Delaware residents will get a special opportunity this weekend to preview what some of the top artists in the state have to offer.
The Biggs Museum of American Art will host a first-look party for Award Winners IX from 4 to 7 p.m. Friday, July 3, at 406 Federal St.
The exhibit showcases the talent of the current Individual Artist Fellows of the Delaware Division of the Arts, including painters, photographers, sculptors, writers, musicians and craft artisans.
Biggs curator Ryan Grover said with so many varieties of art, there will be something on display for everyone, no matter their age or taste.
As the exhibit is in its ninth year, Grover added that it has grown and includes every artist that received a DDOA fellowship.
“It’s been that way for the past four or five years,” he said. “It didn’t start out that way. But we really wanted to expand it and make it larger.”
A highlight of the exhibit, which will run through Oct. 25, will be two site-specific instillations from artists Steve Ruszkowski and Ronald Longsdorf, Grover said.
Ruszkowski, a $3,000 emerging professional winner, will have work that is based on string mounted to certain points on a wall, placed in a way that creates a three-dimensional image.
Longsdorf, on the other hand, is a $6,000 established professional winner whose work challenges a viewer to see furniture used in a less than usual context.
“He’s been working on these objects that are made from different materials found in construction to make furniture,” Grover said.
For youngsters, there will be children’s illustrations on display that he said would attract the adolescent crowd.
“There’s a painter that does kids illustrations,” Grover said. “They’re very large and very fun.”
The exhibit will be set to the soundtrack of the musical artists that won DDOA fellowships, and since the party is being held on the holiday weekend there will be some traditional Fourth of July food fare available.
“They’ll mainly be finger snacks,” Grover said. “We try to be very hospitable. And it’s free to come, so there’s no excuse not to.”
As an added bonus, and sometimes a surprise, he said many artists have shown up for the first-look party in the past to help promote their work.
This, Grover said, gives attendees the chance to learn more about the work on display in a much more personal setting.
