Caroline Coolidge Brown

“Many years ago I saw an exhibit at The Met in New York about Henri Matisse and his use of colorful textiles. I was inspired by his rich vocabulary of patterns and his ability to use crazy, clashing fabrics as critical compositional elements. 

“A few years passed and I visited the National Quilt Museum in Paducah, Kentucky. Blown away by the artistry of piecing and sewing, I marveled at the quilters’ use of small, often discarded scraps to make monumental artwork.

“I began printmaking and building a vocabulary of patterns using plants, found objects and stencils. My stash of colorful papers grew, waiting for the right project. 

“Then came 2020 and quarantine. I found it hard to focus on large work or big ideas with daily news of the pandemic. So I reached for small pieces to keep my hands busy. I found my box of beads and my old books; I reached for colored thread and fabric; I began putting together new patterns, working at my dining room table.

“This show honors the art of generations of creative designers, seamstresses and quilters. Cutting, pasting, sewing, painting and printing are my connection to them and to the truth and beauty within the ever-changing patterns of the world around me.”

Caroline Coolidge Brown works in Studio 2Q at The Delaware Contemporary. A painter,  printmaker, visual journal-er, and urban sketcher, she teaches at the Delaware Art Museum in Wilmington and at General Theological Seminary in New York. She has studied art at Duke University, Penland School of Crafts, and the Center for Contemporary Printmaking.

Richard E Lopez

“Through my work, I seek to embrace the observer in an emotive state - even if for a moment. To reawaken awe for example, as one apparently peers down at oceans from above the clouds, or, feels the force and sounds of breaking waves. The music of mathematics in nature, seen in the spirals of a sunflower or the golden ratio, is often designed into my hand-built ceramics. Vibrant colors and visual textures also help to convey a sensual presence. If my art can conjure the silent, breathless beauty of a setting sun on a summer eve – then I’ve done well.

“Each and every one of us has the capacity to create and I actively seek to engage others in the ceramic arts. Recently, over seventy people from coast to coast and of all ages and backgrounds completed a clay collaboration - each contributed towards the Wings project which will be unveiled at this September's exhibition at The Delaware Contemporary.”

Rich, along with his wife Deb, live in Wilmington Delaware’s Riverfront area. A member of the National Council on Education for the Ceramic Arts (NCECA), he actively participates in the New Castle County Art Studio in Elsmere, DE. 

Elizabeth Denison Hatch Gallery