Description
The Delaware Division of the Arts’ Mezzanine Gallery presents artist Collen Zufelt’s exhibition, Recycle, Repurpose…RE-IMAGINE, showing March 4 through 25, 2022. Her exhibit will also be part of Art Loop Wilmington — the monthly self-guided tour of art in and around the city.
Zufelt spent over 15 years exhibiting her work throughout the U.S. In 1996, she stepped away from her studio to teach art in private and public schools. In fact, Zufelt was named Henry B. duPont Middle School Teacher of the Year in 2019. She has also previously taught classes and workshops at Delaware Art Museum, the Art Studios of New Castle County, Center for the Creative Arts, and Christina Cultural Arts Center. After retiring from public teaching in 2020, she returned to her studio full time.
Zufelt may be known to Delaware arts lovers more for her work in ceramics, but her full body of work includes not only ceramics but also clay compositions and vessels, and metal sculpture.
Her interest in metals came in 2016 after she attended a Marshall Bridge Workshop in Kennett Square with sculptor Stan Smokler. In that workshop, artists would search junk yards and scrap metal locations collecting tossed-away materials and “…envisioning what the next life would be for these pieces” through sculpture.
She continues that process, visiting junk shops, antiques stores, and the like, developing vessels that play with natural light and shadow when displayed outdoors. She is also working on adding elements of “illumination from within” to her sculptures.
Of her return to creating and her most recent works, Zufelt notes: “As I return to my studio full time, I strive to create a beauty from the discarded in my search for harmony.”
Her current series employs both metal and clay remnants — some Zufelt has saved over years of creating, and others that have evolved as she herself explored new processes.
“In our current fast-paced world, I hope to inspire viewers to slow down and contemplate the Spirit of Creation while at the same time, recycling, repurposing, and reusing,” she says.
The Mezzanine Gallery, open weekdays from 8:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., is located on the second floor of the Carvel State Office Building, 820 N. French Street, Wilmington. Guests are invited to attend the Artists Opening Reception to be held Friday, March 4, from 5:00-7:00 p.m. as part of Art Loop Wilmington.
Image: Gatekeeper III (2020), Steel; plasma cut/welded recycled parts, 37”h x 18”w.