Peninsula Gallery to feature Traveling Palette exhibit May 3-25

Art lovers are invited to take a trip overseas with Peninsula Gallery’s May exhibition, Traveling Palette, starting with an artist reception from 5 to 6:30 p.m., Saturday, May 3, free and open to the public. The gallery is located in the Shops at the Beacon, 520 East Savannah Road, Lewes.

Rosemary Connelly, Roger Dellar, Sebastian Di Mauro, Carol Fastuca, Laura Hickman and Brian Murphy have contributed more than 30 original artworks that were started or created entirely outside the North American landmass. While Italy is the dominant subject in this show, locations such as Australia, France, Germany and Hawaii also make appearances.

Connelly is a water media artist living and working in Milford. She has shown her work at the Biggs Museum, the Rehoboth Art League, Nassau Valley Vineyards and more. Playful use of line and color are hallmarks of her artistic style. Her layered approach to painting suggests the passage of time and human existence, and she finds inspiration in historic towns, aging factories and barns, botanicals and the beauty she discovers in her travels. 

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. His art reflects his keen interest in people and their behavior, and how the play of light transforms a subject. His paintings, usually done en plein air, capture everyday situations in public spaces.

Di Mauro was born in Innisfail, Australia, and lives and works between Brisbane and Lewes. Since the late 1980s, he has held more than 45 solo exhibitions and participated in more than 100 group shows across the globe. The pieces included in this collection explore the complex and contested identity of a nation tethered to its colonial past. 

Fastuca received an MFA in painting from Queens College in New York before moving into teaching at various universities. After leaving the university system, she started her own design business creating murals. Her paintings are normally inspired by the Pennsylvania landscape in her backyard, but for this collection, she expanded her visual world to the open spaces of Italy. 

Hickman was born in Milford and grew up in Bethany Beach. She attended Hood College in Frederick, Md., graduating with a BA in art, and earned an MFA from the University of Delaware in printmaking, painting and drawing. She taught for several years at the University of Maryland Eastern Shore and then at the Savannah College of Art and Design. For Traveling Palette, she has created three large pastel paintings that capture the seamless integration of architecture and nature in Italian landscapes. 

Murphy has a special appreciation for plein air painting, California and French Impressionism, and the work of John Singer Sargent. His artistic creations have always been inspired by his travels. He and his wife own Murphy Montgomery Fine Art Gallery, and he teaches art classes at home and overseas. For this exhibition, he focused on the beauty of water, showcasing the waterways of Venice and the city’s iconic gondolas, the river flowing through Florence, and the rocky shores of Kauai.

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