program, and an individual artist grant from the Arts and Humanities Council of Montgomery County. Aquilino’s work brings a graphic element to cityscapes, creating an intimate connection with buildings through intense precision and detail.

Roger Dellar is a professional artist who works from his home studio in Surrey, England. He visits the United States frequently, and the Peninsula Gallery is his only American venue. Dellar’s art reflects his keen interest in people and their behavior, and how the play of light transforms a subject. His paintings capture everyday situations in public spaces, usually done plein air. For Inside, Outside, Dellar has painted iconic locations like the historic Petworth House in Southern England, as well as scenes known all too well for Britons: drinks in the pub.

Christine Heyse is self-taught in watercolors, having earned a bachelor’s degree in nursing science and worked as an emergency department nurse early in her career. But she has been drawing and painting her whole life, with her love of art having been encouraged by her father, an industrial designer in New York. During a hiatus while raising her three children, she took classes in oil portraiture and became a registered copyist at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., before discovering watercolor. Heyse paints common subjects, transforming them through colorful light and shadow.

Emily Thompson attended the prestigious High School of Art & Design in New York and earned her bachelor of fine arts degree from the School of Visual Arts in New York. She is a nationally recognized, award-winning artist. Through her painting, she documents the iconic, the disappearing, the abandoned elements of the American identity. Thompson’s pieces in this show are filled with wonderfully nostalgic buildings and signs. Her street scenes take the viewer back to the post-World War II years with their vintage automobiles and motels.

C. Mercedes Walls grew up in New York and New England, eventually settling in lower Delaware and raising a family with her husband Bill. She received a bachelor’s degree in sociology from SUNY Stonybrook, and worked as a probation and parole officer for 10 years, all the while pursuing her passion for painting. She is mostly self-taught, but her biggest fan and first teacher was her maternal grandfather, a shoemaker. A signature member of the Delaware Watercolor Society, a Delaware By Hand Master Artist and a founding member of the Mispillion Art League, Walls exhibits widely in the region, winning numerous awards. The works featured in Inside, Outside are populated with families and friends sharing time together.

Inside, Outside is on display from Sept. 3 to 25. Works from the show can be previewed at peninsula-gallery.com and are available for presale.

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.