We are excited to let you know that we are now open during our normal business hours, Tuesday thru Saturday 10 - 5 and Sunday 11- 3. At present, framing consultations are only being conducted Wednesday thru Saturday. We are taking all of the necessary precautions to ensure your safety and the safety of ourselves. If you feel more comfortable making an appointment, please give us a call at (302) 645-0551.

The Peninsula Gallery Presents

"Delmarva and Beyond"

Works by Fred Dylla and Howard Eberle

Showing August 29th - September 27th

     In our latest exhibition, we bring together two local artists. Fred Dylla is a new-comer to our space, whose medium is white-line woodcuts. Howard Eberle specializes in dry-brush watercolor and is a resident artist and repeat exhibitor at the gallery. Both  explore color, texture, and the play between realism and abstraction to depict coastal and rural subjects from Delmarva and beyond.

     Fred Dylla is the Executive Director Emeritus of the American Institute of Physics. He spent 50 years as an enquiring physicist helping to design and build scientific facilities for astronomy, fusion energy, particle and nuclear physics, medical, and materials research. For many years he admired the artwork of his two daughters, Kim and Sarah, both graduates of the UVa School of Fine arts. He began

painting to have something to talk about with them. He finds the white-line woodcut medium is a perfect blend of his two passions of woodworking and watercolor painting. Fred carves a strong outline image into the surface of a woodblock then applies watercolor within each individual carved shape. Next, the paper is laid over the block and rubbed to transfer the image. Successive layers of paint are used to enhance the textures of the wood grain and the print paper. Fred is inspired by 17th and 18th-century Japanese woodblock printing as well as the “Provincetown Printers” led by the Swedish artist B.J.O. Nordfeldt in the early 1900s.

     Howard Eberle is a self-taught artist who has been painting in transparent watercolor since 1973. He started painting professionally in 1990 after a career in retail display, where he learned composition, design, and color. These elements have had a major influence on Eberle’s style which he describes as “abstract realism”. He eliminates details to get to the essence of the subject matter, incorporates strong shadows, and often juxtaposes a finely detailed subject on an abstract background. The artist states, “The spirit of my work lies in dramatic composition of simple subject matter… It is the Japanese philosophy of simplicity that has most influenced my present style.” Howard loves to paint anything textural and aged like the peeled paint of an old barn, the rusty patina of an anchor, or the weathered rope on an old Chesapeake skipjack. He finds that the time-intensive dry-brush technique that uses minimal water and a brush with very few bristles is the only way to achieve his spectacular variety of textures.

Gallery Hours

Tuesday - Saturday  10 am - 5 pm

Sunday  11 am - 3 pm

(Closed Monday)

*Framing Consultations Wed-Sat Only

Public Art in Lewes

Prints of the Lewes Drawbridge Mosaic Mural may be purchased at the gallery.

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Click here for Details

The Peninsula Gallery Presents

"Island Life and Times"

Works by Laura Hickman and Steve Rogers

Showing October 3rd - November 1st

     In our October exhibition, we are thrilled to bring together two artists who are Southern Delaware favorites. Laura Hickman, of Bethany Beach, and Steve Rogers, of Lewes, share a love for Tangier Island and have based the entire show on its scenic beauty. Tangier Island sits in the Chesapeake Bay, 12 miles from the nearest mainland port, and has been home to watermen for hundreds of years and people of the Pocomoke Nation long before that. A maze of waterways lined with quaint cottages and dilapidated docks flows through the island, breaking it into a thousand pieces. With a population of less than 700 and a remote location, Tangier seems to have frozen in time. Locals mostly get around on golf carts and bicycles because the roads are not large enough to accommodate cars. Sadly, this Chesapeake Bay treasure is quickly slipping into the ocean and will have to be abandoned in fewer than 50 years.

    Laura Hickman, primarily a pastel artist, was born in Milford, Delaware, and grew up on Fifth Street in Bethany Beach. She was profoundly influenced by her life at the beach which is evident in her artwork. She attended Hood College in Frederick, Maryland, graduating with a B.A. in Art and went on to receive an M.F.A. from the University of Delaware in Printmaking and 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. Hickman’s hometown beckoned for her return in 1988, when she realized her dream of becoming a full-time artist. In the pastel pieces created for the exhibition at the Peninsula Gallery, Laura depicts the serene humdrum scenes of Tangier Island, yet in a playful and vivid style. It’s as if idyllic childhood beach memories have been plucked from your mind and brought to life in brilliant color.

     Steve Rogers has loved boats and water all his life and has centered an art career around this passion. He works in acrylics to paint traditional working boats in precise realism. These are not pampered fiberglass yachts, but hard-bitten and over-worked oystermen, crabbers, and menhaden steamers. His paintings capture the toughness and durability of everyday working boats and the beauty and terror of the weather in which they work. Steve’s depictions are incredibly accurate, down to the materials and construction of each particular type of vessel.

His palette is rich with natural tones of ochre, umber, and rust set off by shadows in cool blues and stark blacks. Tangier Island has provided Steve with a treasure-trove of inspiration as it is overflowing with the textures, colors, and moods that fuel his art.

     An opening reception will be held on Saturday, October 3rd. There will be groups of 12 people allowed in the gallery in 20-minute intervals between 5 and 7 pm. Attendees must reserve a time slot beforehand and are required to wear a mask. Call (302) 645-0551 or email to choose a time slot. Slots are first call/email, first serve. Time options are: 5-5:20, 5:20- 5:40, 5:40-6, 6-6:20, 6:20- 6:40, 6:40-7.